by Mary Bubbins

Created on: November 20, 2007

Being a parent these days is a task that we need not take lightly, although I fear as I watch so many children around me, that too many of us do. By that I mean simply we do not play a large enough role in their emotional or social lives to know what is truly going on in their hearts and minds. We are so busy worrying about how we will be providing them with their next pair of designer jeans or the newest Playstation that just hit the market, we are not taking the time to know who they are or to pay attention to their daily habits. And these two things combined are vital in the first step to recognizing an eating disorder.

Eating disorders are too commonly associated with the person having a problem with food, and unfortunately, that's not the case. An eating disorder is a symptom to an underlying emotional problem in that person's life. And if it is one thing that our teens face today, it is an upheaval of emotional ups and downs that Mother Teresa herself may have had a hard time facing. Ten to twenty percent of all people diagnosed with an eating disorder will die from the onset of medical problems they cause and that's not only scary, but sad, considering that if we know what to watch for and get our children the early intervention they need, their death could be prevented.

To begin with, a study published in the Journal of Adolescent Health found that teenage girls who weighed themselves frequently were at a higher risk of binge eating, skipping meals using diet pills, laxatives, and vomiting to control their weight. The same statistic applied to those who were involved in sports such as ballet or gymnastics where certain weight requirements, albeit real or perceived, needed to be met. So to all of the parents out their, watch how often your children are using the scales. That is indicator number one.

Now there are two primary types of eating disorders, the first being Anorexia. The most infamous person suffering from this disorder was Karen Carpenter and the world lost a talented and beautiful artist to a horrible, yet preventable, disorder. Anorexia is a significant weight loss that is caused by excessive dieting. Most people with this disorder are motivated by the fear of being obese and will always see themselves as fat no matter how thin they really are. Some of the emotional signs include, but are not limited to, an obsession with food and calorie intake, complaining of being too fat even when they may be too thin, feeling guilty about eating, depression

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