Some alarming facts about eating disorders were revealed at a recent seminar hosted by Samaritan Medical Center.

More than half of teenage girls and one-third of teenage boys engage in unhealthy weight-control behaviors (including skipping meals, fasting, smoking cigarettes, vomiting and taking laxatives).

The average American woman is 5 feet, 4 inches tall and weighs 140 pounds; the average American model is 5 feet, 11 inches tall and weighs 117 pounds.

Younger children, particularly girls, are becoming more obsessive about their weight, said Canice L. "Candy" Fitzgerald, a registered nurse at Samaritan.

Recent studies found that 42 percent of girls in the first through third grades want to be thinner, and 81 percent of 10-year-olds are afraid of being fat, she said.

"It's a very sad reflection of our culture," Mrs. Fitzgerald said.

Athletes are also vulnerable. For example, teenage boys who compete in wrestling are often tempted to lose weight quickly before a match in order to enter a lighter weight category, Mrs. Fitzgerald said.

Samaritan Medical Center developed an eating-disorders treatment program last year in its family clinic network for residents of Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties.

SMC officials are working to get the word out about the clinic and its services, which are provided by a staff that includes a physician, nurse practitioners and a nutritionist.

Psychological counseling is offered through Samaritan's outpatient behavioral health service.

"Our model is health-based," said Mrs. Fitzgerald. "We want to help people have balanced nutrition."

The word "diet" is seldom used at the clinic. Rather, people are encouraged to follow an eating plan that will allow them to become "well-nourished," Mrs. Fitzgerald said.

"We want to help with early identification of an eating disorder and help correct imbalance in nutrition intake," she said.

Patients treated at Samaritan have common eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia.

Anorexics significantly reduce the amount of food they eat in order to lose weight. In extreme cases, anorexia can lead to starvation.

Bulimia is a disorder in which a person overeats and follows the binge with some form of compensation, such as self-induced vomiting, laxative use or extreme exercise.

"People with these disorders have an intense fear of being fat," Mrs. Fitzgerald said. "And a young girl who is teased about being fat is more at risk for developing an eating disorder."

In many ways, society is to blame.

"People often get more compliments on their looks than what they've actually accomplished," Mrs. Fitzgerald said. "We need to send more positive messages about those accomplishments."

It's particularly difficult for teenagers, who "are trying to start being their own person at a time when their bodies are often going haywire," she said.

Parents must be careful about the messages they send their children, particularly if one parent is "preoccupied with weight," Mrs. Fitzgerald said.

"We need to send the message that every body is different," she said. "We need to start young and challenge those ideals that are portrayed in magazines and music videos."

The effort to establish an eating-disorders program, along with other services, was started by Tri-County Pathways to Balanced Nutrition, a collaborative effort of human-services and health officials in the north country.

One of those agencies, North Country Transitional Living Services Inc., provides information and referral services for those with eating disorders and refers people to Samaritan for help. For more information, call the agency at 782-1777.