Nine-year-old boys are asking why they can't have six-pack abs like Jacob from Twilight and eight-year-old girls hate their "chubby" tummies. What can we do as their parents to help them feel better about themselves? I offer tips, tools, games and projects to help parents empower their kids with the self-esteem they deserve. Here are some fun ideas to get you started.

We live in an image-obsessed, fat-phobic, thin is in, skinny jean-wearing, thigh gap-measuring, binging and purging, forever dieting, body-hating society where kids barely out of preschool are begging their mothers to keep them home from school because they feel like they're too fat to fit in. And that pisses me off.

Lately I've been thinking a lot about how people in general (and women themselves) judge each other based on body image. I've read various posts that are saying that Jessica Alba is a horrible role model for new mothers, and is pressuring moms to lose weight fast -- I disagree. Reading statements like that online break my heart, because women and especially moms should play on the same team.

Recently I was asked if I ever worried that I was putting my children at risk for developing eating disorders by being so open and honest about my own. The truth is that they always knew their mom was a bit "different," they just didn't know why. I may have convinced myself that they were oblivious to my disorder, but how could that be true when we'd be walking out the door to go for dinner and one of them would ask, "Are you eating today, Mommy, or just watching?" or they'd shout, "Look, Mommy's a dinosaur!" because the bones of my spine would poke out so sharply from under my skin.

I completely understand the pressure famous moms are under to retain their "Hot chick" status during and immediately following their pregnancies, but how great would it be if they didn't cave into that pressure? Pregnancy isn't a crime, so why the need to hide all of the evidence?

Most women, famous or not, feel tremendous pressure to live up to the bizarre and completely unrealistic ideals of our image and skinny obsessed society. Is it really an issue that Kim Kardashian is comfortable showing off her growing, changing body or is the real issue that we're uncomfortable looking it? I honestly believe that we have forgotten the miracle that childbirth is. Show me a woman who has tried unsuccessfully to conceive, and I'll show you a woman who would joyfully trade her flat stomach and narrow hips for the stretch marks, expanded rear end and growing belly that can accompany a pregnant body.

One fifteen-year-old girl shared that her father will eat the french fries off her plate while explaining that he's trying to save her from getting fat. There are so many parents who believe that they're helping their kids by constantly offering diet advice when they may be setting them up for lifelong battles with food.

Google women such as Jennifer Lopez and Beyonce and see if you don't find multiple articles or comments about their fabulous behinds. If these celebrities get so much positive attention about their ample rear ends, why is it that many women still struggle with the size of their butt?

I went from three years of competitive body building in a bikini division, where what I looked like controlled my every movement. Now I'm in a career that has me working 12-hour shifts, running off my feet to tend to the needs of my patients. I know women who tell me they don't care what they look like. They are fine with who they are and they embrace their age -- I'm not there yet.

I have a lot of clients who try to tell me that their bodies are just meant to be fat naturally. I then tell them I'm sorry but I do not agree! The bottom line is this: nobody was born to be uncomfortable in their own skin. It took me a long time to make health my goal, not weight loss. And ever since I've started to make that shift I've never been happier with my body.

Israel's has recently banned "too-skinny" models requiring they must have a BMI of at least 18.5 in order to work. There are very strict rules about using models who fall below the magic number. However, this ruling is unfair. BMI is, after all, not always an indicator of health -- there have been many publications that have proven that. For example, people with very light bones and athletes are more likely to fall out of said number, and still be relatively healthy. In addition, one can meet these minimum requirements, yet still look extremely thin -- muscle, after all, weighs more than fat.

I spent the afternoon in New York last week with long distance friend, mom, and actress Denise Richards. We chatted over tea and scones, and then I decided to ask her some questions and find out what it's like to be a single, working mom in the spotlight. Denise was candid, honest and sincere about her life. I give you, our interview...

We live in a world where we've elevated starlets and hunks to god-like status because of the fact that they are thin and fit. We don't feel good enough. Skinny enough. Pretty enough. But a "thinspiration" website has gone a step further -- by calling Kate Upton (aka: Sports Illustrated cover girl) a cow. Is nothing sacred?

There is no absolute and true number when it comes to attractiveness. There are no real fives, eights or threes. Just because our society seems to be confused and mistaken in its understanding and conceptualization of physical attraction, doesn't mean that you have to make the same mistake as an individual. Having a realistic and grounded understanding of what attractiveness is and the role it plays in your life can have a big impact on your mental health.

My daughter does not even read magazines but the girls on television that are popular are impossibly thin while the heavier girl is either funny or obnoxious. These images trickle into our children's minds and they meanly call other kids fat or tell them they are not pretty. As a parent, how do you build your child's self esteem when it feels the world is trying to destroy it? Here are some tips that I have found really help girls to be positive and confident.

I headed out to NYC to speak to the editor of Seventeen magazine about unrealistic photos of girls. So, Seventeen, I hope you understand what I'm saying. Photoshop hurts girls. We want to see pictures that look like us, in a magazine that's supposed to be for us.