In a world where filtered influencers and celebrities boast of perfectly sculpted bodies, teens are often pressured to live up to impossible beauty expectations. Constant comparison with them, especially at a stage when a teenager is most vulnerable about their looks, makes it hard for them to feel good about their bodies.
With all these pressures, it becomes much more crucial for parents to be aware of how their teens perceive their bodies, their relationship with food, and their eating behaviour. In the rest of the post, we will discuss some critical signs of disordered eating a parent should look out for and how Pinardin’s monitoring tools can help support those teens in need.
Disordered Eating vs. Eating Disorders: What’s the Difference?
First, let’s clarify the difference between disordered eating and an eating disorder. Eating disorders are clinically diagnosed medical conditions, such as anorexia or bulimia, and are generally characterized by more severe symptoms.
Although not every case of disordered eating will progress into an eating disorder, it does entail unhealthy behaviour around food that can spiral out of control. This might take the form of being on rigid diets or fixating on calorie intake. Parents can target earlier intervention if they are aware of such tendencies or behaviours in time.
Watch Out for the Signs of Disordered Eating in Your Teen
Following is a list of red flags regarding disordered eating that you can look out for:
- Constant dieting with anxiety around certain foods
- Frequent weight changes, either gain or loss
- Inflexible habits and rituals regarding exercise and eating
- Feeling guilt or shame after eating
- Continual preoccupation with food, weight, and body image
- Losing control around food, overeating, or perhaps binging
- Over-exercising or severely limiting the intake of food by using extreme measures like fasting or purging
If you have noticed any of these behaviours in your teenager, don’t ignore your concerns. Discuss it and offer support.
Remember: Boys Are Also Affected
It’s not only girls who suffer in body image; boys too have an ideal physique they feel pressured to meet. Whether trying to achieve the chiselled superhero look or simply obsessing about muscle-building, teen boys can also develop unhealthy eating or exercise habits. It is essential that all children, girls and boys alike, should be taught to practice body acceptance.
How Pinardin Can Help Keep You Informed
This disturbing trend was brought up in Pinardin’s annual report: “9% of tweens and 21% of teens reported engaging with or being exposed to disordered eating content online.”
Many parents have no idea what their teen may be going through. That’s where Pinardin comes in: it checks your teen’s digital activity for potential body image or eating disorder-related content and brings you into a conversation that could provide an early chance to intervene and offer support.
Stay informed and make use of tools like Pinardin to help your teenager survive such pressures and live a healthier life both with food and their bodies.
