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A CHOICE Outstanding Book of the Year!

"Long overdue."

"Inspires the reader to action."

Children and Teens Afraid to Eat Helping Youth in Today's Weight-Obsessed World

Reviews and Commentaries

"Anyone involved in shaping the eating habits of the young must read this book, especially parents and teachers."

Healthy Living Awards Portfolio winner
What's New in Family and Consumer Science
   AFRAID TO EAT DEFINES the problemS of eating in detail, is factual, well documented, and gives many ideas about what could be done. It points the finger where it belongs. There is information about promoting size acceptance for children. There are guidelines for parents of large kids. There are a number of ways to think about and deal with size at all ages. This is very well done in this source. All the information is well documented by quality sources. This book would be excellent for FCS college students, reports for health classes, resources for adults who need guidance and information . . . (and) a source of comfort for the parent of a child with eating problems.î 

AFRAID TO EAT IS A MUST READ for teachers. The pressures caused by the weight crisis are affecting academic achievement in our youth. Itís time for school staff and students to become aware of the size bias pandemic and its consequences, and mobilize to liberate all students to achieve their fullest potential. 

AFRAID TO EAT IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT books of the decade. Frances Berg has articulated the dimensions of a problem which is growing more critical every day ó a problem which will not go away unless major shifts occur in our own attitudes and in some of our official public policies. Only someone with Ms. Bergís unique vantage point as editor of Healthy Weight Journal is in a position to see and define so clearly the damage being done to our children by current approaches to weight in our society. 
  Afraid to Eat goes beyond defining the problem to lay out clear, reasonable strategies to change the status quo ó strategies that can be immediately adopted by parents, teachers, health professionals and policy makers . . . an excellent work! 

AS THE PARENT of a daughter who acquired a serious eating disorder in her teens, I can only wish that Frances Bergís book had come along sooner, and health and education professionals had heeded its advice years ago. Thankfully we have it now. Berg provides badly needed ammunition to those who, like myself, have been groping for weapons in the battle to save kids, both thin and fat, from a lifetime of size oppression . . . Long overdue. 

BERG SERVES UP A FEAST of facts on four major problems: dysfunctional eating, eating disorders, size prejudice, and overweight. Condemning ìdiets,î she instead proposes a wellness paradigm based on the Canadian ìvitalityî model, which calls for moderation in eating habits and an active, playful lifestyle. The book contains advice for parents but emphasizes that social change is needed in schools, organized sports, and federal policies that focus too narrowly on anti obesity. Unlike other books on this topic, the unique problems of boys and minority children are also explored. Bergís book is a valuable consciousness raiser. Recommended for public libraries for both parents and concerned professionals. 

AN EXTRAORDINARY contribution . . . Afraid to Eat identifies the cultural, social, physiological, emotional and spiritual issues facing kids today and how these issues collide, resulting in a generation of kids afraid to eat. Ms. Berg is an award winning writer and has a gift for gathering and clearly explaining how these forces influence our children relationally and developmentally. 
   Afraid to Eat is also a storehouse of charts, graphs, lists, and short articles essential to nutrition professionals working with children and adolescents. Whether you are a workshop leader, counselor, author, educator, coach or in marketing and advertising, these resources will be valuable time after time. 
   Afraid to Eat demands that as a nation and as health care professionals we deal with these issues in healthier, more effective ways. 

AFRAID TO EAT INDICTS SOCIETY for this obsession with thinness . . . The obsession and its consequences amount to perpetrating fraud on innocent children. This insightful book shows how to challenge the status quo, and itís easy to read, too. 

BERG, A NATIONAL EXPERT in healthy weight education and weight loss fraud, insists that we must allow our children to eat without fear . . . It is a major health crisis when more than two-thirds of high school girls are dieting, one-half are severely undernourished and one-third are occasionally smoking, mostly in an effort to be thinner. Nearly one-fourth of high school girls are overweight and subject to discrimination, hazardous weight loss attempts and related health risks, and more than one-tenth have potentially fatal eating disorders. One-third feel so badly about themselves and their bodies that they think seriously about committing suicide. 
   Afraid to Eat promotes a new health paradigm for children. If todayís children are to grow up with normal eating habits, changes must come in attitudes, lifestyle, society and national health policy. 

A MUCH NEEDED BOOK . . . Berg dares to speak out on behalf of parents, educators, health professionals, and all members of society. The news (on nutrient deficiencies) should be alarming, but the mediaís attention is fixated on obesity fear rather than the long-term health. 
   Berg skillfully uses personal accounts to depict the horrific pain that large children and teens endure. This is an issue that should touch our hearts deeply, make us angry, and give us motivation to bring about change in our school system. Inspires the reader to action. 

AFRAID TO EAT is the first to present the devastating effects of our cultureís obsession with thinness and dieting on all of our children. It should serve as a call to action for all parents, educators and health care professionals in America.

THEREíS A SILENT EPIDEMIC so large and extreme, it could only happen in this weight-obsessed culture: childrenís fear of eating. Six-year-olds understand that fat is undesirable and by fourth grade, 40 percent or more of girls ìdietî at least occasionally. A survey of young girls revealed that they were more afraid of becoming fat than they were of cancer, nuclear war or losing their parents. That is some of the bad news. 
   The good news is that Healthy Weight Journal editor Berg, is out to change these attitudes. Her call to action is loud, clear, and above all, provides the framework for change. Anyone involved in shaping the eating habits of the young must read this book, especially parents and teachers. 

A SUPERB JOB of pulling together the facts and research! Afraid to Eat equips educators to work with teens with confidence. Thoughtful insight . . . detailed references. 

AFRAID TO EAT EXTENSIVELY DOCUMENTS the tragic results of our societyís preoccupation with achievement of the ideal body, particularly the impact it has on children and adolescents. 
  The author points out how the medical professionís insistence on achievement of ideal weight as a national health priority has reinforced and validated this obsession with body size and shape. Instead of resulting in improved health, efforts that were supposed to help people manage their weight, have backfired, contributing to an epidemic of body dissatisfaction, size discrimination, restrictive eating, bizarre eating disorders, poor nutrition, and increased depression, anxiety, frustration, and low self-esteem among our nationís youth. 
  Fortunately, Berg does not stop there. The second half of her book is devoted to how we can rectify this situation and nurture our youth in positive ways . . . Bergís book makes a significant contribution toward documenting and suggesting how we can handle a major crisis that has been too long ignored. 

 ANYONE WHO HAS CHILDREN or works with children should read this book! In a land of plenty, our children are starving because they are afraid to eat. Berg not only reveals the truth about how we have instilled the fear to eat in our children, but provides suggestions on how to change what we have done. 

AFRAID TO EAT is one of the best books I have encountered. . . thorough, engaging and motivating . . . well presented and easy to follow. 

BERG CHALLENGES THE IDEAL of being thin and documents the profound mental and physical effects on children and teens. Her book also offers useful guidelines for making changes. 

 HEALTHY WEIGHT EXPERT Frances M. Berg has taken on one of the most important health problems of our time: Many of today's children are afraid to eat! Berg says that it's a fear that consumes them, shatters their lives, and even kills. 
   Berg tackles some of the toughest issues plaguing our society: The role models used in advertising and entertainment media who create unattainable image goals for our girls and women. Berg addresses size prejudice, which is one of the last strongholds of socially-accepted discrimination. She also tackles the animal rights zealots and their anti-animal food agenda while telling how lifestyle choices increase problems. 
   Best of all, Berg provides many practical solutions to the problems she addresses. This is more than a penetrating analysis of a major public health problem; it is also a how-to book of solutions. This is a book on healthy living that goes beyond the physical to mental and social health. 
   People interested in eating disorders will love this book. It is must reading for people who don't know about eating disorders,but do have daughters or know other young women they are concerned about. 

ANYONE WHO HAS CHILDREN or works with children should read this book! In a land of plenty, our children are starving because they are afraid to eat. Berg not only reveals the truth about how we have instilled the fear to eat in our children, but provides suggestions on how to change what we have done. 

PARENTS SHOULD STOP DIETING now, instead of running after new weight loss programs and products while their kids watch their bizarre behavior, thinking it's normal, according to Berg. 

BERG ALSO BLAMES America's approach to food . . . misguided notions about weight and food have led to a range of problems, including obesity, eating disorders, eating dysfunction and size prejudice. 

AN INDISPENSABLE RESOURCE . . . Berg, founder and editor of Healthy Weight Journal, has been reporting on the science of weight and health for many years, has read just about everything written on this subject and probably has the most comprehensive library on the topic anywhere in the world. 
   Over the years Berg has seen the climate around food and weight getting worse, especially for children and teens. Berg makes a convincing argument that our children's relationship with food and their bodies is a national public health care crisis that is being ignored. 
   Her jewel of a book is a wake-up call to health education professionals to address all aspects of the problem. Afraid to Eat is chock full of research to support Berg's take on the subject, so this is not light reading. But it is extremely interesting. 

BERG POINTS OUT how the medical profession's insistence on ideal weight as a national health priority has reinforced the obsession with body size and shape. (She) emphasizes that social change is needed in schools, organized sports and federal policies that focus too narrowly on antiobesity. 

AFRAID TO EAT addresses the growing problems of children who live in an environment that gives them inappropriate messages about their body weight, size and shape. 
   The author explains with example after example how poorly the nation has dealt with weight issues in the past. She points out how the old ways have not worked and examine new approaches to deal with weight issues in healthy ways. 
   A call to action with specific steps to address the current situation gives the reader concrete ways to address the crisis. 

WHAT CAN WE DO to combat destructive influences and feelings about weight? According to Berg, it must begin with food. Setting a nutritionally-sound example, encouraging regular exercise, questioning advertising and role model images and focusing on accepting kids for who they are, rather than what they look like, she says. 

BERG BELIEVES the desire to control weight drives young girls to unhealthy behaviors like diet pills and smoking . . . Size prejudice is so extreme that Afraid to Eat dedicates a whole chapter to it. In some cases this prejudice is deadly. The news has carried reports of larger adolescents who so dreaded the daily torments from peers that they killed themselves. 

THIS EASY TO READ BOOK clearly presents the weight and eating issues faced by children and teens. The author provides a good blend of fact and research with personal experiences. Setting the stage for disordered eating by the family, the school (teachers, peers, coaches) and health professionals is discussed along with tips on danger signs and how disordered eating can be remedied. Weight issues among males and ethnic groups are also discussed. 
   A new approach is encouraged. Changing the focus from dieting to being healthy at the current weight and creating an environment where children can eat without fear is emphasized. All children are targeted for positive nurturing to reach a goal of wholeness and wellness. 
   The book contains many tables, charts and an appendix to emphasize main points and for easy reference. This book is a resource for parents, teachers, coaches and health professionals. 

352 pages 6 x 9 
 

$19.95, softcover

$27.95, hardcover