Teenage Waistland: A Former Fat Kid Weighs in on Living Large, Losing Weight and How Parents Can (and Can't) Help - Softcover

"A thoughtful, provocative and valuable account of subject that is too often beset by prejudice and hysteria." -- Paul Campos, Professor, University of Colorado and author of "The Diet Myth" "Abby Ellin has written a necessary road map for parents and their children who struggle with eating issues." -- Betsy Lerner, author of "Food and Loathing" "Ellin's funny, intimate and unblinkingly honest book is sure to help parents and kids wrestling with this issue." -- Alissa Quart, author of "Branded: The Buying and Selling of Teenagers" "Its straight-forward perspective challenges our current views about weight loss, body image, and the manipulative societal pressures on our children." -- "Emme" ""Teenage Wasteland" is not just about Ellin's personal experiences...It's about the emotional effects of the various solutions." --" Los Angeles Times", June 14, 2005 "Written with candor, curiosity, and compassion... [and]reflects our own grown-up and insecurities around body and beauty, health and happiness." -- Wendy Shanker, author of "The Fat Girl's Guide to Life" "[Ellin] addresses the situation from a psychological, medical, cultural, and most important, understanding standpoint." -- "Gotham Magazine", August, 2005 "A unique, empathetic perspective on this issue [Ellin] writes with compassion and humor about the trials of overweight kids." -- "Bookpage", August 2005 "An honest, grimly funny report from a world that's lost all sense of proportion about fat." -- "Arkansas Democrat-Gazette", June 6, 2005 "One part investigative journalism, one part self-help, and one part personal narrative, "Waistland "is intriguing...both eloquent and moving." -- "The Boston Globe", September 18, 2005

Abby Ellin's parents got it all wrong when it came to helping her lose weight - but what would have been right? In this fresh, frank and funny look at childhood obesity and its treatment, she journeys through diet culture seeking a better way. Lately we've been inundated with books and articles about childhood obesity. Most offer cultural critique or nutrition and exercise advice - in tones that are alternately appalled and patronizing. Few address the psychological, medical, cultural and developmental complexities affecting over-weight kids. The truth is that many parents already know that Big Macs are fattening. What they don't know is how to effectively help and often discouraged, often reluctant kid on what will be a difficult, life-long journey. Abby Ellin, a journalist and former fat-camper whose parents' attempts to "save her" from fatness proved counterproductive, has had a lifelong interest in figuring out how they might have done it better, and an abiding compassion for overweight kids. In "Teenage Waistland", she shares the story of her own adolescent struggle with food and weight, and journeys through the landscape of today's diet culture. She visits camps and community programmes, talking to experts, kids and parents and seeking to answer these questions: What can parents say that kids will hear? Why don't kids exercise more and eat less when they're dying to be thinner? What treatment methods actually work? Willpower or surrender? Shame or inspiration? "Teenage Waistland" is ultimately clarifying and provocative for anyone who's ever wrestled with weight issues. One size does not fit all when it comes to weight loss, and the better we understand that, the more likely we are to be able to help our kids.