Title:  Family Dinners & Eating Disorders
Producer: SEITH
Feed:  #380, April 9, 2008
Time: 1:36

SUGGESTED LEAD:  THE AVERAGE AMERICAN WOMAN IS 5 FEET, 4 INCHES TALL AND WEIGHS 140 POUNDS. THE AVERAGE AMERICAN MODEL IS 5 FEET, 11 INCHES TALL AND WEIGHTS 117 POUNDS. FOR MILLIONS OF GIRLS, THAT DIFFERENCE TRANSLATES INTO DANGEROUS EATING DISORDERS AND EXTREME DIETS. WHAT CAN PARENTS DO TO HELP PROTECT THEIR DAUGHTERS? CONNECT WITH KIDS HAS ONE IDEA.
<<PKG>>

NARR:  SOMETIMES … STARVATION DIETS, BINGING AND PURGING, AN OVERDOSE OF DIET PILLS … ARE USED TO CORRECT A FLAW NO ONE ELSE CAN SEE. (:08)

SOT: Lauren Walter, Age 16 (:10)
(w/s of Lauren in chair, very thin) I just see myself as really fat and gross.

SOT: Maggie Dannevik, Age 17 (:13)
“I just couldn’t see reality. I saw fat where there wasn’t any.”

SOT: Shelby Livingston, Age 18 (:17)
I think I’m really fat right now, and that’s why I want to lose weight.”

NARR:  BUT A NEW STUDY IN THE ‘ARCHIVES OF PEDIATRICS AND ADOLESCENT MEDICINE’ REPORTS THERE IS A WAY TO REDUCE THE RISK OF AN EATING DISORDER … A REGULAR FAMILY DINNER. (:09)

SOT: Nancy McGarrah, PhD, psychologist (:30)
“If you have dinner with your family, including your kids, five nights a week, you have amazing results.  You seem to have less incidence of a lot of problems that parents worry about with their teens.”

NARR:  IN FACT THE STUDY FOUND THAT TEEN GIRLS WHO REGULARLY HAD DINNER WITH THEIR FAMILY WERE 30-PERCENT LESS LIKELY TO GO ON EXTREME DIETS OR DEVELOP AN EATING DISORDER. WHY? FIRST, EXPERTS SAY, PARENTS WHO SIT AND EAT A HEALTHY MEAL WITH THEIR KIDS ARE GOOD ROLE MODELS. (:16)

SOT: Rachel Brandeis, American Dietetic Association (1:00)
 “Studies show time and time again that children model parent’s behaviors with food.”

NARR: BUT EXPERTS ALSO SAY ... EATING DISORDERS ARE EMOTIONAL DISORDERS … AND A FAMILY MEAL IS A CHANCE FOR KIDS TO BE WITH THOSE WHO LOVE THEM THE MOST, AND THAT CAN HELP COUNTERACT WHAT CAUSES EATING DISORDERS IN THE FIRST PLACE. (:12)

SOT: Nancy McGarrah, PhD, psychologist (1:19)
“You’re having time with the family, you’re showing your commitment to your kids, you are tailoring your day around your kids, you’re having them tailor their day around that important time, and you’re having open communication.”

NARR:  I’M COLLIN SIEDOR, FOR CONNECT WITH KIDS. (:02)

SUGGESTED TAG:   FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THIS AND OTHER STORIES, LOG ONTO <LOCAL URL> AND CLICK ON THE CONNECT WITH KIDS ICON.