The Shocking Truth of Eating Disorders

Have you ever went into the faze when you stare at yourself in mirror, picture all the supermodels or your friends who you think are smaller than you and decide you need to lose some weight?

I have. I think every girl does at some point in their life. My 'faze' only lasted for less than few weeks, but I have felt that way. Everyone have different ways to lose weight. I decided to run around my room for awhile. At the time, I didn't feel like going outside. I also stopped eating as much. I skipped lunch and breakfast, but I didn't have it that bad. It's not just girls either, but I'll get to that.

But there are some girls who have it really bad. You probably have heard of eating disorders. Girls who have them starve themselves or eat a lot and then throw it up. It's called anorexia and bulimia. Some girls have it combined. When starving themselves doesn't work, they resolved the binge eating and then purging. That's eating a lot very fast to the point where you can't taste some of it and then throwing it up.

I heard of eating disorders a few years ago when I heard Demi Lovato's story.  I had a idea of what it was, but I still wasn't sure. My friend told me about it and I did more research, but I didn't realize the seriousness of it till later. I watched a video about a girl's anorexic story. When she finally got help, they said she only had three days to live. There was pictures too. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. It was almost unreal.

They are some people who actually die from this. It's so sad, yet real. In some cases, it only start with just comment about a girl's weight. As Harry Style once said, one little thing that might have been meant as a joke can lead to a girl starving herself, which can lead to death.

Awhile after watching that video, I read a part of an article from a mom whose nine-year-old  was anorexia. What's more shocking is that these people aren't just teens. 10% of people suffering with anorexia are under 10. That's still a small number, but can imagine a seven-year-old starving herself?

Why am I writing about this? Well, God reminded me of the seriousness of this week. Awhile ago, I wrote a fictional story about a boy with anorexia. I didn't really make him a boy for a special reason. It was  because he was my main character and it sounded like something he would do. Eventually, I started thinking about it from a more 'realistic' perspective. Guys don't have eating disorders,  I thought. I knew that they were some guys who went through this, but it was rare, wasn't it? Besides, even if a guy does go through it, it must be much different and less severe than when a girl goes through it. This is totally unrealistic.

Boy, was I wrong.

God confirmed this to me last week. I never changed the story though, and I'm glad I didn't. Last Tuesday, I had an opportunity to watch TV. I turned on a talk show just to see what celebrity was going to be a guest. Happily , Demi Lovato was going to be on the Katie Show. I was happy that I could watch it, but she was coming on later. I watched the show.

What should be on but a special story about guys with eating disorders. She actually had a fourteen-ear-old guy talking about his experiences . He said it began at age 10. He was starving himself and throwing up too. She actually had three guys on the show with eating disorders. One said it started with a doctor saying he was a little overweight. Another guy was older and he said he got over it after over twenty years. The saddest part of it was when she had a mom on there. She told the story of her son who died from eating disorders.

I feel tears coming on as I write this because this is reality. It's real and it's terrible. I really feel like God wanted to me to see that because, like what I said before, we don't get out on Tuesdays. If my brother hadn't had that dentist appointment, I wouldn't have thought to turn the TV on. I never would've saw that.

So I'm writing this post to raise awareness for this horrible disease. If you have a friend or you think you might be struggling with it yourself, I beg you to get help. Because like what I said, this is serious. It's only going to get worse if someone doesn't step out. So please think about what I'm saying.

Thank you for reading!