Boys at Risk for Eating Disorders

Dear Readers, This weekend, Nancy and I read about efforts in Michigan to publicize the oft over looked fact that boys get eating disorders too. One of the organizers of these efforts is the mother of a Michigan boy who died at the age of 22 from an eating disorder. The boy’s eating problems started when he, wanting to look buff, began undereating and overexercising the summer before entering high school.

Because of our worry that early warning signs in boys may go unnoticed because parents, teachers, coaches, even doctors and other adults in the child’s life may believe that eating disorders are a “girl problem,” we devoted an entire chapter to “Boys” in our book, The Parent’s Guide to Eating Disorders, 2007, Gurze Press. It is usually harder for boys to ask for help for an eating disorder because of the embarrassment of admitting that having a girl's disease." In this chapter, we discuss some of the reasons for newly recognized increase in male eating disorders, and how boys’ disorders differ from those of girls’. We describe approaches that work best with boys.

It is important for parents to know that it is rarer for boys to diet their way into an eating disorder, as girls usually do. When boys develop an eating disorder, they most often have one of the following risk factors that induce their eating disorder.

•    Being chubby as children and/or experiencing more teasing about body size
•    Having a higher-than-average body weight
•    Body dissatisfaction
•    Participation in high-risk sports that favor thinness or include weight classes, such as wrestling, boxing, crew, bodybuilding, weight-lifting, gymnastics, figure skating, or long-distance running
•    Depression

Take care,

Marcia and Nancy

Comments

[Men Suffering From Eating Disorder]

We realize the number of men suffering from eating disorders is growing daily. We currently offer individual sessions and a weekly support group for men suffering from eating disorders.

[Stephanie]

http://www.stephaniesdiets.blogspot.com

Thanks for the great post. I've had an eating disorder most of my life and it is an extremely difficult issue to heal from. When you think of eating disorders you think of women, but it is a fact that many men also suffer.

http://stephaniesdiets.blogspot.com/2008/10/life-long-weight-loss-journey-eating.html