Concerns and dangers of child and teen weight loss is becoming such an issue, especially with parents and guardians.

The trend today is to wear cropped tops and hip hugging skirts and pants, body image is at the forefront with youths today.

Children as young as toddlers are being dressed trendy, it is no wonder that clothes and image are so important for them now and later in life.

Children and especially teens are so easily swayed by their peers and tv/movie idols, that they will go to drastic measures to lose weight in order to look and wear clothes of their heroes.

Anorexia and bulimia are very serious illnesses and are hidden easily from parents and guardians.

Anorexia and bulimia are hard to understand as it affects people who to others look healthy and usually have a normal weight size. However, for the sufferer they see their body image as fat and undesirable. They are usually lacking in self confidence and self esteem. This could be due to a small thing such as being laughed at when they were younger or just too shy or embarrassed to discuss their feelings.

Whatever the reason, they are at risk. Their health may be compromised, maybe not now but later on. If not recognised earlier enough, the damage of starving the body may be irreversible.

You can not force a person to eat if they do not want to eat. Nor can you stop a person from purging themselves either. You have to get to the root of the problem, discuss how they feel about themselves and find out why they feel they need to lose weight. Then look at ways to combat this problem. If a person is suffering from anorexia or bulimia they most likely will need professional help, but this does not mean having to be sent away to rehab, it may mean talking to a self help group. There are quite a few around today to help with these problems.

So how to recognise the symptoms

Most people especially children can hide the symptoms well. Get an older photo of the child and compare:

•the colour of the skin – healthy glow or dull and pale

• the eyes - dull or bright

• the hair -.full and shiny or is it dull and flat and thinning

•legs and arms - do they have good tone or are they just skin and bone

•energy levels

•young teenage girls, their menstrual cycles - these will be compromised.

Some other tips with bulimia are Dental records, if a child/teen is forcing themselves to bring up the food they have eaten, they will develop cavities near the gum line. Watch their bathroom habits, are they constantly running to the bathroom after a meal, purging themselves of their food, brushing their teeth often because they are forcing themselves to be sick or by having a lot of loose stools and stomach cramps due to taking laxatives.

With anorexia, play with the food on their plate or state they are not hungry, ate earlier while out with friends. Skip breakfast, will grab something on way to school. Won’t take a lunch or are tossing it away when out of sight. Check with their teachers if they are eating meals at school. If you have a good rapport with their friends, ask what they eat when they are out. But do not pry, this will lead to them hiding the fact even more.

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