Guide to anorexia

The term Anorexia Nervosa is actually misleading. It suggests that the victim is suffering with

a loss of appetite. This isn’t the case. The anorexic is always hungry and constantly thinking

about food.

‘Nervosa’ literally means nervous. It is an Eating Disorder that mainly affects women and girls between 15 and 20 but a worryingly large amount of men are suffering too and it can affect any age at any given moment. Anorexics maintain a very low weight, about 15% below the body weight that is normal for their height. This is done so by eating very few calories, virtually no fat or none at all, and exercising obsessively.

Anorexics have a constant fear of getting fat and despite being emaciated and very ill, they continue to see themselves as chubby and overweight. The anorexic gradually loses perception over reality and their views of themselves are distorted, they appear as obese when they are practically transparent.

The cause of anorexia can be a combination of many factors that do not necessarily have anything to do with weight as so many people assume. Feeling pressurised to achieve at school for example or striving to perform well in a new job are two forms of pressures that can encourage anorexia. Of course, it could simply begin as a New Year’s resolution to lose weight, or a diet seen in a magazine to obtain the ‘perfect beach body’ in two weeks. From personal experience, I continued to view myself as the size of a whale even when I was under five stone and at deaths door.

The sooner that help is accessed for the sufferer, the greater chance of a speedy recovery. I lost eight years of my life to anorexia, and those years were the unhappiest, darkest years of my life. I have virtually no memories of smiling, joking or being a pleasant person during that time. That is why now I always manage to see the positives. I don’t have the time to be unhappy about petty things anymore, especially what other people think of what I look like. How I perceive myself is the most important thing, and nobody can change that.