Childhood Eating Disorders Blog

Dear Readers,

                In the past two days, two interesting diet/nutrition stories have appeared in the media that confirm what Marcia and I have been saying for years now. The first was the release yesterday of the results of a study published in The New England Journal of Medicine. Researchers found that when it comes to dieting, it’s not so much what kind of diet you choose, it’s the total number of calories consumed that determines whether or not you lose weight. Researcher put 811 people living in Boston and Baton Rouge on four different diets emphasizing various proportions of fat, protein and carbs. Each diet cut about 750 calories from participant’s normal daily intake. At the end of two years, all of them lost (and regained) similar amounts of weight.

                These finding are consistent our Food Plan, which does not emphasize lowering fat, carbs or protein, but includes a serving size of each in lunch and dinner, and makes carbs a must for breakfast (you need the energy to get going in the morning!) and protein and fat optional.

                The gist of the second story, What’s Eating Our Kids? Fears About ‘Bad’ Foods, which appeared in today’s New York Times, is that more and more kids are developing phobias about eating certain kinds of foods.  Usually these fears stem from parents who give them the message that certain foods are unhealthy, bad, or dangerous to their health. Examples include kids who will only eat organic foods, or won’t eat sugar or are afraid of salt. As we tell readers in The Parent’s Guide to Eating Disorders,  there are no “good” foods and no “bad” foods, and acting as though there are can set up genetically predisposed kids for an eating disorder. In fact, Marcia often gives patients the assignment of learning to eat one of their “fear foods.” If a bulimic child is petrified that eating one brownie will lead to bingeing, then he or she must learn to eat that one brownie for snack or dessert. It’s a scary process, but can be done, and will result in a much happier child. I see people, both young and old, who are battling the effects of the good-food-bad-food thinking that is so pervasive these days.

                This story reminded me of the time my son came home telling me that according to a film he had seen at school, a cheeseburger and french fries were “whoa” foods (as opposed to “go” foods), and so maybe he had better stop eating them. You may not want to encourage your child to make these foods a daily staple, but on the other hand, do you really want your kid to go through life feeling like a criminal if he bites into a burger or drinks a milkshake? So, bottom line: don’t demonize any food. There’s a place at the table for all of them, in proportions that you can help your child determine.

Take care,

Nancy

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 26th, 2009 at 12:49 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.