Below is part two of my interview with Harriet Brown, author of the recently released Brave Girl Eating: A Family’s Struggle with Anorexia, a memoir about how Harriet and her family helped their 14-year-old daughter Kitty recover  from anorexia. Harriet also co-chairs Maudsley Parents, a fantastic resource for parents who’re struggling with eating disorders.

In Brave Girl Eating, Harriet shows parents that no matter how difficult – and at times impossible – seeking recovery can be, there is always hope. Even in the scariest moments, keep fighting.

She teaches us the importance of educating ourselves about eating disorders. In fact, she encountered many practitioners who were either clueless about how to treat eating disorders or espoused outdated information. It’s safe to say that by researching anorexia and its treatment, Harriet saved her daughter’s life.

And – one of the most important points – that the person is not their illness.

In part two, Harriet talks more about family-based treatment, the many myths surrounding anorexia and eating disorders and how her own perceptions of weight and shape have changed.

If you missed part one, please check it out here.

Q: Even though it’s highly effective, family-based treatment (FBT), also known as the Maudsley approach, is viewed by some as controversial. Perhaps this will start to change, especially considering the recent study that showed that FBT was the most effective treatment for anorexia. What would you like parents to know about FBT?

A: I’d like parents to know a couple of things. First, FBT is the best treatment we’ve got right now for teens and children with anorexia. If your treatment providers aren’t familiar with it, or discourage it without a thorough discussion, run don’t walk to another therapist who is at least willing to discuss whether it’s appropriate for your family.

{image credit: Jamie Young}

“Anorexia is quite possibly the most misunderstood illness in America today. It’s the punch line of a mean joke, a throwaway plot device in TV shows and movies about spoiled rich girls. Or else it’s a fantasy weight-loss strategy; how many times have you heard (or said yourself) ‘Gee, I wouldn’t mind a little anorexia’?”

I couldn’t agree more with this excerpt from the memoir Brave Girl Eating: A Family’s Struggle With Anorexia by the amazing Harriet Brown, co-chair of Maudsley Parents, a website for parents struggling with eating disorders, and an assistant professor of magazine journalism at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.

In reality, anorexia, like other eating disorders, is a serious and debilitating illness.

In Brave Girl Eating, Harriet recounts how she and her family helped her then 14-year-old daughter Kitty recover from anorexia, using family-based treatment (FBT), also known as the Maudsley approach.

Brave Girl Eating is a powerful book that debunks the deeply entrenched myths about anorexia and eating disorders, and educates readers on the key research. Of course, it’s also deeply personal, and at many times, heart-wrenching.

But it’s also hopeful, and in my opinion, an absolute must-read. It’s beautifully written and provides a truly valuable – and much-needed! – contribution to the field.

I’m honored to present my interview with Harriet Brown below. In part one of our interview, Harriet talks about dieting, the early warning signs, what parents can do and so much more.

Stay tuned for part two tomorrow!

Q: With the widespread hysteria over the obesity epidemic, our society as a whole and schools in particular have started instituting potentially detrimental practices (like measuring fat with calipers; weighing kids) and lessons on “healthy” eating. In Brave Girl Eating, you talk about the time that Kitty came home after health class and announced that she was cutting out dessert because it’s unhealthy, a decision that first made sense to you (as it does to so many people). What can parents do in such situations?

A: Great question. Parents are vulnerable to the subtle and not-so-subtle pressures about their kids’ weight. I’d like to remind them that teens grow at different rates, and that they’re supposed to continue to gain weight even after they stop growing height-wise.

Here’s part two of my interview with clinical social worker and coach Barb Steinberg, who works with both teen girls and parents to improve their body image and help them discover who they are.

If you missed the first part of our interview on how Barb helps teens improve their body image, definitely check it out.

Below, Barb talks more about body image and offers fantastic insight on how parents can help empower their daughters. Her wise words on finding happiness in everyday moments particularly struck me.

She also raises thought-provoking questions that parents can ask themselves about their own unrealistic expectations and definitions of beauty.

And if you’re a teen, I think you can glean lots of great information from Barb’s answers.

Building a positive body image and secure sense of self is a process that I think we undergo our entire lives. I feel like I’m just starting to explore and discover myself. To get to the meat and potatoes of my personality, my likes and dislikes, my passions and quirks.

It’s of course even tougher for teens, who are just forming their identities and figuring out the world. Who are in the midst of trying to make friends, worrying about being popular, getting used to a changing body,  dealing with academic and other social pressures and attempting to make sense of an often contradictory and damaging media.

As a teen, you might feel very confused. As a parent, you might feel even more so.

Here’s the last part of my interview with family doctor and feeding expert Katja Rowell, M.D. Dr. Rowell writes the incredibly helpful blog Feeding Family Dynamics, named after her company.

If you haven’t yet, check out part one of our interview about her feeding approach and part two, where she discusses how to handle picky eating and her thoughts on the war on obesity.

Here’s part two of my interview with family doctor and childhood feeding expert Katja Rowell, M.D., who owns and operates Family Feeding Dynamics. She also writes a fantastic blog by the same name.

I truly admire Dr. Rowell, and I think she’s doing amazing work! I’m really honored to be able to share her insight with Weightless readers.

If you haven’t already, please read part one of our interview about Dr. Rowell’s feeding approach and why she believes that we have a feeding crisis on our hands – not an obesity crisis.

Today and for the rest of this week, I’m beyond thrilled to present my 3-part interview with feeding expert Katja Rowell, M.D.

With the raging hysteria over the obesity epidemic and tons of misinformation about healthful eating, most parents are at a loss about how to feed their kids. In fact, our entire culture is.

That’s where Dr. Rowell comes in.

Dr. Rowell is a graduate of the University of Michigan medical school and served as a family physician in urban and rural clinics and at a university student health service. Struck by the prevalence of disordered eating and feeding and related health problems, Dr. Rowell founded Family Feeding Dynamics and teaches the importance of a healthy feeding relationship to health care providers, family therapists and childcare staff.

She helps parents through workshops and provides personalized solutions and support for families struggling with feeding. She also consults with corporate clients, nutrition education and public health projects. And she’s a member of the clinical faculty with the Ellyn Satter Institute.

Here’s part two of my interview with eating disorder advocate Jane Cawley.  Jane serves as the co-chair of Maudsley Parents, an organization for parents and families that provides accurate and up-to-date information on eating disorders and their treatment.

One of the greatest gifts, I think, that you can give to a child suffering from an eating disorder is knowledge. Learning about eating disorders and how they’re effectively treated is key to your child’s recovery.

Today, I’m pleased to present an interview with Jane Cawley. Jane and her family helped her daughter, then age 14, recover from anorexia nervosa with family-based treatment in 2004. Ever since, she’s worked tirelessly as an advocate for eating disorders, actively helping parents find and better understand information on eating disorders and the treatments available.

Obesity in teens is a big problem but so is disordered eating. Several years ago, it seemed like every media outlet was shouting from the rooftops about the childhood obesity epidemic. Back then, I wondered how the obesity panic was going to affect kids and teens. Scaring and shaming kids into weight loss (I’d like to say healthy habits, but shedding pounds appears to be the main focus) can bring other unhealthy consequences.

According to recent research in November’s International Journal of Eating Disorders, disordered eating, such as  not eating enough, skipping meals, fasting and using food substitutes, was actually common among a sample of 412 overweight teens (see here for abstract). The teens completed self-report questionnaires in 1998-1999 and again five years later. This research is part of a big longitudinal study from the University of Minnesota called Project EAT.

Study Results

(Time 1 refers to EAT I; and Time 2 is EAT II):

Among girls:

• Among the 232 overweight female adolescents, 30.8 percent engaged in disordered eating at Time 1; at Time 2, it increased to 40.1 percent.

• Of girls who didn’t engage in disordered eating initially, about one-third of them started to by Time 2.

• Among the 71 girls who were already engaging in disordered eating at Time 1, about half continued engaging in disordered eating at Time 2.

Among boys:

• Among the 180 overweight male adolescents, 13.4 percent engaged in disordered eating at Time 1; at Time 2, 20.2 percent  did.

• Among the 24 overweight males engaging in disordered eating behaviors at Time 1, 37.6 percent continued at Time 2.

• Of the boys who didn’t engage in disordered eating, 17.5 percent started by Time 2.

Disordered eating behaviors can also serve as a gateway to more extreme methods of weight control, such as self-induced vomiting, diet pills, laxatives and diuretics. In fact, almost all the girls who reported disordered eating at Time 2 used at least one extreme method and a third reported binge eating, with loss of control. Same with the boys: The majority who engaged in disordered eating also used extreme methods and almost a third reported binge …