Beating an eating disorder

What are our children eating ? And what if they're actually not eating much at all ? Katy Gosset talks to parents about the rise of eating disorders.

What are our children eating ? And what should we do if we find that, actually, they're not eating very much ? Social media feeds mean young people face more pressure to look a certain way. In Episode Eight of Are We There Yet? Katy Gosset looks at the rise of eating disorders.

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We all have our preferences, let's face it.

And. yes, there are certain vegetables that may never win a popularity contest. (Hello brussels sprouts !)

And yet we need this stuff: a broad range of vegetables, grains, fats and carbohydrates.

So how, then, do we deal with a growing suspicion that our offspring, usually an older and more independent child, may be skipping some of these key food groups altogether?

"She was very, very clever about hiding her body for some time in very baggy clothes." Mother of two

And how do we steer our child away from an unhealthy relationship with food ?

"I try to tell her she's beautiful be herself but it's really hard because there's always just "No, I don't want to do it because I'm fat." Mother of four

And in the case of one daughter, there were many ploys used to mask just how her attitude towards food had changed.

"When I questioned her, she very cleverly would just retort "Oh Mum, you don't need to worry, I went to Subway after school" or "We shared pizza at lunchtime as well"

"There was always something to try and take me off track."

This daughter suffered a stomach injury while horse riding and that provided another excuse to avoid food.

But her mother's nagging fears continued and she contacted specialists, desperate to find a reason why her daughter couldn't eat.

Eventually matters came to a head during a visit to the family's GP.

"We basically backed her into a corner and he just said "You're choosing not to eat."

A Devastating Diagnosis

The impact of this revelation came as a tremendous shock for the girl's parents.

"It was a huge, huge deal to me. My husband and I just about collapsed."

The pair felt a mixture of disbelief at the diagnosis and relief at finally having a name for their daughter's struggle.

But it was still a shock to grasp the extent of the eating disorder when the mother unintentionally saw her daughter undressed…

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details