Ever wonder about the skeleton in my family's closet? Watch this eating disorder video about Dexter, an eating disorder stand-in for my future documentary. He's going to help us separate our children from the eating disorder.

It is often assumed that eating disorders occur because of poor body image. I believe the relationship between the two is far more complicated.  In fact, VERY complicated.

Admittedly, not everyone in the eating disorders world agrees on everything. In fact, I wonder how many fields have as much internal dissent and such a lack of common ground? We don't agree on cause, treatment, or even how to diagnose or measure recovery. We don't all agree on what an eating disorder IS. Worse still, too many people rest in the belief that their view is happily shared by all.

When I ask people to care about eating disorders, it is very common for them to come back with "but obesity is such a big problem." I'm not sure why the two things are seen as opposites, but I think we'd benefit from taking a different look at both issues that may lead us to see some common goals and a common approach.

I notice and feel concerned about the different ways the term "Family Therapy" is used; especially when it is applied to eating disorders treatment (treatment of anorexia and bulimia). As far as I can see, there are three different - and incompatible - ways people use it.

My friends on the Around The Dinner Table online forum are talking about something that comes up so much: what should parents be eating?

I used to believe an eating disorder was a choice. I thought extreme food choices and overblown beliefs about food and weight and the body as eating disorders, by definition. I thought these weird food choices needed to be dealt with by explanations and logic and stern words. It was clear to me that people who fasted half the day were internalizing their moral asceticism and people who dieted and then overate were more silly than anything.

The public doesn't need help describing anorexia and bulimia and other eating disorders. Ask most people "What is anorexia?" and they'll have an answer, an opinion, and a list of people they know who have it. We can define it, but unfortunately our ideas are often wrong. That's why we need the "DSM," which stands for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual published by the American Psychiatric Association.

Many books I find helpful in dealing with eating disorders aren't about eating disorders. Watch this video for ideas on literature that helps with eating disorders even though it doesn't intend to do it.

Horror films don't come close to raising blood pressure like the prospect of mealtime for a parent of an eating disorder patient. Forget the knives and chain saws: the sight of a fork and spoon can be send the pulse racing. There is hope, however, in having a plan.