"I'm so fat!"

My sister and I are constantly saying to one another "I'm so fat," or something along the lines of "God, I'm huge." When strangers or even our loved ones hear us, they think we're crazy. At one point, my boyfriend even said to me, "If you keep this up, we're going to have an intervention on your behalf." Now, my sister and I feel "fat" from time to time but we know we're not actually overweight or obese. In reality, we're actually about average. I tell my family and friends I know I'm not fat, but sometimes I just feel that way.

Even though some people may think we're anorexic or have anorexic tendencies, if they really watched us, they'd see us pigging out on fast food, or going out for ice cream 3 times a week. What I think people don't understand is that there is a huge difference between girls that complain about how their feeling fat and the girls who actually suffer from anorexia nervosa and have an extremely distorted images of their bodies.

Anorexia Nervosa manifests itself in two different forms: the familiar restricting type and the not so familiar binge-eating-purging type often thought to be bulimia nervosa. Although most people think that this disorder only effects women, there are also some men that suffer from this disease as well with a ratio of somewhere around 6 to 1. Anorexia nervosa causes people to obsess about their weight and the foods they eat because they see them as being connected to their self worth. Their problems often rise as an inability to cope with emotional problems and actually has little to do with food.

According to the Cleveland Clinic, there are several factors that can cause anorexia nervosa. They include: hostility, isolation, and chaos within the family and also low levels of empathy and nurturance. It is also thought that society pressures teens and children into feeling the need be thin. Open up any fashion magazine and all you will find are models who are under 100 pounds who look like walking skeletons. In addition, it also theorized that children become anorexic because of the pressures they feel to become more independent.

Recovering from anorexia takes intense therapy to uncover the underlying issue leading to the eating disorder. Often times sufferers are nursed back to health gaining weight in small amounts and helping the patient to understand that their new weight is healthy. As sad as it seems even as one person recovers from anorexia, it seems as though a perpetual cycle will continue and new girls will be diagnosed with the disorder.