How to Tell if Your Child Suffer from an Eating Disorder

More than eight million people are suffering from an eating disorder in the United States and ninety percent of this eight million are women. But parents must be very cautious with their children in terms of eating disorder because it has been found that eating disorders may start even as early as the age of eight. Victims of eating disorder may be rich or poor; so parents, be on the look out of your child's health.

Before proceeding, let us first define an eating disorder. An eating disorder is an obsession with food and weight. It is very dangerous to one's health. Worrying about our weight is good, but an obsession with it is very bad because some people with eating disorders go to extremes to keep themselves from gaining weight. Psychology experts are not exactly sure what cause eating disorders. They say that it might have been caused by being upset with something in life or being stressed out or even feeling like you would want to be in control. But, sometimes, the primary causes of eating disorders are low self esteem and being pressured by society to have the perfect weight, i.e. being super thin is sexy.

There are two main eating disorders: anorexia nervosa and bulimia. Anorexia is an obsession with being thin that people with anorexia may be so thin that they look as if they are sick. Bulimia on the other hand is eating a lot of food all at once and then throwing up or using laxatives to get rid of the food from the body.

So as parents how do you know that your child is suffering from bulimia? There are several warning signs to find out if your child is anorexic or bulimic. One sign may be is that your child has unnatural concern about body weight even if your child is not overweight. Also be on the look out if your child has an obsession with food, calories and fat grams. Try to check out if your child is using any medicine that keep oneself from gaining weight such as laxatives, water pills and diet pills.

There are more serious warning signs that your child may possess and they may be very hard to notice as they may be trying to keep it a secret. So, parents, be on the look out for any of these signs: (1) refusing to eat or lying about how much was eaten, (2) throwing up after meals, (3) fainting, (4) not having periods for females, (5) over exercising, (6) increased anxiety over weight, (7) calluses or scars on the knuckle due to throwing up forcefully, and (8) denying that anything is wrong.

Being teenagers is not easy; there are a lot of pressures to being a teenager. But, parents must be concerned if their children are also being pressured regarding their weight. Parents would have to create a positive environment regarding weight but most importantly, they must impart to their children the rights attitudes towards weight to boost up their self esteem because having eating disorders may cause several health problems and if not treated may even lead to death.