Community Magazine July 2009

56 COMMUNITY MAGAZINE A Deadly Precursor Disturbed eating is a pattern of unhealthy eating involving rigid behaviors and attitudes surrounding food that may lead to full- fledged eating disorders. People with disturbed eating may still retain control over their eating behaviors, their weight may not be dangerously low and their episodes of dieting, starving, binging, purging or exercising may be infrequent, but they often suffer from chronic distress and impairment. As their behaviors are relatively mild, they may go unnoticed and eventually develop into a full- blown eating disorder 5 . The Jewish Factor Surprisingly to many, the Jewish population and the Orthodox community appear to experience similar rates of disturbed eating attitudes as the general population. 6 A recent research project 7 studied a non-random sample of 205 pre-adolescent Orthodox Jewish girls in grades 3-8 attending six yeshiva day schools in the New York area. The participants filled out a survey which was applied to statistical regression analysis to help model possible causal relationships among the various factors. The survey examined the relationships between: Parents’ attitudes about weight and shape • Peer influences (teasing and weight concerns) • Body esteem (self-evaluation of • physical appearance and others’ evaluations about one’s body and appearance) Self-esteem (the girl’s • attitude toward herself) Media influence • (newspapers, magazines, billboards, posters, books, radio, TV, and the Internet 8 ) Eating attitudes and • behaviors. The findings revealed a clear correlation between increased media influence, parental concern, peer influence and self esteem, and dissatisfaction with body image and disturbed eating attitudes and behaviors. Encouragingly, none of the participants’ scores indicated the presence of a full-blown eating disorder. However, as we would expect, the risk of disturbed eating attitudes and behaviors appear to be greater for girls who were less satisfied with their bodies. Dissatisfaction with one’s body was more likely among girls who felt more influence from parents, friends and the media to lose weight or become more muscular. Girls aged 11-14 years had slightly higher levels of disturbed eating attitudes and behaviors than girls aged 8-11. This is consistent with existing research showing that such attitudes and behaviors increase throughout adolescence. The Fix What can parents do to help their adolescent daughters cope with the natural concerns about weight and shape? One important key to the solution is helping girls develop healthy and positive attitudes toward their bodies and appearance at an early age, before the onslaughts of adolescence. For example: Encourage healthy exercise patterns such as hiking, bicycling  or sports. Promote healthy eating patterns such as reasonable portions  and healthy snacks/desserts. Encourage children to look beyond weight and appearance  to achieve happiness and self-worth. Encourage children to accept themselves as they are and not  expect physical perfection in themselves or their friends. Encourage your daughter to share her concerns about  weight, shape and teasing, and resist the temptation to tease others about their weight and shape. Teach by example. Choose healthy eating and exercise  patterns, remember that your appearance is only a small part of your identity, and accept yourself as you are. Avoid comments about your own or anyone else’s  appearance, weight, shape or dieting. Get help for yourself or your daughter if one or both of you is overly preoccupied with weight or shape, diets excessively, or fails to maintain a normal body weight. If you believe that you, or someone you know, may have an eating disorder, the Sephardic Bikur Holim (SBH) Mental Health Resource can help. SBH provides workshops, referrals, and educational programs on various mental health issues including eating disorders. Contact the Mental Health Resource at 718-787-1300. All calls are strictly confidential. Endnotes 1 Lowes & Tiggemann, 2003. 2 Gustafson-Larson & Terry, 1992. 3 APA, 2004. 4 Fisher, 2003; Rome, et al. 2003. 5 Herrin & Matsumoto. 6 Apter, et al., 1994; Dancyger et al., 2002; Kaffman & Sadeh, 1989; Mitrany, Lubin, Chetrit, & Modan 1995. 7 Kuessous, 2009 8 Odea, 2007.