Extreme Diets for Teens

The teenage years are often defined by a number of hormonal, emotional, and physical changes. As a result, many teens are subject to body image issues and resort to extreme diets as a remedy. In order to prevent your teenager from developing bulimia or anorexia you must learn what these food habits and extreme diets are and what exactly you need to watch for so that you can intervene when necessary.

  1. Calorie Restriction

    • It is often during the teenage years that children begin to locate and live by nutritional labels. This habit can lead to extreme dieting where calorie restriction takes center stage. Whether or not the food is nutritional often does not matter; what is more important to the teen is how many calories she is consuming of any given food. Calorie restriction diets are often extreme, strict, and lead to obsessing over foods. Another form of calorie restriction involves skipping meals in an attempt to lose weight. Whether it is breakfast, lunch, dinner, or any combination of the three, teenagers often take the extreme diet route of under eating by skipping major meals. Skipping major meals throughout the day is often one of the first indicators that an eating disorder is or is about to take place.

    Eliminating Food Groups

    • Another extreme teenage diet tactic involves completely eliminating certain food groups in an attempt to lose weight. This could be a seemingly rational elimination, such as sugary foods, as well as an irrational one, such as dairy or meat, all for the sake of losing weight. This form of an extreme diet is built around the belief that ridding certain food groups from the diet entirely will lead to weight loss but can lead to nutritional deficiencies instead.

    Fad Diets

    • From tabloids to TV shows to magazines to online publications and websites, many teenagers are completely engulfed in pop culture. Consequently, they are well aware of celebrity diet tactics and are prone to mimic them in an attempt to lose weight themselves. These fad diets include the grapefruit diet, the cookie diet, the liquid diet, cleanses, and low carb diets. These diets can be dangerous for teens as they deprive them of the nutrients their bodies need to keep growing and developing.

    Binging and Purging

    • Binging and purging is a dangerous and damaging diet tactic often used by teens, also known as bulimia. Binging and purging involves consuming an excessive amount of food, usually high calorie, and then purging it through laxatives or vomiting. Another milder form of binging and purging is chewing and spitting, where the teen eats high calorie foods, chews it, and then spits it out before swallowing it. Both tactics are an attempt to lose weight while still enjoying certain high-calorie foods.

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