When Nancy Clark became a sports nutritionist, she thought she was going to be counseling athletes about sports nutrition. Instead, she found her one-on-one counseling sessions centered on eating disorders. "It was called learn by fire," says Clark, who lives in Boston, Mass., and works with renowned clients including members of the Boston Red Sox and the Boston Celtics.

Before these elite athletes reached the pinnacle of their sports, they were teens, probably very similar to yours. As teens, the drive for perfection can sometimes take a wrong turn, beginning as disordered eating and ending with a full-blown eating disorder.

"The same characteristics it takes to be an athlete – you need to be dedicated, a hard worker – are those same characteristics that are needed to be anorexic," Clark says. "It's hard to be anorexic. It's hard to be so dedicated, compulsive and disciplined."

The Basics
Disordered eating is sometimes referred to as the gateway "drug" to an eating disorder, just as marijuana is often called the gateway drug to harder drugs. "Disordered eating is under-consuming," Clark says. "It's often not eating much during the day and then getting carried away with frozen yogurt at night time. It's a very limited diet."

Clark says eating disorders begin with what seem like harmless disordered eating habits. Maybe a teenager insists on eating turkey sandwiches every day or having meal replacement drinks. Maybe they suddenly decide to become a vegetarian, which Clark says may be just a politically correct way of eliminating a food group perceived to be fattening. Other red flag behaviors can include social withdrawal and constant complaining about body weight.

Getting the Right Information
Research shows children as young as 5 years old are obsessed with their weight. At the same time, obesity rates are increasing for teens. To make a positive impact on these statistics, Clark recommends limiting children's exposure to television and magazines with stick-thin fashion models.

Debra Waterhouse, the author of Outsmarting the Female Fat Cell (Warner Books, Reprint Edition 1994), agrees teens should limit their time spent in front of the television. She also says teens need to stop skipping meals, because starvation actually makes the teen's body go into protection mode so it becomes easier to store fat and harder to lose it.

Waterhouse, who has a private practice in San Francisco, Calif., is currently working on her next book proposal for Outsmarting the Teen Fat Cell. "I've been doing research interviewing teenagers," she says. "I have a private practice where I would say more than half of who I see are adolescents and teens either to prevent eating disorders or that have already hit. It's pretty terrifying."

She says teens are inspired when they learn the secrets behind the dieting industry and how dieting weakens teens psychologically and physically. "What I've discovered is when they think about it and get all the pieces together, they get sort of angry," Waterhouse says. "They say, 'Why are we caught in this trap?' and 'This is ridiculous, women are stronger than this and can break free.' Overall the theme is they are going to be the generation to make it a different place for women, where we can eat with pleasure and with freedom and that all different body shapes and sizes are OK."

Squashing the Fear
Some teenagers have the right information, and while they aren't dieting and over-exercising, their peers are. Best friends Chloe Zimmerman, 13, and Meghan Malanio, 14, of Tampa, Fla., say many teenage girls feel insecure about their bodies. "The subject will come up about fat, dieting, food and what you can and cannot eat," says Malanio. "I tell them they are not fat. I love to eat. I never stop eating."

Zimmerman, who has lived in Denver, Colo., and Dallas, Texas, agrees. "All of my friends have the same issues about dieting," she says. "They are not fat but they don't want to get fat. My friends in Texas did not really care, but my friends in Colorado tried going on diets, but they did not work."

Zimmerman avoids eating sugar and eats when she is hungry. Exercise for her is more for fun than for weight management. She swims, works out at the gym and practices cheerleading routines. With these two teens having such a healthy outlook on diet and exercise, it's hard to imagine how so much of pop culture has developed such an unhealthy outlook.

Waterhouse believes the dangerous dieting game became part of pop culture starting in the 1960's. She says women thought it would be different to get away from the maternal bodies of their mothers and go instead for an almost boyish figure as a way to enter the man's world.

"What started as a trend really became a way of life that has hindered women instead of helping them to find their place in the world," she says. "We spend so much time obsessing about our weight and bodies and being preoccupied with food that it paralyzes us from really going after our dreams."

Winning a Losing Game
So how do you help your teen break free from the food obsession and live a healthy life of moderation like Zimmerman and Malanio?

Unfortunately, losing fat the smart way can be difficult. Experts say your teen will benefit from your support. The following tips could prevent a teen with disordered eating patterns from slipping over the thin line and into an eating disorder:

• Teach low-fat cooking skills.
• Let the teen eat when she is hungry.
• Limit television.
• Encourage a day of rest.
• Serve balanced meals.
• Don't always forbid fast food.
• Encourage informal, moderate exercise.
• Emphasize fruits and vegetables and fiber.
• Don't count calories.
• Don't obsess in front of the mirror.

Want to see more?

• Walking a Thin Line: Recognizing Eating Disorders in Your Teen
• Turning Points for Better and Worse: Facing Anorexia, Dishonesty and Separation
• The Perfect Imperfection: Body Dysmorphic Disorder in Teens
• Fatal Trend: Pro-Anorexia Web Sites
• Talk about it!