Among 4,746 adolescents in the study, girls who ate five family meals per week had about one-fourth the risk for extreme weight-control practices. The meal allows parents to model healthful eating habits to children, says Dr. Stephanie Setliff, a psychiatrist on the medical staff at Children’s Medical Center Dallas. It also gives parents chance to talk with their children.

“Because society has so much influence on adolescents because of the high prevalence of obesity and the pressure to be skinny, many girls are turning to unhealthy ways of controlling their weight,” Dr. Setliff says. “Prioritizing structured family meals that take place in a positive environment can protect girls from destructive eating habits. It doesn’t have to be a homecooked meal — the idea is to bring people together,” Dr. Setliff says.

Eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia have risen steadily to affect nearly 10 million women (and 1 million men), according to the National Eating Disorders Association. Diagnoses now peak among girls ages 11 to 13.

Anorexia and bulimia can cause nutritional deficiencies, organ damage and, in rare cases, death. It’s vital to recognize and treat eating disorders quickly. Treatment involves mental health counseling, and nutritional and medical therapy.

Girls with anorexia:

• Intensely fear being fat.
• Feel fat, despite extreme thinness, due to a distorted body image.
• Are typically perfectionists with low self-esteem.
• Eat very little, count calories and may weigh portions.
• Often lose weight rapidly.
• Deny feeling hungry and avoid eating in front of others.
• May exercise compulsively.

Girls with bulimia:

• Eat huge amounts within hours, then “purge” their bodies by taking laxatives or vomiting.
• Often make excuses to go to the bathroom right after meals.
• May eat abnormally large amounts of food without gaining weight.
• May have average or above-average weights.