· Among teens of normal weight, 40-60 percent sees themselves as too heavy.

· Up to 60 percent of all teens diet regularly.

· The large majority of teens are preoccupied with their food intake.

Just a Little Too Thin helps parents recognize if their teenager’s desire to be thin is a simple quest to shed a few pounds or something that’s developing into a struggle to feel good. It’s not just a book about anorexia, but rather a book about those who have a problem with food (or dieting)—those who are flirting with anorexia because of a deeper emotional battle.

Detailing the findings of Dr. Strober’s original research—that there are three distinct stages of eating disorders—Just a Little Too Thin offers guidance on how to curb a child’s obsession with weight. It also provides strategies on how to help girls cope with the body-image issues that are feeding their fixation in ways that won’t estrange the child in question. Ultimately, Strober and Schneider lend a blueprint for how to help keep calorie counting from turning into a serious problem.

About the Authors

Michael Strober, Ph.D., is one of the country’s foremost authorities on eating disorders. He currently holds the position of Director of both the Eating Disorders Program and the Adolescent Mood Disorders Program at UCLA’s Neuropsychiatric Institute. He is also the Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Eating Disorders. He lives is Los Angeles.

Meg Schneider, M.A., L.M.S.W., is the author or coauthor of several parenting books, including Difficult Questions Children Ask—And are Too Afraid to Ask—About Divorce and 25 of the Best Parenting Techniques Ever. A therapist who divides her time between a private practice and an outpatient mental health center in New York, she specializes in treating adolescents and their families.

September 1, 2005 Hardcover 235 Pages ISBN: 0-7382-1018-8 $25.00 Parenting/Health

The Three Stages of an Eating Disorder

Stage One: The Innocent (but Rigid) Dieter

She’s thinking that it’s time to get thin. She needs to lose a few pounds. She selects a diet and sticks to it. Every day she checks to see what’s happened. She introduces exercise into her daily routine. What, she asks if questioned, could be healthier than the way she is now treating her body? The pounds begin to come off, but to the casual eye she is still looking good, if not a bit too slender.

Stage Two: The Exhilarated Dieter

Success. She’s receiving lots of compliments. Maybe, she thinks, she can do better. Now she’s studying calorie and carbohydrate charts. She is preoccupied a good deal of the day with decisions about what to eat. She can’t wait to exercise off what she’s just eaten. The pounds are slowly coming off. She feels powerful. A little hungry, too, but she can master that.

Stage Three: The Obsessed and Preoccupied Dieter

Immediately upon waking, and then throughout the day, she is planning what she will and will not eat and precisely when. She’s strategizing how she can keep it to herself, since most people don’t seem to understand how important this is. She wonders if she can squeeze in two hours at the track. What she sees in the mirror—fifteen pounds lighter than her starting goal of a five-pound loss—still doesn’t seem right. Not her thighs, anyway. She’s been feeling a bit tired lately, but it can’t be the food thing because she hardly feels hungry. Just a little. She’s wishing people would just leave her alone. Let her “eat” in her room. Everything would be great. Also, the smells in the kitchen are kind of nauseating—when they’re not filling her with uncontrollable desire and cravings. This girl is on the brink.

© 2005 HealthNewsDigest.com