Teen Eating Disorders: Tips to Protect Your Teens
Why teens develop eating
disorders?
Eating disorders are serious conditions
related to persistent eating behaviors
that negatively impact health, emotions
and the ability to function in important
areas of life.
The most common eating disorders are
anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and
binge-eating disorder. While the exact
cause of eating disorders is unknown,
certain factors might be involved,
including:
 Biology.
 Psychological and emotional
issues.
 Environmental.
 Favorite activities.
Early consequences of teen Prevention begins with
eating disorders open communication
Signs and symptoms vary, depending Talk to your son or daughter about
on the type of eating disorder. Be alert eating habits and body image. To get
for eating patterns and beliefs that started:
might signal unhealthy behavior. Some
 Encourage healthy-eating
red flags that might indicate an eating
habits.
disorder include:
 Discuss media messages.
 Extreme weight loss or not  Promote a healthy body image.
making expected developmental  Foster self-esteem.
weight gain  Share the dangers of dieting and
 Frequently skipping meals or emotional eating.
refusing to eat
 Excessive focus on food
 Frequent checking in the mirror
for perceived flaws
 Using laxatives, diuretics or
enemas after eating when
they're not needed
 Forcing yourself to vomit or
exercising too much to keep
from gaining weight after
bingeing
 Repeated episodes of eating
abnormally large amounts of
food in one sitting
 Expressing depression, disgust
or guilt about eating habits