Eating disorders and nutrition for kids

Nutrition for kids is a huge topic. It carries us from breastfeeding babies to childhood obesity, food allergies, chronic diseases, failure to thrive and eating disorders. The week of February 26- March 3 is recognized as National Eating Disorder week in our country. It is a time to bring recognition to a disease that is prevalent in our thriving country.

The statistics for children aged 8-15 years old is relatively low- approximately 0.1% of children are considered to have an eating disorder. Females are more likely to have an eating disorder but there are many males that also fight the disorder.

An eating disorder is defined by extreme change in eating habits. Eating disorders include anorexia nervosa, bulimia and binge eating disorders.

The good news is that eating disorders are treatable with the help of psychotherapy, nutrition counseling and medical care and monitoring.

If you think a child might have an eating disorder it is important to seek professional advice and intervention. Discuss the situation with your pediatrician who can then refer you to the proper channels of mental health and nutritional counseling.

Don't forget to sign up for our free weekly newsletter at www.ABCDEatRight.com .We will continue the ABC's of Nutrition series until March where we will have visual surprises for you in our kid, parent and teacher friendly newsletter!