Re: Where is the line between fasting and anorexia/starving yourself?

Hmmm, I'm not very good at conveying my thoughts on the subject, but I'll give it a shot.

First let me describe what it's like to have an eating disorder.

You despise yourself, you despise your body. You have no sense of self-worth. Self-worth is decided by your weight and not any legitimate life accomplishments. Your goal is often to become not just thin, but emaciated. You're completely and utterly engrossed in your eating habits. It's all you think about. You calculate every calorie you consume or burn through exercising. You become a liar-- you show up to a gathering with your friends at a pizza place and tell them you just ate a humongous supper, so you're full and can't eat, when in fact you haven't eaten all day. Sometimes you feel so ashamed of being "disgusting" and "fat" that you refuse to leave the house or fall into a depression.

Fasters may experience feelings of revitalization, cleanliness and peace. They fast because of a logical and conscious decision to work towards one's good health.

Those with eating disorders are in a constant state of mental SUFFERING. Eating disorders are illnesses. They are not rationally made decisions and they certainly aren't designed for the sake of good health.

Starvation happens when your body no longer has reserves of the energy and nutrition it needs to thrive on, and yet one continues to deprive it of food. Starvation feels mentally and physically horrendous, not revitalizing, cleansing or peaceful. A faster will stop fasting before their reserves run out. They will stop if they begin to feel ill. A faster's goal is to attain good overall health. Someone who induces starvation on themselves could care less about their health or how they feel.

Anyway, good luck with everything :) Tweet