Eating disorders are characterized on social media as a very effective diet. The results of the eating disorders are seen as cute, dainty and something to aspire to. Not eating is seen as high self control, some of the diets found on "pro-ana" blogs are described as healthy, even though the calorie intake isn't even half of the recommended amount. It is sick, disgusting and an insult to anyone who has ever suffered from an eating disorder.
Eating disorders are not cute. They are not dainty and they are not something anyone wants to have. Eating disorders are gross. They are leaning over a toilet crying as you stick your fingers down your throat. It is hiding food in your sweater, and hiding food in the garbage. It is a burning throat and a bloody cough. It is yellow teeth and hair that falls out in clumps. It is running for hours not stopping even when you feel like falling over. It is laying in a freezing cold bath in hopes to burn just a few more calories. Eating disorders are painful. Imagine not being able to stand up from the pain in your body, feeling your insides consuming one another. It is gagging at the sight of food. It is also shoveling food into your mouth, and then throwing it all back up. Eating disorders are gross, they are the farthest thing from cute.
They are having food shoved up your sleeve or in your pocket. It is smoking in the hopes of losing weight. It is fasting for days at a time. It is trying the most drastic diets that consist of no more than 400 calories a day. It is drinking nothing, but detox tea and taking laxatives.
Eating disorders are traumatic, they are scary. It is shoving away anyone who tries to help. It is crying yourself to sleep every night. It is never being able to enjoy yourself because there is a voice screaming insults in your head. It is never ever feeling good enough. It is believing that death is better than being fat. It is putting your weight above your health and your well being. It is being willing to starve to death. It is knowing you are dying and not caring.
Eating disorders are torturing your body. They are feeling your body starving and being proud of that. Eating disorders are emptiness. A hole in your heart that your entire being seems to retreat into. It is feeling alone so entirely alone. It is your brain trying to kill you. It is your brain actively telling you that your weight is worth more than your life. It consumes your entire life because the eating disorder in the brain takes over and calls all the shots.
Try to imagine what it feels like to have every thought in your head telling you that if you eat that apple, you will be fat and no longer worth anything. Imagine a voice constantly telling you that everyone thinks you are fat and that is why they hate you. A voice that tells you starving yourself is the only way to get people to like you. It is never ever being happy. It is a voice constantly saying the worst possible insult "you're fat".
It is not being able to walk up a flight of stairs without feeling faint. It is walking and being unable to tell if your feet are actually touching the ground. It is not being able to stand for more than a few minutes. It is continuing to starve and exercise despite all of that.
Eating disorders are not something to aspire to. You do not want one. They are not cute. They are not a diet or a fad. Eating disorders are deadly.
