Healthy Eating, Healthy Children

On Monday, the Guardian posted an article about the increase in eating disorders in children, saying that '..more than 2,000 young people were being treated by NHS hospitals in the past three years, with 98 aged between five and seven years old'. The contributing factors according to the article were genetic factors, cultural factors and body image. All three had a large impact on how children perceive food.

I wish to bring up my children with healthy choices, but don't most parents want the same thing? So how do we do this in today's society without jeopardizing our child's emotional being so they don't fall down the path of having an unhealthy relationship with food?


Food is often used to treat oneself, but what happens when we associate these pick-me-ups with an emotional upheaval? A piece of cake to make all the difficult feelings go away often does the trick. But something has gone wrong when a child is gorging on chocolate cake till they make themselves sick. Where is our responsibility as parents to teach our children to manage their emotions rather than 'eat' their emotions?


Then there is the issue of body image, young girls way before their teens aspiring to size 0 models on glossy magazine covers. They are becoming conscious of their bodies at a younger age. And this is not just the case in girls, the number in boys is rapidly rising. The demands society places on youth, beauty and weight affects even the youngest.


As a psychotherapist, I have worked closely with young adults who have struggled with food due to a result of unhealthy relationships with their parents. And now as a mom, I see how difficult it is trying to balance food choices on a daily basis. So Moms, Dads, and Moms to be out there--If you too feel anxious about these statistics or about your kids eating, please share.