Lifetime's New Unscripted Series "Starving Secrets With Tracey Gold"

There are plenty of fears that you experience as a parent. The fear that something will happen to your child, a kidnapper will snatch them up as they're walking down the street, they will end up with a life-threatening disease or condition, their heart will be broken, they'll stray from the path you're trying to lead them on. They're all normal fears, and as long as we don't spend too much time dwelling on the what-ifs, then they're perfectly fine to sit there in the background and keep us honest as parents.

For me, on my list of what-ifs is the fear that my children will follow in my footsteps.  In a past life, I was a troubled teen, as so many of us are, and I was a troubled teen with loads of self-doubt, plenty of anxiety and a heaping helping of perfectionism.

Part of the reason I'm so interested in raising children who grow up to have a healthy relationship with food is that I lacked that as I entered puberty. Instead, I started using food to calm my anxiety, as a source of control, and before I knew it, I was spending time in the hospital as my heart rate and blood pressure were so low and unstable that not even the insurance companies could fight it anymore.

It's that past that's dotted with hospital stays and therapy appointments that keeps me feeding my children, showing them what a healthy relationship with food looks like and how to enjoy their food. I want them to be comfortable at dinnertime and every mealtime. I want them to focus on other things as they grow up, the least of which being what's on their plate, and part of that starts by teaching them how to eat well so that it becomes a habit, something they do without thinking much about it, a way of feeding yourself to live.

Eating disorders can creep in when you least expect them, and often it's the children who appear to have it all together who get hit the hardest.

Considered one of the first celebrities to bravely go public with her experience battling anorexia while growing up in front of the camera, actress Tracey Gold has since become one of the world’s most recognized advocates and role models for educating people on the emotional and physical dangers of eating disorders. Now, she is reaching out and helping women one-on-one to face their life threatening condition with Lifetime’s new unscripted series Starving Secrets with Tracey Gold.

Don't miss the premiere on Friday December 2 at 10 pm/9c. Watch a preview: