What Does "Healthy" Really Mean for Teens?

"I have yet to meet a patient who wanted to develop an eating disorder. Yet nearly all of them started the same way, trying to "get healthy." It's the start of a new year, and a time for resolutions. "Getting healthy" is often at the top of people's resolution lists. As a double-board certified pediatrician and adolescent medicine specialist with expertise in eating disorders, one of the most common origin stories I hear goes like this: A teen was simply trying to make well-intentioned changes."

"But then what follows is far from healthy. Let me tell you what I see when these same teens return to my office just months later. When patients present 1, 2, or 3 months after these initial changes, the signs are unmistakable and alarming: they're constantly cold, their heart rates have dropped to dangerously low levels, their hair is falling out, they're no longer having regular bowel movements, they're fainting, experiencing missed periods, and even suffering broken bones. They have an eating disorder."

Well-intentioned behavior changes in adolescents can rapidly progress into eating disorders. Teens often begin with common prompts such as medical advice to lose weight, family pressure to exercise, school lessons about cutting sugar, or viral supplements on social media. Within one to three months these behaviors can produce alarming medical consequences: hypothermia-like cold intolerance, bradycardia, hair loss, constipation, syncope, amenorrhea, and increased fracture risk. Weight suppression—the gap between highest and current weight—strongly predicts emergent eating disorders in adolescents. Sustainable healthy behaviors prioritize long-term nourishment and support of both mental and physical functioning rather than rapid weight loss.

Read at Psychology Today