Girls on the Run: Will My Daughter Inherit My Eating Disorder?

Runners are also incredibly particular about workouts, especially when training for certain events. There are speed, hill, tempo and long-distance runs. Then there's cross-training, weight lifting and Pilates.

As a single woman who runs marathons, I can complete my workouts on my own schedule. I can get up early, hit the gym after work and skip social events without consequences. While in Chicago one winter, I got frostbite during a training run. As soon as my doctor explained that there would be no permanent damage, I asked him when I could get back to running. Yes, I could be an exercise addict.

My dietary hang ups are less severe. I'll try new diets and avoid certain foods to lose weight or race better, but they rarely interrupt anyone else's life -- save the poor guy who, after months of dating, asked if I ever ate pizza or "anything like that."

While cycling through diets, exercise plans and lose-weight-quick schemes, I never stopped to wonder what was going on inside my body. As a marathon runner, it seems almost normal.

And I'm not alone. According to a 2008 study from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and SELF magazine, 65 percent of American women between the ages of 25 and 45 report having disordered eating behaviors.

Then I became a coach with Girls on the Run. I knew I could be a good role model and teach kids running strategies; but, I wondered, would my weird habits rub off on my girls? When I become a mom, will my need for a daily hour-long (or more) workout bother my real kids?

Or, will my healthy habits keep my children from ever fearing the obesity crisis? Will I become a mother who understood that part of being healthy would involve taking time for myself?

Many elite female athletes such as Paula Radcliffe and Kara Goucher, who are both expecting and have the same September due dates, have not allowed pregnancy and child rearing to interfere with their goals. Although Goucher has no children, Radcliffe's three-year-old daughter Isla, seems happy, healthy and well-adjusted. Perhaps runners Sarah Bowen Shea and Dimity McDowell, the authors of "Run Like a Mother" who describe how to multitask to squeeze in workouts throughout child-rearing years, could, one day, be my role models.

I asked a psychologist who focuses on working with those with eating disorders for advice. And, once we discussed how healthy habits can form, we discussed the more tangled web of eating disorders and how parents can pass them on or prevent them.

Children can inherit eating disorders, but it's not as simple as passing on traits for brown eyes. Although research shows that 50 to 83 percent of eating disorders are genetic, there's not one gene for anorexia or bulimia. Instead, there are a host of genes that cause the traits like low self-esteem, perfectionism, anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder that are related to eating disorders. Children who are incredibly anxious are more at risk for anorexia while those who are incredibly intense are more at risk for bulimia.

"If a woman has anorexia, her daughter and sister are 12 times more likely to develop anorexia," said Dena Cabrera, a psychologist at Remuda Ranch Programs for Eating and Anxiety Disorders. "If a woman has bulimia, her daughter and sister are four times more likely to become bulimic."

As someone who has completed a marathon herself, Cabrera understands the amount of time and effort training for events can take.

"There's a fine line between commitment and having the willpower to complete your workouts and compulsion," she said. "When it's ruling you're life, when things are starting to disintegrate around you and it's no longer joyful and fun, that's when you have a problem. If it's fear-based, you become a hostage to it."

Each food, each workout, each break has its place, Cabrera said. Those who are truly ill use their workouts or eating habits to protect themselves from the world. Exercise and dieting is part of their coping mechanisms. When they have a problem, they immediately turn to these outlets. Their obsessions also wreak havoc on their relationships. With women who are prone to exercise addiction, Cabrera said, children might get the message that their mother's workout is higher on the priority list than family time.

"You can't protect your kids when exercising or dieting are part of your coping mechanism," Cabrera said. "They see that, and they're going to do that. Or, they're going to feel guilty for eating and fearful for their parent. They're going to be angry and resentful, too."

Parents have to learn how to deal with their own problems before they can help their children, Cabrera said, but it's important to be honest throughout treatment. Many eating disordered mothers will prepare large meals for their families without eating themselves. They need to explain to the children that although their behavior is confusing, they are working to fix it so that they can be better examples later on.

"You have to say, 'I'm having this struggle, and I don't want you to have this same struggle,'" Cabrera said. "Be honest about your own issues while creating an environment where you're doing the right thing for your children."

Check out the real reason kids don't eat healthier.