Editor’s note: Oona Hanson is a parent coach in private practice and a family mentor at Equip, an eating disorder treatment program. In my work supporting parents and guardians whose children have eating disorders, the process of navigating school nutrition units can be particularly fraught. Most teachers don’t realize that delivering a nutrition lesson can be “leading an expedition into a minefield,” according to Zoë Bisbing, an eating disorder therapist in New York City. Nutrition curriculum has an effect on students, but families play a major role in helping children learn about food. Following typical “healthy eating” guidance to try to lose weight can mean “missing much-needed nutrition at a time when teens have a high need for calories and nutrients for growth and development.”Triggering an eating disorder isn’t the only unintended impact of nutrition lessons.

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Persons: Oona Hanson, don’t, Zoë, Bisbing, ”, Nicole Cruz, Abraham Gonzalez Fernandez, ” Cruz, “, ” Bisbing, Christopher Pepper, Pepper, ” Pepper Organizations: CNN, Nutrition, Research, US Department of Agriculture, Health Locations: New York City, Agoura Hills , California, San Francisco