Young women are especially vulnerable to what our media portrays and to the influence of their peers. This is usually the age, too, in which most women do their first diet. It might seem odd, but a first diet is seen by many teenagers as a rite of passage into womanhood.

Yet there is nothing innocent about a diet – think about it: you wouldn’t let your teenager daughter drink and drive, you wouldn’t let her smoke, but oftentimes mothers see a diet as a positive step, especially if their daughters are overweight.

Diets can distort our relationship with our bodies, disconnecting us from our real hunger signals and causing havoc to our metabolism. A diet gone wrong can lead to an eating disorder. Therefore it is imperative to guide young women in these formative years, helping them develop a positive relationship with their bodies, their health and their environment.

If you have a teenage daughter and would like to help her in her journey, please check the following resources:

For information on teens and disordered eating, please read HERE

For background information on the eating spectrum and disordered eating, please check HERE

You may find the following books useful:

Your dieting daughter: antidotes parents can provide for body dissatisfaction, excessive dieting, and disordered eating. Carolyn Costin

You’d be so pretty if… Teaching our daughters to love their bodies – even when we don’t love our own. Dara Chadwick

Reviving Ophelia: saving the selves of adolescent girls. Mary Pipher.

Miss Representation, widely available documentary.