Prevention

For parents, preventing eating disorders starts from a child's infancy.

1. Ask yourself how you feel about your own body. Do you diet a lot? Do you have disordered eating habits or even an eating disorder yourself? Children model their behavior after their parents, especially mothers. Adopting healthy attitudes and habits about your body will carry over to your children. Take care of your health for your children's sake.
2. Don't push your child into weight loss or tell them they are eating too much. Instead, encourage better food choices, such as fruits and vegetables, and a sensible amount of exercise. Exercising as a family sends a powerful message to your children.
3. Talk to your children about how television, magazines and other media portray beauty. Tell them beauty comes in all shapes and sizes and it comes from what you exude as a person. Have them understand a slender body does not mean power, excitement, popularity or perfection.
4. Don't categorize foods into "good/safe/no-fat or low-fat" versus "bad/dangerous/fattening."
5. Talk about the dangers of dieting and emphasize eating healthy foods at each meal. Teach them that food is energy and necessary for their bodies to be strong.
6. Teach your children about hunger cues and how to obey these signs with healthy food choices such as eating some carrot sticks, a granola bar or some string cheese. Also, don't force your children to finish everything on their plates.
7. Make a commitment to exercise for the joy of feeling your body move and grow stronger, not to purge fat from your body or to compensate for calories eaten.
8. Do whatever you can to promote the self-esteem of your children in everything they do. Always be positive with their achievements and even their failures.

More on Eating Disorders

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This article was reviewed and updated June 2007.