Does Your Daughter Have an Eating Disorder?

Knowing how to tell whether your daughter has an eating disorder is a very difficult process. Teenagers and college-age women go through so many changes, but these are the years when teen girls and women are most vulnerable in terms of eating disorders. In addition, because eating disorder behavior is very secretive by nature, a daughter who develop bulimia or anorexia or binge eating are less likely to discuss these behaviors. Keeping an eating disorder a secret is a crucial part of the disease for any daughter with a food disorder.

Look for the following behaviors in your daughterwhen suspicions develop about a diet disorder:

1. Does the daughter complain she's fat? Does she discuss her body constantly, complain about food being a temptation, or complain about regular eating patterns in the family? It is common for a daughter who develops eating disorders to stop eating traditional comfort items, to complain to parents and ask them to stop cooking high-calorie foods, or to constantly complain that they are "fat" even when the woman looks to be of normal or nearly-normal body weight.

2. Has the daughter's food pattern changed? Does she refuse to eat meals, eat smaller portions, or eat only one low-calorie food, like lettuce only? Look at overall food pattern changes as a symptom of bulimia, anorexia, or binges.

3. Has the daughter lost weight? Even five or ten pounds is significant if it's combined with the other symptoms on this list. More than an average of one pound per week is significant as well. If you send a daughter off to college in September and she returns home for Thanksgiving weighing thirty pounds less, alarm bells regarding a food disorder should be going off in your head.

4. Does she exercise excessively? When she eats, does she talk about "needing" to exercise afterwards? Excessive exercise can be a form of an eating disorder. If a woman eats 1000 calories per day but believes she "needs" to exercise for six hours to control her weight, intervention may be necessary.

5. Have you noticed your daughter having extra laxatives, caffeine pills, or decongestants? All three are used by some women with eating disorder patterns to control weight. Laxatives rush food through the body, caffeine increases metabolism (slightly), and decongestants can act as an appetite suppressant.

Eating disorders are serious conditions, and if left untreated can lead to premature death. Look for these symptoms and seek medical and/or psychological treatment for your daughter if you believe she is developing or has developed an eating disorder.