Avalon Hills Blog

Unfortunately teenage dieting is not just a phase that we can hope they will eventually grow out of. According to a study, unhealthy eating practices arising from eating disorders that are developed during the teenage years are more likely to persist into early adulthood and even further.

Project Eating and Activity in Teens and Young Adults (or Project EAT) is a 10-year study conducted by the University of Minnesota. Project EAT is the first study that kept track of eating and weight control behaviors, spanning from the teenage years to young adulthood. The purpose of the study is to look into eating and activity levels, as well as weight levels of teenagers. The study encompassed over 2,000 participants with 1,257 females and 1,030 males, with a third of the participants having a mean age of 12.8 years at the onset.

Key Findings

These participants were between 12 to 16 years old at the time the study began. And findings showed that unhealthy eating and weight control habits that these adolescents developed during their teens tend to persist into adulthood. These results underscore the importance of being able to prevent, identify and treat eating disorders during the teenage years.

• Approximately half of the female participants and one-fourth of the male participants stated that they were dieting within the past year at the start of the survey.
• Dieting habits in females remained somewhat constant from the teenage years to adulthood.
• Among females, unhealthy weight control habits (such as skipping of meals and the use of diet pills) also stayed steady into these participants’ young adulthood with a slight decrease during the middle adolescence. However, the prevalence of unhealthy dieting practices is still quite high (decreasing to 54.4% from 60.7%).
• As for males, dieting habits remained constant throughout the period with a considerable rise in dieting beginning from their mid-teens to middle young adulthood. Showing that males are more likely to start dieting when they reach their early to mid-20s.
• The prevalence of unhealthy dieting practices climbed from 2.1% to 7.3%, with binge eating rising from 3% to 5.9%.

Importance of Early Action

The lead author of the research, Dianne Neumark-Sztainer, emphasized the role of parents and responsible adults to diminish the occurrence of bad eating and dieting. Parents should be on the lookout for early warning signs and should also encourage their children to have a healthy body image. The study also shows the importance of getting help early for things such as anorexia treatment or bulimia treatment.

Some warning signs that often show that a teen may need eating disorder treatment include an excessive preoccupation with one’s weight and appearance, obsession about counting calories, going to the toilet after meals, avoidance of eating or lying about how much he or she has eaten and over-exercising.

Although we are aware of the fight against obesity in the United States we strongly encourage the right habits and methods of doing so should be promoted. Teens should be given the information about how unhealthy weight control methods and dieting actually have a negative effect.

Help for Eating Disorders

Concerned parents can get help for eating disorders through Avalon Hills. Avalon Hills eating disorder treatment center is committed to providing holistic treatment to help teens and adults triumph over eating disorders.

Avalon Hills aims to treat anorexia, bulimia and other eating disorders by changing the way they see themselves, their bodies and their surroundings. This is done by helping them towards positive change through new information, new experiences and new insights. By developing a new mindset towards positive change, one is more resistant towards the negative influences that can sometimes cause the eating disorders.

Avalon Hills’ treatment program uses a combination of psychotherapy (both group and individual), animal assisted therapy, outdoor challenges, activities focused on self-expression, tackling body and food fears and more.

Eating disorders are often misunderstood because they are so difficult to diagnose.  Bulimia and anorexia are the most commonly known eating disorders, and people still misunderstand them.  An eating disorder is so much more than abnormal or unhealthy eating habits.  They go beyond the physical manifestations of the disorder.

Bulimia can be a little confusing because two opposites are present.  Someone with bulimia may have an obsessive fear of gaining weight, but they also feel a strong desire to overeat.  This desire often becomes a compulsive behavior.  Those struggling generally do not want to overeat, because they know afterward they may feel miserable.

Often, after a person binges they may feel panicked and be ashamed. This can lead to thoughts of poor body image and gaining weight. This is one of the reasons purging is so common with bulimia.  It is also important to understand that not all people with bulimia induce vomiting to purge.  Some will use laxatives, diuretics, enemas, or excessive exercise to purge the additional food.  Others may start to fast to burn off the calories.

Anyone in need of bulimia help may experience the bingeing and purging cycle regardless of how they attempt to eliminate the extra food.  The cycle will usually start with a strict diet.  This diet will start to cause tension when the body gets hungry.  Soon the person will be unable to fight the need for food and they’ll eat something.  This will often lead to binge eating because the diet often gets abandoned once it has been broken.  During a binge eating session a person can take in between 3,000 and 5,000 calories in an hour.

After the session the person will start to feel down.  Most people feel ashamed, guilty or depressed.  Not long after this the panic may start to set in.  They will then purge in whatever way they prefer.  After that, the cycle often repeats itself.  The cycle becomes incredibly difficult to break.

There are many different symptoms of bulimia because different people do different things.  However, there are a few common symptoms.  The person is unable to control the amount of food they eat.  They may not eat regular meals, and instead they eat a lot and then don’t eat for a while.  They may eat a lot of food without gaining weight, or they may have fluctuating weight.  Most people suffering from bulimia may have a normal weight or be a little overweight.  They may also exercise excessively.  Frequent and long bathroom visits after meals is a common behavior.  They may also have physical symptoms such as; discolored teeth and puffy cheeks.

When someone discovers that a loved one has bulimia it’s important to seek professional help.  Visiting an outpatient team or eating disorder clinic such as Avalon Hills are among the best options for treatment.  Avalon Hills urges anyone dealing with bulimia to seek help from a professional.

At Avalon Hills the youngest that we will take a patient is 11 years old. Sadly, we have seen an increase in calls for those looking for treatment options for children that are much younger. There definitely has been an increase over the last few years of children, who are being diagnosed with bulimia nervosa and anorexia nervosa. This article (http://j.mp/cgnycb) that appeared in a British Publication shows how epidemic eating disorders are in young children in more than just the United States.

One thing of importance is how often medical practitioners are recognizing the condition during the early stages. These disorders are serious mental health issues and although well publicized over the past 20 years, the incidence of eating disorders continues to rise. As discussed in the article, young women and children are endangering their health by doing things such as eliminating protein sources which can quickly result in iron deficiencies that can lead to anemia and then further complications.

One of the most disconcerting aspects of eating disorders is the very young ages at which they are occurring. Currently, the number of eating disorders developing prior to age 16 is on the rise. Without treatment, many of those with serious eating disorders will die. That number greatly diminishes with treatment from a facility specializing in the treatment of eating disorders.

Since most patients may need many months of inpatient or residential treatment which can often come at a very high cost, many of those with bulimia and anorexia go untreated. Those in the field are making the case that there must be a greater awareness within the medical profession that those who are significantly underweight must be assessed as stringently as those who are overweight.

Please contact Avalon Hills for more information about eating disorders and treatment.