I have yet to meet a patient who wanted to develop an eating disorder. Yet nearly all of them started the same way, trying to "get healthy."

It's the start of a new year, and a time for resolutions. “Getting healthy" is often at the top of people's resolution lists.

As a double-board certified pediatrician and adolescent medicine specialist with expertise in eating disorders, one of the most common origin stories I hear goes like this: A teen was simply trying to make well-intentioned changes. Perhaps they heard from their doctor to "lose weight," or a family member encouraged them to join a gym, or they learned in health class to "cut out sugar," or they saw a supplement on TikTok that they started taking.

But then what follows is far from healthy.

Let me tell you what I see when these same teens return to my office just months later. When patients present 1, 2, or 3 months after these initial changes, the signs are unmistakable and alarming: they're constantly cold, their heart rates have dropped to dangerously low levels, their hair is falling out, they're no longer having regular bowel........

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