By Therese Iknoian

The US Olympic Committee offers some advice to help sports leaders (coaches and teachers) watch their words:

• Don't overplay the impact of lower weight on performance.
  
• Emphasize the role of overall long-term good nutrition and weight control to optimize performance.
  
• Set realistic goals that address dieting methods, rate of weight change and a reasonable target weight.
  

Fatal eating disorders start with seemingly innocent disordered eating -- those crazy obsessions that sadly seem so normal in today's society, such as refusing to touch a bagel if it has the teeniest schmear of full-fat cream cheese. Stopping the pattern early in yourself or in an athlete isn’t always easy, but is worth the battle.

Coaches and teachers are sometimes to blame, although not solely. A comment, like the USOC representative's to me regarding my weight as it related to a sport I was interested in, can trigger feelings of inadequacy or imperfectness. Me, I just got angry. The student or athlete, such as gymnast Heinrich, often only wants to please when he or she starts crazy patterns of eating. Always a perfectionist who would stop at nothing, she overheard a coach say that she, then 93 pounds, needed to watch her weight. She lost more weight and lost her life.

Coaches, teachers and parents should take the time to learn how susceptible some athletes, female and male, are to the tiniest hint.