Fueled by relentless comparisons to rail-thin, photo-retouched, surgically enhanced celebrities, ... A beauty counter...

Fueled by relentless comparisons to rail-thin, photo-retouched, surgically enhanced celebrities, girls' dissatisfaction with their looks has become an epidemic. A study by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute found 40 percent of 9-and 10-year-old girls have tried to lose weight. Fifty-three percent of 13-year-olds are "unhappy with their bodies." By age 17, 78 percent of girls don't like what they see in the mirror.

Stephanie Lewis, a 43-year-old mother of six, has launched a business that she says can help. For prices starting at $495 for up to 10 girls, Lewis offers home spa parties with a dash of psychology. After minifacials and manicures, a therapist or other moderator leads the girls in a one-hour discussion about the issues that vex young teens: peer pressure, fitting in and insecurities about how they measure up in the looks department.

"It's like making a birthday cake and grating carrots into it," said Lewis, who calls her company Inside-Out Girls and targets girls 9 to 16. "You sneak the good stuff in, but it's still yummy and delicious."

On a recent Saturday, eight girls ages 14 and 15 gathered at the Encinitas home of Brittany Trost, a ninth-grader. Brittany's mother, Emma, hosted the party in the hopes that it would begin to teach her daughter and her friends to think critically about what they see in the fashion and celebrity magazines they devour.

"There's a huge amount of pressure at school to be like the other kids, dress like the other kids, wear certain types of clothes," Emma Trost said.

For the first hour, a yoga instructor led the girls in a session on mats in the backyard. Next, aestheticians covered the living room couch in sheets and applied exfoliating face masks. At the kitchen counter, a manicurist polished the girls' nails.

Nearby, a video screen played images of celebrities without makeup juxtaposed with images of the same women glammed up and Photoshopped to perfection.

Then came what Lewis calls the "chick chat." Elaine Swann, who hosts a radio show on KCEO-AM 1000 about etiquette, gathered the girls in the living room to discuss their self image.

Swann first had the girls look at images of headless celebrities cut from magazines and identify what body types - from petite Eva Longoria to voluptuous Jennifer Hudson - they most identified with. Then, the girls dressed figures of slim vs. curvy women with cutouts of clothing from magazines.

They all agreed women with "hips" should not wear "skinny" jeans, which makes them look like "ice cream cones," and that horizontal strips should be avoided because they "make you look wide."

It wasn't immediately apparent how this could help girls overcome their body insecurities, but Swann said her goal was teaching the girls to accept their body type, rather than try to emulate an unattainable look.

Afterward, the girls discussed hurtful comments schoolmates had made about their appearance. One girl revealed she had started wearing sweat shirts to hide her breasts because of comments that she (unintentionally) showed too much cleavage. "See how the words that come out of people's mouths can change how we feel about ourselves?" Swann said. "You need to think about what you say."

Other than a bubbly personality, Swann didn't seem to have any specialized training to talk about body images issues. She labeled one girl who talked about her discomfort with her breasts "top heavy" - probably not a descriptor a trained therapist would have chosen.

But the girls did respond to Swann's message about self acceptance. "It's hard for me to tell people how I feel about things," Brittany said. "A lot of the people I know are really judgmental, and it's nice to have a place where everyone is putting in their input and no one is judging."

Lewis came up with the idea for Inside-Out Girls after she heard her 9-year-old make negative comments about her body. When even her 4-year-old remarked that her belly looked fat, Lewis was sure she was on to something.

"Before I started this business, I would catch myself looking in the mirror and talking about dieting, and I'd look over my shoulder and who was looking in the mirror and watching me? My 9-year-old," she said.

Lewis always enjoyed planning parties. Two years ago, Bravo television featured the bar mitzvah she threw for her twin sons and 160 guests on a shoestring budget of $8,000 by making her own centerpieces, room decorations and invitations.

She sees no contradiction in hosting spa parties that are focused on the external - makeup, hair, skin - while spreading a message of internal beauty. No one wants to come to a therapy party, she said.

Getting girls to listen is one of the biggest challenges facing parents who want their daughters to feel good about their bodies, said Audrey Brashich, a former teen model and author of "All Made Up: A Girl's Guide to Seeing Through Celebrity Hype and Celebrating Real Beauty."

Girls are inundated with media that shows a definition of beauty that is uncommonly thin and flawless. "Part of being a teenager and part of being a girl is that you want to be pretty and attractive, and I don't think there's anything wrong with that," she said. "The problem is there is so much emphasis on those qualities, and that's what's valued and rewarded over other talents and accomplishments."

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