Supporting Teens Through Eating Disorders and Embracing Body Neutrality: A Guide for Families in the Age of Diet Trends

Uncover the delicate intricacies of eating disorders and body neutrality with our expert guest, Allison. Our engaging dialogue promises to shed light on how to support teens through the challenges of today's diet trends and the subtle art of fostering a healthy body image. By lending an ear to this episode, you're set to gain a fresh perspective on how to navigate these complex topics within the context of family, culture, and the pressures of social media.

Allison's expertise brings clarity to the table as we discuss the cultural and familial significance of food, especially during holidays and in homes where conditions like diabetes add another layer to meal planning. We tackle the difficult questions about normalizing food and understanding individual recovery paths, providing actionable advice for parents wrestling with the impact of dietary motivations and the allure of diet fads on their children's wellness.

As we wrap up our heartfelt exploration, we turn to the critical role families play in the recovery from eating disorders. By focusing on the dynamics at family meals and the importance of modeling a diverse and unrestricted approach to food, this episode is an essential listen for anyone looking to support a teen like Susie in their journey towards a positive and realistic relationship with food and body image. Join us for a conversation brimming with empathy, insight, and the empowerment of self-awareness and acceptance.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

Hi everyone, I'm Rajuta, host of Answer my Call. I'm a mental health therapist and owner of Mindful Group Practice, located in Pennsylvania. I work primarily with teenagers and women in my practice. I'm a mom to two teenagers, always waiting for them to answer my call. Hi, allison, welcome to the podcast. I'm so excited to talk to you today.

Speaker 2: 0:34

Thank you for having me. I'm so excited to be here.

Speaker 1: 0:39

So, since we are doing this sort of series on eating disorders, I was kind of thinking about eating disorders from a nutrition perspective, because there's so much of that kind of calorie counting kind of debate around fasting and how do we kind of make sure that our teens who are struggling with the spectrum of eating disorders are able to get the nutrition that is needed?

Speaker 1: 1:12

And a lot of what is also happening is their struggle with figuring out quote unquote diets, because diets, I feel like, have so many different connotations. Right, diet, as in losing weight, so you're dieting, quote unquote, or you need to gain weight and things like that, so it's so much focused on weight itself. So I would love to talk to you about sort of nutrition and the different diets that are also kind of in the spectrum of being healthy. Right, we are talking so much about intermittent fasting now, and so, when it comes to eating disorders, how can we as parents navigate those things? So I would love to talk to you about all of that. I do want to start with asking you about your philosophy on body neutrality. You and I talked a little bit offline and I think that's a really good way to kind of talk about sort of eating disorders and nutrition. So if you can talk to us a little bit about your philosophy of body neutrality, that would be awesome.

Speaker 2: 2:33

Yeah, of course. Yes, body image is such a big piece of the puzzle with eating disorders and a lot of times body image comes up not only in the beginning but when clients are weight restored as well. So I think as parents we have the want to be like you're perfect, just the way you are right, like we love you and we wouldn't change a single thing, like you don't need to be insecure about X, y and Z. But that can be a little bit invalidating for like, say, like a teenager, for example. So I really do try to take the philosophy of neutrality versus like we're just going to have really good body image all the time and kind of normalize that like as a human, most of us will experience bad body image at some point in our lives and sometimes we have good body image days and sometimes we have bad body image days, and they can both be fine and normal in eating disorder recovery or just with navigating more positive body image in general. So I try to kind of frame it like we can take a couple of steps to get to more neutral space.

Speaker 2: 4:00

Sometimes that can look like focusing on body appreciation. So what can your body do for you? Like, what do you like about the things your body already does for you? A lot of my teens say, if they are in sports, like kind of recognizing that they can do these really fun activities and they have the ability to go out pretty easily with their friends. Sometimes body appreciation is a reflection of the things that you've done with your body in the past. So, like a really fun vacation, like going to Disney, like that's an experience that you had in your body that you can remember. Or, you know, going for a hike and seeing the fall weather, like fall leaves changing, like that that's a really good example of being able to be present and appreciating. Yes, you know, like I'm in my body, I can have these experiences and also sometimes struggle a bit with the way I look.

Speaker 1: 5:00

I kind of wanted to ask this question about being perfect, right Just the way you are, and I have been guilty of saying that millions of times to my own kids. Teenagers like I love you, I love the fact that you know you are a smart kid. You are perfect just the way you are. You don't need to change anything about yourself. You don't have to kind of struggle with things because you are who you are and we love you no matter what. And I think a lot of parents are kind of in that space of OK. I want to provide that confidence to my child and especially with teens who are going through so many different struggles in addition to sort of their relationship with food, we want them to feel like that's it. They don't need more. So if you could talk to me a little bit about how can that be invalidating would be really helpful.

Speaker 2: 6:12

Yeah, definitely. I think you know there's probably a gray area there, right, like I think that some sometimes what a child may need is, like you know, a conversation where it's like I think you're perfect just the way you are and that can be enough. That being said, our actions do speak a lot louder than words. So modeling around food and body image will be huge for teenagers. So even if you say to say your daughter like I wouldn't change a thing, you're perfect, and you yourself are looking in the mirror and saying this outfit looks ridiculous, I really need to lose weight, or a lot of like judgments around your own body, your child will pick up more on that than they will like taking a hold of the words that you're saying to them.

Speaker 2: 7:08

Because if you don't love yourself and you're not kind of projecting that, you know you're confident, no matter how your body looks that day and whatever you're wearing or the way in which you talk about your body.

Speaker 2: 7:20

So say you feel like you need to lose weight. If you're constantly talking about that around your child, they will still prioritize that over a conversation with you about that. You love the way that they are and you wouldn't change a thing. So I think the invalidating piece can be that a child might not feel like it's true. You know, and especially with an individual with an eating disorder, body dysmorphia is very common, so they may think that their parents are telling them what they want to hear and that's why it might be invalidating. So when we talk to them about body image and kind of acknowledge like hey, I might not know exactly what you're going through in this moment, but I know that I've been in a similar space before where I've had days where I woke up and I was like this is just not my day, or it felt like I changed outfits one too many times before I left, and that's really hard.

Speaker 1: 8:28

Yeah, yeah. So really sort of thinking about as parents, how are we modeling to our teens, I mean in general, but especially as they struggle with an eating disorder, right, being more conscious of how we talk about weight and food and sort of just our own bodies. I do think that we live in a culture that is so much focused on the way we look right and a lot of times we kind of say things unknowingly, unconsciously, I feel like a lot of times it's not even sort of self criticism in terms of body. But when we look at a celebrity, when we look at other people, we might say, hey, look how they are looking or what they are, you know, like what they're eating, things like that. So I think even being conscious, I would assume, about the way we judge other people and ourselves becomes a big piece of sort of modeling.

Speaker 2: 9:37

Definitely, definitely. And I think the holidays are hard as well, because I think about even conversations that I hear around my dinner table when I'm having guests over. Something that everyone feels like they can relate to is diets. It feels like, almost like this neutral conversation, that someone or anyone will have some sort of opinion about.

Speaker 2: 10:04

So in many ways we almost use dieting or that conversation around food or judgment towards others' bodies as a way to connect. So it's a lot of times rewriting that narrative. And kids with eating disorders when we think about an eating disorder, it is ultimately a mental health condition and a lot of the way in which an individual is coping with an emotion is almost projected into these different symptoms around food and body. So, thinking about conversations that may feel invalidating or validating when we talk about body image and neutrality, reminding ourselves that if our child is coming to us with some body image issues, there's probably a lot more going on, and validating the way they look isn't really what they're needing in that moment and they might just need more of an emotional check-in. Why is this coming up today? Did something cool? How are you feeling overall this week? And sometimes, when we move the conversation away from it being about our bodies or dieting, a little bit more about what our child is really struggling with.

Speaker 1: 11:31

Yeah, and I love the fact that you brought up the holidays and food as this kind of connecting piece. We talk so much about food all the time. A lot of times I complain to my husband like I have to think about three meals a day, like why there's so much focus on food and we build our relationships based on food and so the way we talk about food, especially during the holidays, I feel like there is so much focus on. If I eat Thanksgiving dinner, then the next morning I have to go to the gym to kind of work it out. How do we kind of talk about food during the holidays, especially with teens who are going through eating disorder struggles, like what are some of the conversations that we might want to have? We might not want to have as parents? So I guess my question is how do we kind of make it OK at the dinner table?

Speaker 2: 12:54

Yeah, I think if you have a loved one struggling with an eating disorder or disorder behaviors, a conversation prior to the meal is so helpful. Checking in and saying like, what kind of support do you need for that meal can be really helpful. And a lot of times, I think, being conscientious of the conversation, I'll often talk to my clients about having almost like a list of conversation ideas. So if someone starts talking about like oh, I'm eating too much or I don't normally allow myself to have mashed potatoes, but because it's a special holiday, here we are, they have some tools to be like oh, ok, that's what you're doing for you, but can I also tell you about X, y and Z? So my new puppy I got.

Speaker 2: 13:49

Listen to this funny story or what shows are you guys watching? Just ways to kind of deflect conversation so that it doesn't go down. A rabbit hole of Aunt Suzie says that she doesn't normally have mashed potatoes, which led to Uncle Pat saying, well, I started this diet and I can have mashed potatoes, and almost opening up this much larger conversation, we can kind of nip it in the butt. So that can be helpful when it comes to food and eating around the holidays. I think it can be really helpful to advocate for intuitive cues.

Speaker 2: 14:33

What are foods that are being served that are going to be satisfying to you, because that's going to be really important and how do we stay mindful of our hunger and fullness cues? How do we know when we are full and we need to stop eating or we want to stop eating? On the other hand of dieting, we have this idea that food brings us together. A lot of holidays, we have food and there's something really special about that and something that we should look forward to. There is that natural emotional connection with maybe it's the Thanksgiving turkey, although I'm more of a stuffings gal.

Speaker 2: 15:18

I think turkey is a little overrated. I'm there for the sides, but we're talking about this natural connection that we have with food and these situations does kind of give us this warm and fuzzy feeling. We should have these positive connections with food and helping our children recognize that that's OK. We can be too full sometimes and it be normal. We don't have to be hyperanalyzing where our carbs and our fats and our proteins are on our Thanksgiving plate. We can focus on. I love stuffing, I love turkey with gravy, I love pumpkin pie and enjoying those things together without judgment.

Speaker 1: 16:09

Yeah, yeah, that's really great advice. It's also really hard, I think, to focus on foods itself, especially and I don't know if you see that in your practice as well especially around cultural differences. So, coming from a different culture kind of, where perhaps we serve foods that are kind of heavy or, you know, not very American based, so, for example, at my Thanksgiving dinner I don't serve Turkey, although both my kids keep talking about Turkey, but I'm vegetarian, so it's usually like foods that I grew up with, for example, and that has become a tradition. And so for parents who are doing sort of their own holidays not just Thanksgiving, but sort of holiday dinners and, you know, kind of bringing in their own cultures to the table and connecting based on those different kinds of foods, how do we kind of talk to our teens about those differences when it comes to struggles with disordered eating or eating disorders, right? Like, how do we talk about that piece of culture and cultural differences when it comes to food when kids are struggling?

Speaker 2: 17:49

I think tradition is really important and having a conversation with our children about you know why we serve different foods that we serve and the memories that you have with those foods. You know whether they're negative or negative but you know bringing up some associations of like why it's important and why it became a tradition. And if, say, like, your great grandmother was the first person that introduced you to a certain dish, sharing a memory of that and how that felt and how special it is for you to be able to serve that to your own children and really kind of queuing into, actually this isn't even about the food anymore. Right, like, this is about our family and this is about our culture and what this food represents, and less about whether it's your favorite or not.

Speaker 1: 18:49

Right, right, and so kind of moving away from the holidays a little bit and into just sort of cultural practices or differences amongst teens that you see in your practice, how do you talk to teens about kind of work and I'm asking this specifically from the idea that every household has its own way of kind of their own relationship with foods and we do bring in the cultural piece of, say, for example, in my household we cook Indian food all the time, three times a day. So how do you then kind of work with teens who have different cultural practices at home and are struggling with eating disorders?

Speaker 2: 19:46

I think it depends, you know, on the holiday and time of year.

Speaker 2: 19:50

I know with some of my clients there are some practices in different cultures with like fasting, for example, and that sometimes in those cases I'll bring in like we actually have like a rabbi that we work with a lot with balanced nutrition just to kind of help us navigate through some holidays.

Speaker 2: 20:14

But when it comes to disorder eating and eating disorders, their health will always be a priority and when I have had conversations with different leaders and different cultural groups, that seems to be the universal statement of you know they shouldn't be fasting during this holiday because of their condition. So sometimes it's working with the families to navigate. Okay, what are the things that are really important culturally that we have no wiggle room on, what things do we think we can be flexible with and what support do we need to help navigate that within the community? So you know, I don't think that your dietitian will always have the right answer right off the bat, but we have the skills and tools to reach out to people in the community to help us decide what is going to be best for your child.

Speaker 1: 21:11

Yeah, yeah, no, that makes a lot of sense because it is sort of working with the families. It is working with that cultural piece of how do you as a family can work with your child as well, especially teenagers, with like so much social media, social influences that keep coming right constantly, sort of these TikTok videos talking about how to eat and what to eat and calorie counting and things like that. So I love the fact that you talk to kind of leaders within those cultures and also bring in family members, because it is sort of there is a need for families to work together in kind of helping their kids, their teens, through this struggle.

Speaker 2: 22:06

I was just going to say one other thought that I had about that is, within the family dynamic. Everyone's individual needs are a little bit different, so that's something that can be really important and I also will see. Say, if a parent has a chronic condition like diabetes for example, and they do need to kind of alter the way that they're eating a little differently than what we would want for a child and eating disorder recovery, we do have to have those conversations and acknowledge like, yeah, everyone, everyone does eat a little bit differently and what their normal is may look a little bit different, but this is what's important for your recovery right now.

Speaker 1: 22:55

Yeah, absolutely, and I think kind of that makes me think about different ways of eating. Right, every, not just culturally but as a family you can follow different. I don't know if they're diets or lifestyle. You know eating choices, but kind of like you know, being a vegan, vegetarian, intermittent fasting, which is sort of I don't know, taking such a big like mainstream it's almost a mainstream phenomenon now with fasting or keto right, like there are these different forms of diets that people are now kind of saying, hey, you know, this is good for the planet, so let's follow this. This is good for our bodies, so let's follow this.

Speaker 1: 23:55

Grains are not that great meats are. You know, there's so much of that Like I don't know if I want to call it noise, but there is so much information on what's good for us and what's not. When a teen comes in with sort of an idea, right, like they're struggling with an eating disorder, they come in and say, hey, you know what, I want to follow a keto diet because it's low carb, high protein and that's going to help me. How do you respond to that?

Speaker 2: 24:31

As you're talking, I'm thinking of this concept that I bring up a lot with my clients and say that we see a wellness poster at school that says, like you know, you need to be eating three fruits and veggies a day and limit red meat to once a week. Let's just say that that's the sign. 95% of those school students will see the sign and be like okay, like maybe, how much fruit did I have this week? Maybe I'll ask mom to grab me some grapes. Like I think I could use a little bit more fruit in my life, or like they might say like oh, I do really like gravitate to hamburgers a lot, so maybe I should try some chicken, or maybe you know a vegetarian alternative. But 5% of those kids will see that sign and be like oh, so, like, red meat is bad. I am failing if I'm not having three fruits and veggies every day.

Speaker 2: 25:30

And that's the difference between someone that might jump on and off of a diet or have some thoughts around food that might be positive or negative, but not necessarily influencing their life overall, versus someone who has more disordered eating or an eating disorder. Seeing something like that actually triggers more of an emotional response and food starts having value when we say to someone that's struggling with disordered eating or an eating disorder that we should be going vegetarian at least four times a week. That will actually be really helpful for our planet, and we know that vegetarian lifestyles have great outcomes in regards to our health and wellness. Someone with disordered eating or an eating disorder may find that they have a lot of guilt and shame for wanting to have something like a burger based on that situation, or they might feel like they're failing. I'm hurting the world because I can't seem to stick to this vegetarian lifestyle. So when it comes to things that are either culturally away, like a family dynamic or maybe something that a client is interested in like, I'd like to go vegan at some point.

Speaker 2: 26:55

I often challenge it in the sense of is that more of an eating disorder or is this truly what you want? And we can actually figure that out, the more we work together and we normalize food in general. In a couple of months I can ask that question to you again and see if it still holds that importance to you. So a lot of times when I'm working, especially with young teens, pre-teens because they're growing and their bodies are changing depending on their nutritional needs, I generally don't recommend going vegan to start. I usually stay at least so Ovo vegetarian, something that has complete protein sources available to them, just to kind of help with growth and development, and then over time, if it is part of, say, family values, if it's something that the client is really passionate about, we can work towards maybe something like veganism or a version of that that works for their recovery.

Speaker 1: 28:02

Yeah, no, and that's such a great point of really trying to figure out whether it's kind of your feeding your eating disorder by making that choice versus something that you really want to contribute, say, to the planet or your family value system in terms of food habits, and trying to navigate that. I think that's such a such an intricate part of that process of becoming self-aware and reflecting on what some of our choices are and how they kind of affect us and our bodies in many ways. Also, you said something prior to that, which is food as being a value like or attaching value to food. Can you talk a little bit more to that, because I think that's really an important piece of sort of figuring out our relationship with food.

Speaker 2: 29:11

Are we thinking more along the lines of like value, meaning self-worth like food is a reflection that could be yeah, that could definitely be a big chunk of it.

Speaker 1: 29:22

but also like, what kind of values we bring to food within the family system, or how do we attach, like you say mentioned, our self-worth to food and therefore our bodies? Does that make sense?

Speaker 2: 29:41

Yeah, yeah. So I think because of social media, the way the American culture is, I mean there's no doubt that diet culture has a serious hold on us. It's a multi-billion dollar industry and it's not going anywhere. You know, nine times out of ten. You know the diet industry is not looking out for your health and wellness. You know they're. They're looking out for making money and marketing in a way that sells their products.

Speaker 2: 30:15

So when we live in a world that values dieting and values bodies and thinness so much, it's really hard not to connect your worth with food. Yeah, with a diet and eating there's something very powerful. And saying that at dinner you skip dessert, you know it then becomes like oh well, I skipped dessert, I had that willpower, I had that self-control. So true, yeah. So I think with an eating disorder, finding that control and feeling like they have the power to kind of navigate what they're eating or not eating, actually feels much safer and can have emotional stability. Not in the best way, right, like we know, like eating disorders, symptoms aren't helpful, especially long term, but in the moment it provides some comfort, it provides some relief from stress and anxiety and I think really in our work we move away from food. Having values like that they can be good or bad, you know like they shouldn't have a moral value it's just food.

Speaker 2: 31:31

But we even go I try to break it down to like food is our medicine right now. So some of these concepts that we are talking about, say veganism or helping our planet, it's like yes, that is a fabulous goal, but food is our medicine right now. So would you say to say, your child, you're not gonna take this antibiotic because of the way it was processed or because you got sick when you took it the first time. So it's just not worth it to try again. Like no. We would be like no, no, no, you need to take your medicine. We're gonna figure out a way to make it work. It will help you get better. That's the same thing with food in the scenario Like food is our medicine. So there is gonna be food waste, there is gonna be situations where food feels really uncomfortable. There might be other symptoms that arise because we're pushing food in a different way, and that's all very normal and we don't give up because of that. We just figure out ways to kind of navigate through it.

Speaker 1: 32:37

Yeah, wow, that is amazing.

Speaker 1: 32:40

And it's so true that food is medicine.

Speaker 1: 32:45

Our body needs food to be healthy and kind of function right, and attaching moral value to food kind of limits us in many ways in terms of taking care of ourselves, and especially with teens who are going through eating disorders, it's such a disservice to kind of put that, as you know, like the moral value of food on them, or them taking it on themselves that I need to save the planet. And I do understand, like with young people, it's so much about doing the right thing. You know, like so many revolutions have happened because of students, and so I get that idealism that comes with I need to take care of my planet, I need to do something more than what I can. But I think it's such a big disservice when we attach that moral value and as a parent I'm struggling with that balance too that I want to do something for my community, for my you know sort of world. But then how do I balance it with what's important for me, my family as well, right, it's often not black and white, right Like.

Speaker 2: 34:08

It's often that. There's probably somewhere in the middle where we can do a little bit of both, and that's a very it's a very tough place to navigate. Staying in. It's much easier to be like this the right thing to do and this is the wrong thing. Having things kind of just black and white set out there for you makes things a little bit easier, but it often isn't the way life works, and especially when it comes to food.

Speaker 1: 34:36

Yeah, yeah, and I do think there's so much of our own struggle as parents, you know, trying to do the right thing for our kids and teaching them the value of food in itself, right, like you mentioned, food waste, and I talk a lot about take only as much as you can eat, you know, don't waste food. But that's how I grew up, coming from India. It was a big part of my culture that you know there shouldn't be wastage with food, and so we bring our rules and regulations, if you will, as a family, to food which then sort of, our kids take them on as well. I think then it becomes really hard for teens who are going through eating disorder struggles, especially to kind of figure out how do I balance food as food itself, like food as medicine, versus food that has a lot of moral value, a lot of like value itself, right Like, I don't know. I think the question I'm asking you is isn't it natural to attach value to food? You know?

Speaker 2: 35:55

right? I think so and I think what, what your example, you know, brings up this thought. Like you know, I come from this generation of, like we call it, the clean your plate club. Yeah, if you've heard of that.

Speaker 2: 36:10

But you know, hey, my parents growing up are like you have to eat everything if you want to. You have to eat everything before you leave the table. And that is like right, like a food regulation kind of mech mechanism when we kind of like loop back around to the bigger conversation of food in our bodies and trusting Food. You know, food isn't our enemy. We don't have to Always connect it with value. You know. One thing I do think about is Sometimes, when we, when we put some of these rules out there, we tell our kids that they can't trust their bodies, right, like if they portion more than they thought they thought they could eat and they can't finish it, we're pushing, moving away from intuition, like their body saying oh wait, I'm done, and More so.

Speaker 2: 37:05

Like what's the value of that situation? But this is what we do. We eat the full meal, sometimes too, like again, this is definitely a my generation thing where it's like you have to eat dinner to have dessert Right there. You know, dessert is just. You know the value of dessert just went up like tenfold because it's special. All the sudden does it's like this food that's conditional and special and Can only be had in certain occasions in a certain way. So it's really tricky because we don't want food to gain too much value yeah, yeah, too much power and Navigating what things are really important. As a parent that you want to continue in traditions with your family, you know, like that value that you're discussing About, like food waste, that might be something that is very important and that doesn't need to shift. But we can look at bigger picture, like, well, if that's something that we're keeping and is it very important, are there other things that I feel like might Be giving food power that I can adjust or feel?

Speaker 1: 38:21

yeah, yeah, I love that balance, that if we are kind of putting a value or a Rule in place that we compensate that with something else, that is not that big of a deal, so to speak, right like having that balance and having that Awareness that this is important for for our family, and then this is something that we do so that we don't Attach too much power or value to a certain food or a or a diet, if you will, for lack of other word for that. What would be some of your suggestions? Or perhaps this is something you talk about in your practice with parents, right, like with Teen struggling with eating disorders or even with disordered eating. What are some of this, some of the suggestions, especially when it comes to nutrition, would you talk to parents about?

Speaker 2: 39:26

Eating, eating dinners together, is one of my number one Things. You know, being able to sit down together, eat together, bring back in the Emotional connection of like oh actually, this is a social interaction, this is about being together after a long day. It gives your, your child, an opportunity to see you food modeling right, like how you're behaving around food and normalizing different Things that you're eating. It gives them space to share how feeling emotionally. So I think the family dinner dynamic is just something that I find to be so, so important. I do find that a lot of parents are like well, you know, I don't know why, susie is my example today, but Susie, you know, is expected to pack her lunch. Like she's 16 years old, she needs to pack her lunch. And maybe there's a conversation Like okay, susie will need to map pack her lunch at some point, but right now she needs a little bit more help. So what it kind of changes do we have to make within the family system to support Susie through through this eating disorder and get her back to a more neutral space? Sometimes really breaking down some of the family food roles can be helpful. You know, giving less power to things like dessert can help normalize Food in general for someone that's struggling with an eating disorder.

Speaker 2: 40:57

So I often suggest Not restricting access to food, like any food, but you can also be the person that navigates portions. So they Susie. Once Oreo's first neck. It's like, okay, yeah, like it's food. You can have Oreos, you can have Three and say, susie comes back, I'm so hungry, okay, we'll pick something. That's a different color, different texture. Pick something else. You know, like it's not that or is or bad. But you've you already had some varieties really important. So what else do you want to add with your snack? Is it a cheese stick? Is it carrots and hummus? You know, like giving some ideas and some options that will include a food that is normally deemed like bad or unhealthy in our society, but normalizing it in a way that it can be a part of our intake, but it doesn't have to be a hyper focus.

Speaker 1: 42:01

Yeah, thank you for that. As a dietitian, in your practice, how do you approach teens, teens especially with Sort of body image so we talked about sort of the diet parents. But how do teens themselves kind of, how are they able to work with they're eating disorders, you know so when they come to you in your practice, how do you kind of navigate different kind of approaches in terms of body image, eating disorder and then actual Nutrition for them?

Speaker 2: 42:43

big question, but no, it's a good question and I think a lot of times when we're pushing getting back to normalized eating whether that's Taking an intuitive approach or a meal plan approach I Hear fear of weak gain right, like I hear that day in and day out. Well, what if this? What if I gain weight? Like you know, what if I? What if this Makes me at an unhealthy weight? And I do say, well, what if you do gain weight? Like what do you think the worst thing that would happen would be each weight? What are your biggest fears? And when it comes to the teen population, our bodies are supposed to still be changing, right, our bodies change throughout our whole entire lives, especially that you know, newborn to 18 years old, right, like we have growth for following. So, sometimes, depending on their age, out without that growth chart, I'm like, hey look, this is how you're growing. You know we need to stay on track with your growth chart. That's really what Helps us figure out what's healthy for you.

Speaker 2: 43:50

Sometimes, going and breaking it down to I'll give an example I'm like, think about a newborn to the age of three or four and how much they change in that period of time, right, like not only developmentally, mentally developmentally but also physically developmentally, like you just see this like shocking difference right from newborn to four. And I tried to challenge like that same type of change happens from 10 to 16, or 12 to 18, or 14 to 20. Our bodies are still changing and it might not look exactly the same or as evident as like the zero to four, right, but our hormones are changing. You know where our body composition is changing, emotionally. We're changing so much in that period of time. If there's so many things that will change. We still grow, like height wise, you know, like we're still growing and changing and that is normal and actually a really good thing.

Speaker 1: 44:52

We aren't supposed to look Like we're 16 forever or 10 forever, yeah, yeah, no, that's, that's an amazing approach, especially with the approach that you have with body neutrality.

Speaker 1: 45:07

I think it's so important to have a grounding in terms of our own body, like I, when I started talking about Eating disorders for the series, the thought that keeps coming up for me is really how can you be, in a way, at war with your own body right? Like food is such a big part of of just nourishing our body and making sure that we are functional and we are able to do the things that we want to do, we wish to do, and and the more I'm kind of talking to different experts about eating disorders and teenagers, the more I feel that that self-awareness around our own bodies and being okay with who we are in in terms of the way we look right, is such a big part of Kind of being okay with ourselves right. And so to your approach of body neutrality, body appreciation and attaching experience to our body, I think is a wonderful approach and, honestly, a very crucial approach to working with teens with with eating disorder. So thank you so much for talking to me.

Speaker 2: 46:37

Yeah, thank you. Thank you, this has been great. I love talking about this stuff. I can.

Speaker 1: 46:43

I can see that and hear that, and it's, it's, it made me think. It made me think about so many different questions that I hadn't thought about, so I appreciate, though, the ease with which you talk about eating disorders and helping teenagers in your practice. So thank you so much.

Speaker 2: 47:04

Yeah, thank you, thank you I.

Speaker 1: 47:07

Truly hope that you enjoyed this conversation. My goal is to provide you with in-depth discussion on topics that concern us as parents of teenagers and young adults, and and provide you with resources to get started. Have a beautiful week ahead. I would love to hear from you on our Instagram page for parents of teens underscore podcast. See you back here soon. You.