Hinds Feet on High Places

Looking for recommendations on self-help books

I am on a hunt for two books:

1)  A self-teaching manual for me to learn how to use patterns and successfully sew on my machine, and then maybe help my daughters expand their skills as well...

2) something my daughter can to use to educate herself on nutrition (she's about 15 yrs old and struggling with issues over eating, nutrition, and exercise). She would like to learn more about the nutritional value of foods and her daily requirements, and some professional guidance on exercise and maintaining her health. Undereating and excessive exercise has become a problem for her and we are trying to help her gain some weight and educate herself about nutrition and caring for herself. Has anyone else had a child with this experience? I want to help her overcome her preoccupation with physical activity and eating, as it is making her miserable!

Thanks for any tips you might have. :-)

undereating

02:00, 2007-Aug-2 .. Posted by Anonymous

I really sympathize with you regarding this issue. My own children haven't succumb to this terrible 'thing', but I did - from the age of 13, up until I was in my mid-thirties with several health issues (you absolutely MUST eat with medications for arthritis or have stomach pain -and risk bleeding, you can't exercise so easily with fibromyalgia because although your muscles weaken, they can also fail on you and turn into ropes of too-tight pain...etc.)
I did not idolize the women on TV, they weren't that obvious- it was partly, mostly the regular women's fashion magazine images I was exposed to that showed me my 'flaws'.
The pressure put on girls today is so much worse (I'm thinking of Paris Hilton's 'sidekick', Nichole Richie, who has managed to do this to herself recently). It's so very sad!!
I never managed to reduce myself less than a size 5, and even that was tortuous! I would love to get back to a size 6, for even in my mid-forties NOW, I am devastated by my image in the mirror, and I would most certainly go back to this starvation living if I could manage it! It truly has it's roots in self-esteem.

There are 3 books I recommend (you read first). One is "Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls" -by Mary Pipher, "Ophelia Speaks: Adolescent Girls Write About Their Search for Self" -by Sara Shandler and "Surviving Ophelia: Mothers Share Their Wisdom in Navigating the Tumultuous Teenage Years"- by Cheryl Dellasega
These books come highly recommended by my brother who is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in California. One of his own daughter's succumbed to this tortuous lifestyle as well!!

I don't know of any books regarding actual needs for teen nutrition, but there are several things it might bode well for your daughter to know regarding the long-term problems for women who don't get enough calcium, for instance! If you can manage it, instead of reading about this topic, could you take her to a Nutritionist? Most hospitals have them, and even if you don't have health insurance, I'm sure they could manage some kind of consultation.
God bless you both in getting thru this!
-Illoura

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03:12, 2007-Aug-5 .. Posted by Anonymous

mypyramid.gov (as in my food pyramid...personalized) has a nifty thing where you enter your height, weight, gender, and activity level, and it gives you a personalized food pyramid of how many servings of each food group you should eat per day. I think it's terrific!
Becky :)