An Eating Disordered Life

For treatment advice or referrals, call the National Eating Disorders Association's 24-hour information and referral helpline at 1-800-931-2237.

Myth #1: You have to be underweight to have an eating disorder.

People with eating disorders come in all shapes and sizes. Many individuals with eating disorders are of average weight or are overweight.

Myth #2: Only teenage girls and young women are affected by eating disorders.

While eating disorders are most common in young women in their teens and early twenties, they are found in men and women of all ages.

Myth #3: People with eating disorders are vain.

It's not vanity that drives people with eating disorders to follow extreme diets and obsess over their bodies, but rather an attempt to deal with feelings of shame, anxiety, and powerlessness.

Myth #4: Eating disorders aren't really that dangerous.

All eating disorders can lead to irreversible and even life-threatening health problems, such as heart disease, bone loss, stunted growth, infertility, and kidney damage.

I remember the day those words were said to me by an eating disorder specialist. I also remember thinking that he was wrong; that I had spiraled downward for so long that this is all there was.

How could he possibly believe that I was still in control? His next words, regardless of if they were true or not, held the appropriate shock factor.

"If you don't stop what you are doing to yourself; you will be dead within a year"

To my way of thinking, there was only one obvious choice to be made. I was a wife and mother and my family needed me.

Recovering from an eating disorder is one of the most difficult things I've done. It is also one of the most personally satisfying.

I'm no longer a slave to the scale. In fact, I no longer own one!