Eating Disorders in Children: In Early Childhood and AdolescenceTeens With Eating DisordersEating disorders in children should not happen, especially in young children. Eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa are starting to affect girls as young as ten years old. But these disorders affect older girls in their teens and often young women out of their teens too. Why would a ten year old have an eating disorder? Because she doesn’t like something about herself. Usually she believes she’s fat and ugly. This is very sad indeed. What can be done about helping these children? Eating Disorders in Children: Society's Desire To Be SkinnyBetween skinny runway models and rail thin cover girl models, society is pushing an attitude that thinness is beautiful. Whatever happened to the Marylyn Monroe figure, which was by the way healthier than being too thin?The models that young girls are idolizing today have hipbones and shoulder blades that peek out from their clothes, and gaunt looking faces covered with too much makeup. Is that sexy? Society’s desire to be skinny shows in the way they glamorize extreme thinness. Unfortunately this extreme thinness is making an impression on young girls who are still growing, not just physically but mentally and emotionally. The problem is you’d have to quit eating or take weight loss drugs to look that skinny. What the media does not tell you is that some of these models are addicted to drugs and have binge eating disorders themselves to help them stay skinny! In fact, several years ago there were several extremely thin, anorexic looking, runway models that were told to either gain some weight or be fired. This was because they were influencing many young girls to want to look just like them. When young girls are normal weight, they think they are too fat. After all, they don’t have bones sticking out of their body like the beautiful women they are idolizing.
Eating Disorders in Children: Childhood ObesityThere is the child who is always dieting and who is too thin. And then there is the child who should be watching what he or she eats because they are too fat. What do both of these children have in common? They both eat the wrong foods and know nothing about nutrition.Usually the child who is too thin eats like a bird and has some sort of eating disorder. If she is afraid to eat natural, wholesome foods because she’s afraid of gaining weight, then it would be considered an eating disorder. The fat child also has an eating disorder, usually food addiction. Both children, the skinny and that fat, are allowing food to control them in some way. When that happens, it becomes a disorder. The obese child eats the processed junk foods. Anorexic and bulimic children do too, but later vomits the food or purges with Ex Lax pills. Both children have eating disorders, and both children are slowly killing themselves because of their eating disorders. The sad thing is they have not been taught anything about proper nutrition. Chances are, if they were better informed, or if they had access to proper foods they wouldn’t be sick with an eating imbalance. Food should never control a person. On the contrary, eating should never make us feel guilty, afraid, or uptight because eating is a natural part of life. We have to eat to live.
Eating Disorders in Children: Diet Plans and NutritionChildren with eating disorders only need to be better informed about proper nutrition on health. They need to have access to nutritious, wholesome foods. If parents bought whole, natural foods, stopped buying processed junk foods and soda pop, and began cooking more wholesome meals, many of these eating disorders would dissipate.Young girls and boys deserve to have the best possible body image with their peers. They should not feel as if they have to be extremely thin or look like the latest cover girl model. Self esteem and having a good self worth starts in the home. Parents need to be more informed about health and nutrition too. Nutrition starts in the home!
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