Can you measure life in kilos? It turns out that one can – if the mirror reflection and the weighing machine fail to meet the mass ideal requirements.

Any eating disorder hides some emotional problem and when teenagers are involved then most often we talk about uncertainty and lack of confidence. Add family issues, breakups, adaptation failures to that and you can be almost certain that the teen will reach out for food as the most affordable pleasure nearby.

Eating disorders among young people tend to increase and that was why therapists Milena Tashkova and Sofia Ferdinandova established the Life per Kilo project back in 2016. The two experts have started visiting schools across the country while trying to help the teenagers cope with the problem. They work with students in the 5^th – 12^th grade.

“We place them into different situations, which they should reflect by entering a role,” Dr. Milena Tashkova says. “These characters are close to them, so they look for constructive strategies for coping, not food restriction nor compensation through food.”

There are three major eating disorders typical for teenagers:

“Anorexia is related with dislike, non-acceptance of one’s own outlook,” the therapist explains. “Young people torture themselves via food restriction and even an apple a day brings in this feeling of guilt with it. Thus their weight can reach down life-threatening values. Bulimia on the other hand is characterized by periods of excessive eating and deliberate vomiting, followed by periods of food restriction. Anorexia and bulimia are often connected and one can enter from one state into the other. Then orthorexia is the modern eating disorder with its excessive focus on healthy diets. Such people tend to spend too much time thinking on their food and whether it is healthyor not; that is why it often takes them too much time to prepare their food. However, precisely that excessive focus on food turns it all into a problem.”

Unfortunately eating disorders often remain hidden for too long and experts usually interfere somewhere in the middle of the path. That is why it is important for the parents to observe their children, spotting any eventual lack of confidence, any constant soliciting of compliments on their outlook, also too much self-criticism or avoidance of family lunches and dinners. In case all of the above mentioned turns into dominating behavior, it is good to look for expert assistance.

“The major thing is parents to stay closer to their children and to communicate with them, in order to comprehend their problems,” Dr. Milena Tashkova says. “They should also encourage them to express and share their emotions – often when teens are sad they show anger and vice versa – when they are angry they cry. So it is good to talk with them and whenever we spot a problem we should discuss it openly, eventually looking for an expert. It is essential to work with a therapist, sometimes even with a psychiatrist when unavoidable, but there is nothing to be afraid of. One should fear only of not taking measures on time.”

At the same time food abuse affects not only young people – older ones tend to turn to the same ‘medicine’ whenever they fail to cope with their emotions.

“It is very tough for us to deal with sadness and non-acceptance of ourselves,” the therapist says. “We cannot accept ourselves, we don’t like ourselves, we don’t feel successful or significant enough – that is one of our big problems – we want to mean a lot to somebody. Whenever this doesn’t happen, we begin to think that we are not worth it, we are not beautiful, perfect and we should do something about it.”

Once we’ve found friends to share with, we will feel more confident due to their accepting environment. However, our own authentic outlook is the most important thing – we shouldn’t be afraid to talk about our personality and display it, we should say what we think.

English version: Zhivko Stanchev