12-March-07 

To:  All media for immediate release 

YALE UNIVERSITY REPORT ON TEEN EATING DISORDERS, CONFIRMED BY JEANNE PHILLIPS, CERTIFIED PROFESSIONAL COACH AND EATING DISORDERS SPECIALIST  

PHOENIX, AZ—According to a new report released last week by Yale University, teaching teenagers about eating disorders can make them more knowledgeable about the problem, but it may also have some inadvertent effects.  Yale University researchers found that when they presented female high-school students with videos on disorders, it met the intended goal of boosting their knowledge about anorexia and bulimia. However, students didn't necessarily find eating disorders unappealing. Teens who watched a video became more likely to view the girls as "very pretty," and some thought it would be "nice to look like" them.  “This is the most romanticized age in a person’s life.  They magnify all emotions from joy to despair.” Jeanne Phillips, MA, explained.  “In my years of teaching private classes and at spas like the Hilton Head Health Institute, I have seen this phenomenon repeatedly. Individuals need to be given information about the dangers of these disorders and not be told the techniques.  Teenagers in particular believe it won’t happen to them.”  Phillips is available for interviews and can be reached through her publicist, Carole V. Bartholomeaux, 602 404 8018 or Carole@b-pr.com

                “I suggest that family and friends support the individual who has body image or food issues by focusing on interests that don’t relate to eating or drinking.  If you feel yourself struggling, contact someone who understands what you are going through before it gets too big.  Don’t listen to your internal critical voice.  Challenge that voice.  Don’t deprive yourself of what you really desire.  This will set you up to overeat later.  If you do overeat, stay away from the mindset that you’ve already blown it and might as well eat the whole thing and start over tomorrow. Try to get in touch with the emotion that triggered the behavior to overeat or restrict.    Relax and breathe.  Let go of guilt.  Take time for yourself.  See the people you really want to see,” Phillips advises.

With the current obesity epidemic in our country, and the cost in lost productivity associated illness and expense for treatment of, i.e., diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, experts like Jeanne Phillips are in high demand.