For five years, Abby Ellin wrote the "Preludes" column, about young people and money, in the Sunday Money and Business section of the New York Times. She also regularly writes the "Vows" column in the New York Times Sunday Styles section, as well as feature assignments for the New York Times Magazine. Her work has appeared in a range of publications, including Time, the Village Voice, Marie Claire, More, Self, Glamour, the Boston Phoenix, and Spy (RIP). She's an editor-at-large for Gotham magazine and has an MFA in Creative Writing from Emerson College. But her greatest claim to fame is naming "Karamel Sutra" ice cream for Ben and Jerry's.

Abby Ellin, a journalist and former fat-camper whose parents' attempts to "save her" from fatness proved counterproductive, has had a lifelong interest in figuring out how they might have done it better, and an abiding compassion for overweight kids. In Teenage Waistland she shares the story of her own adolescent struggle with food and weight, and journeys with hope, skepticism, and humor through the landscape of today's diet culture.

She visits camps and community programs, and talks to experts, kids and their parents, seeking to answer these questions: What can parents say that kids will hear? Why don't kids exercise more and eat less when they're dying to be thinner? What treatment methods actually work? Willpower, or surrender? Shame, or inspiration? Teenage Waistland is ultimately clarifying and provocative for anyone who's ever wrestled with weight issues. One size does not fit all when it comes to weight loss, and the better we understand that, the more likely we are to be able to help our kids.

PRESS

Food is not the only issue
Parents face a major challenge in preserving an overweight child's self-esteem, New York Daily News, 15 July 2005
by Jordan Lite

Weight Issue: Be healthy, not just thin
Indianapolis Star, 9 October, 2005
by Mallory St. Claire and Courtney Sampson

Weight loss can't be forced on children
USA Today, 6 June, 2005

AOL Coaches
Childhood obesity is a serious concern today; how can you help a child who has issues with eating, excess poundage and overall fitness? Journalist Abby Ellin, who herself struggled with weight during adolescence, addresses this and other aspects of young people and weight in her new book 'Teenage Waistland,' and we talked with her about in this week's AOL Coaches podcast.

Teenage Waistland short-listed for Books for a Better Life award!

Listen to Abby's slide show on iVillage (click here)

Abby on the Diane Rehm show (click here)

CBS News Early Show interview with co-host Hannah Storm (click here)