Daughter looking at extreme diets online

[porkyoupine]

My daughter is 14 and has been looking at extreme diets online, especially ones that genuinely seem to be encouraging an eating disorder (talks about green days and red days, with things like half a cucumber for lunch, half a red pepper, etc etc) I can't say I notice this actually in her life, as she is eating ok and can't say I've seen any kind of actual relevant problems coming through, but it's just the fact she is accessing such. Would you bring it up to her?

Yeah probably. I had bulimia (well, it never really goes away), diagnosed 7 years ago and I remember these exact kind of things. I used to do that colour thing! It definitely ‘motivated’ me back then so might be worth a small conversation even if it’s nothing

I would talk to her. Your dd might be eating normally but she might know someone following this extreme diet. (Could the person in the video be someone that she knows?)

This is a huge red flag that your DD is looking to restrict her diet and it very easily could turn in to an ED. You say she is eating normally but are you sure about that? How do you know what she is eating at school and that she isn’t having half a cucumber for her lunch?

Talk to her about it. It’s like dabbling in drug taking.

I say this as a Mum of a DD who was diagnosed with Anorexia 2 years ago when she was 15. Restricting what she ate at school (where I had no idea and no control over what she was eating) was where it started. I was providing lunch for her and it was all going in the bin. Other girls from her friendship group were bringing in bowls of cucumber and lettuce for lunch. ED’s are highly competitive and often work their way round entire friendship groups.