Anorexia Knows No Age Limit
Today I was at the supermarket and I saw something that really made me sad. There was a little girl who could not possibly have been over the age of 10, shopping with her mother. She was so incredibly thin I had to double take, it wasn’t the regular little girl thinness..she looked anorexic. I am going to even go as far as to say she was anorexic, I know a lot of little girls can just be naturally very thin but it was what she did next that made me more certain that something was wrong. Her mother was further down the isle putting food into the trolley while the little girl picked up items of food and read the nutritional information. She would pick up an item, turn it to see the nutritional information, examine it and put it back. She did this to a few different items while I was watching her.
I know some people may be upset that I am calling out a little girl as being anorexic but if you were there and saw how thin she was and saw the way she examined the food labels, most of you would side with me. Her mum was oblivious to her behavior. Whether this little girl had a problem or not, that’s not the issue. The reason I write this is sometimes we need to just take a step back and look at what the media is really doing to society.
There is even a documentary about a girl called Dana who suffers from anorexia. I watched it on youtube. She’s 8 years old! When will it be acceptable to be a regular size? Why is there so much pressure to be thin? Every guy who I’ve spoken to about the size 0 issue has said that they prefer women with curves.
Anyway I guess we can all take away from this. Mothers, watch your daughters, if you think you have a weight problem then try not to talk about it in front of your daughter. In my opinion we could all try and be realistic about weight. I know now that I will look at magazines in a new light. Instead of seeing a thin pretty model and thinking, I wish I had her body. I’m now going to take a step back and think about what that pretty model had to go through to get to that weight and understand that she’s genetically different to me. I’m not a 6 foot model, I’m a regular 5″1 girl! My metabolism isn’t freakishly fast, my legs aren’t long. It’s who I am and I am going to try my best to get the body that makes me happy and suites my frame.
Yep that’s just my little rant/words of wisdom for the day. If you want to watch the documentary on youtube here is the link.
Ps: You’re beautiful and perfect, never forget that!
Leave a Comment
Comments on Anorexia Knows No Age Limit
lovely thoughts mel! xx
Wow. I have never posted a comment here before (designated lurker) but this is just too sad. Its a terrible phenomena that girls all over the world just dislike themselves to the point they stop eating. As being someone who has suffered from Anorexia, I know that it is something to terrible I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. I have almost died from it and I still thought I was fat. But recovery is possible, I have found that out, the people I love have stood by me the whole way, and I hope everyone with an eating disorder finds the peace it brings after so much suffering.
This is absolutely alarming. I shouldn’t be surprised because I know what these girls are going through just at a much older age. Its sad that at such a young stage in their lives, girls go through what “us” teens/adults are consumed with, and that makes me simply sad. Mel, thank you for your thoughts.
where can I see the documentary?
i agree with you 100%.
i think that more people should know about what a truly terrible disease this is and ho terrible seeing ‘perfect’ bodies on magazines make girls feel.
thank you for raising awareness to this topic!
you say look what the media is doing but u count as the media too with this website you have… a bit hypocritical
Hey i agree 100 percent, because wen i was just at age 10 the xact same thing happened to me i wouldnt eat, because i thought i was fat, but i really was sooooo thin that i didnt even know because i was battling anorexia and i dont think my mom knew, once i almost fainted but god saved me because at that point i knew something was wrong so i promised him i would eat more, i am forever thankful. the media is horrible and one of my friends isnt eating much bcz she thinks shes fat, but she really not, i am curiuos did u see a red haired girl about 1 year
Wow… I never thought it was possible to be skinny up to a point where you could die. Any of my friends would say they wanna be Anorexic, then eat a lot. After reading this, I know better than to stop eating.
I agree with what you’re saying, but you own a website dedicated to body image and the striving for beauty through diet.
What you say may be true, but it’s undermined by the fact that you are spreading the obsession through your website. People visit, and they read your views and comments about whose body is the best, and it perpetuates the problem. Don’t underestimate your little addition to the problem!
People without anorexia need to understand that we don’t starve ourselves to be beautiful to the opposite sex, but to be beautiful to ourselves…
aww thats so sad! but also some people look at it cause of allergry reasons but I understand you seen that little girl! ps that picture is gross eww! but I get that point was she really that thin?