Are You Passing On Bulimia To Your Child?

There are studies that show that there are genes that put you at high risk of eating disorders like bulimia or anorexia. (http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/10/08/researchers-find-genes-li...), which partially explains why eating disorders seem to run in families. Although genes seem to play a factor, most people are ignoring a more obvious answer as to why bulimia and eating disorders seem to run in families.

We pass on eating disorders because our children are MODELLING our dieting behavior.

Many of Us Are On A Diet For Most Of Our Lives.

A survey a few years back showed that British women go through 61 diets by the time they turn 45.

With most women having children in their late 20s and early 30s, this means that most children see their mothers on a restrictive diet during their formative years. At a time when we should be modeling healthy behaviors for our children, we're showing them bad ones.

This means that at the time when our children should be eating sufficient food to nourish their growing bodies, we're showing them that weight gain is bad and how to avoid it.

At the time when children shouldn’t be worrying about how their bodies look, we are showing them that we are ashamed of our bodies. Body’s that they are becoming.

What Our Children Can See In Our Dieting Behaviour

We may not think that this is a big deal. After all, we make the effort to make sure that our children eat well by preparing them the right kind of food and by making sure they eat at the right time.

But the problem is when children see their parents perpetually on a diet or trying to control their food intake in some way; they come to think this is normal, when it is not!

Rather than getting nutrition from a wide a variety of sources for their growing bodies, when children see their parents avoiding certain foods to lose weight or even be ‘healthy’, they develop food biases that aren’t healthy.

Take for example carbohydrates and fats. When they see us avoiding these foods but we tell them that they should eat them, what are they most likely do? Knowing children, they’ll most likely do what they see you doing and NOT what you tell them to do.

Or maybe you encourage them not to eat these foods, setting up cravings and potential binge eating and guilt when they do eat them. Restricting is the biggest cause of cravings and binge eating.

And perhaps if you have bulimia or an eating disorder, despite your best intentions, you may act and behave really weird around food and eating, innocently passing on negative messages and associations.

Not only that, how we see ourselves and our bodies also serves as an example of our how children learn to see themselves. If we don't see ourselves as thin enough, pretty enough, good enough, how can our children gain self-confidence if their own parents can't find it for themselves.

How The Media And Society Are Shaping Their Ideals of Beauty and Health

What makes this situation worse are the messages and images that we bombard our children on a daily basis, especially young girls, that don’t teach or make allowances for the normal developmental changes of a body through childhood, adolescent and through to a young woman.

With the obesity epidemic and our cultural fear of fat, a common but normal phase of childhood, once known as puppy fat is vilified and it is easy for a child to feel embarrassed or hate their developing body. This is so wrong.

If you look at the media and society, too much stock is placed on our physical appearance. We have the media showing us that to get attention and respect; you have to be thin and gorgeous and to get there you diet and exercise. We have society reinforcing this belief with children being teased and bullied based of their appearance.

So even if we do everything that we can to make sure that our children don’t fear food, eat well and be comfortable in their own skin, how can they do all these things if everyone else is telling them otherwise?

How Your Dieting Behaviour And Societal Pressures Can Push Your Child To Bulimia

As parents we know how impressionable children can be. Even if we’ve never experienced bulimia ourselves, our influence and societal pressures can push our children to bulimia. They may succumb to eating disorders like bulimia as a means to try to fit into that ‘ideal’ they see all around them.

They may think nothing about being on a restrictive diet despite the fact they don’t need to, follow fad diets to be ‘healthy’ and or over exercise (common triggers for binge eating and bulimia) if it's something that their parents do on a regular basis. They may not even realize that they’re in danger of becoming bulimic because for them it’s normal; they see it with their friends and at home.

What You Can Do To Educate Yourself and Your Child About Bulimia

If you suspect that your child has bulimia, a good first step to their recovery would be to look within yourself…

● How do I see myself? Do I project self confidence and acceptance or discontent and insecurity?
● What is my relationship with my body? Am I happy with it the way it is? Do I celebrate it? Or do I punish it by dieting and bingeing? Do I hurt it with over exercising?
● How is my relationship with food? Does it consume my thoughts? Does it elicit strong emotions?

If you find yourself modeling these unhealthy behaviors, this maybe the source of your child’s struggle. Genes may play a factor but your influence as a parent plays a bigger role on how your child would see herself and her body as she grows up. This is actually good news because you can do something about it.

There is a lot of bulimia help and information on how to recover from bulimia online which can get confusing as much of it is conflicting. A good starting point would be to check out these FREE bulimia recovery videos to see how you and your child can escape the clutches of bulimia and get started on a healthier life.