Health Tip: Help Your Child Develop a Healthy Approach to Eating

(HealthDay News) -- Girls can develop an unhealthy body image and unhealthy eating habits just by watching how others look at their bodies and treat food.

The womenshealth.gov website says these factors can trigger an unhealthy attitude toward food among girls:

• Seeing that their mothers are very concerned with their weight.
• Having a mother who worries too much about her daughter's appearance and weight.
• Gaining weight naturally during puberty.
• Being influenced by peer pressure about appearance and weight.
• Having issues with self-esteem.
• Seeing examples of the "ideal" very thin body among images in the media.