'70 reasons not to eat'
Hi,....
I don't know how to start this because I feel as though if you have clicked on this post then it's because you were genuinely looking for reasons to starve yourself and I am so so sorry that you think that's the answer. This post however is NOT to encourage you to starve yourself and the 'reasons' I'm about to talk about are not ones I came up with. In fact its a post a very good youtuber (Laura Legeune) brought to my attention and its from a proana site. Proana stands for promoting anorexia which is disgusting in itself, but not as disgusting as the ludicrous 'tips' they actually give to young, impressionable people. Below I have taken one of the posts from one of these sites and I am about to show you the shocking reality of the proana community and the things they enforce. I just want to reinforce the fact that I am NOT promoting these ideas rather just explaining why following any of them would be not only ridiculous but life threatening as well. Please leave this post now if you are easily triggered. You have been warned.
LIE: Ana sounds so much better than FATSO
TRUTH: No one is going to call you 'ana' unless that is your name. No one in your real life will give this illness a name.. or glorify it. On the other hand there is also VERY few if not 0 people who would ever call you 'fatso.' Ana is a nice name but if its not your name and you are using it instead as a nickname for 'anorexia' then it is NOT something you want to be called. Very few people would like to be called 'anorexia or anorexic.'
LIE: You'll be perfect
TRUTH: You'll be battling a life threatening disease. You'll become weak and frail, your teeth will go yellow, your head hair will fall out but you'll grow a thin white coat of hair all over the rest of your body and the 'imperfections' go on. I promise you, you will not feel perfect.
LIE: You'll be FAT if you eat today!
TRUTH: One day of eating does not make you fat, in fact a thousand days of eating does not make you fat - as long as you eat relatively healthy and stay relatively active you will not gain weight. It all depends on your metabolism, some people could eat cake all day and not move and still not gain weight. EATING DOES NOT MAKE YOU FAT, it's what you eat and how much of it.
LIE: Starving is control, we like control!
TRUTH: Okay, so to a certain degree to start of with you might feel as though you are in control, in reality that control will be lost VERY fast. Eventually you will become a slave to your eating disorder, you physically will not be able to choose what you eat r not because the little voice in your head will be SO loud that you have no other choice but to do what's its telling you. I promise you now when you develop an eating disorder you are the last person in control - You are the slave.
LIE: You'll look prettier
TRUTH: For a while you might think you look prettier and you might get a couple of compliments on your weight loss but that wont last long. Eventually you'll get all the negative symptoms of anorexia, grey skin, brittle nails, your hair will be stringy and dry, you'll look tired and be too tired to put on makeup, you'll wear only baggy clothes. Do you think that sounds pretty?
LIE: Guys want you!
TRUTH: Having anorexia will not make guys want you more, I'm not saying guys wont want you necessarily, you might have a very loyal boyfriend who wants to support you through this ILNESS but dealing with someone who has an eating disorder can be VERY hard. The constant worry, the mood swings, the pushing people away; Its all a lot to deal with. You wont want guys to want you eventually anyway, you'll hate yourself and feel disgusting, you'll lock yourself in your room - You wont even see any guys after a while.
LIE: You don't NEED food
TRUTH: I'm sure this one doesn't even need to be explained but just in case... Of course you need food! Without food your body will go into survival mode, it will store calories all it can but eventually they will run out. At this point your body will begin to eat all the fat off your body, after that it will go after your muscle and guess what? Your heart is a muscle. Essentially your body will be eating itself inside out. Gross right?
LIE:Starving is an excellent example of will power
TRUTH: Starving isn't an example of willpower, starving is an example of an illness. If you're trying to show people you have willpower then how about giving up a bad habit; Stop smoking, stop biting your nails, go to bed earlier, stop eating meat Something that isn't going to kill you.
LIE: People will see your beautiful bones
TRUTH: Your bones aren't supposed to be seen and what's so great about showing your bones anyway? It's literally just your skeleton, the thing that's holding you together. There is nothing beautiful about bones oh and I'm just going to throw in there that having anorexia causes you have to have very brittle bones, this means they will break and you will bruise VERY easily.
LIE: People will remember you as the beautiful girl
TRUTH: No they wont, people don't remember what you looked like, cause that is constantly changing. People remember how you acted to them and what you did whilst alive, how often you smiled, what hobbies you had. You will be remembered as the girl who spent her final years locked in her bedroom crying over a piece of food and wasting away. How do you want to be remembered?
LIE:Only thin people are graceful
TRUTH: Anyone can be graceful. Look up some dancers, they're not all tiny and thin especially not anymore, it's becoming very common for more curvier girls to do well in the ballet industry. In fact I have some very skinny friends who are probably the least graceful people I've met, I love them pieces but there's no denying they've been seen in public tripping over their own feet more than a few times.
LIE: You'll be able to run faster
TRUTH: Again, not true. You'll struggle to walk upstairs let alone be able to run. Just sitting up will be a task that will leave you breathless. You'll be left with so little energy you'll hardly be able to cry, you can say goodbye to any hopes of being any type of athlete I'm afraid. I guess you just need to decide what's more important to you; Falling into this illness, starving yourself and eventually dying because of it OR Giving your body the nutrition it needs to move and EXCELLING in your sport and hobby?
LIE: You'll have both inner&outer beauty
TRUTH: I've spoken about the way anorexia affects you both inside and out but I'll repeat that here in case you've forgotten. You will loose your hair but gain a layer of white hair over the rest of your body, your teeth will yellow, your skin will turn grey, your nails and bones will be brittle, your breath will smell, your body will start to eat itself from the inside out. It's that's not shocking enough I don't know what is.
LIE: People who eat are selfish and unrealistic
TRUTH: This statement is unrealistic. People who don't eat will die. Eating is NOT selfish in anyway, you need to eat to stay healthy and alive. The selfish ones are the ones encouraging others to starve their selves to death. They have nothing to gain from it and if they think they can make anorexia and globally accepted lifestyle then they unrealistic.
LIE: FAT people can't fit everywhere
TRUTH: Okay, so in some instances this is true, an overweight person might not be able to fit on a ride or may need two seats on a plane but if you're looking at proana sites then it is unlikely that you are anywhere near to being in this position.
LIE: If you eat you'll look like those disgusting, fat, trash hookers
TRUTH: I don't even understand why this is relevant to anything, I have never looked at a 'fat' person and considered them disgusting, trashy or a hooker and putting on a couple of pounds will NOT make you entitled to these labels. If you eat you will be doing a normal activity that everyone who can does every day in order to not die.
LIE: FAT people are so huge, yet people look away as if they don't exist
TRUTH: Your weight will not change how you're looked at or treated, the only thing that will change that is how you treat other people and how you act in public - Not how you look. I've seen many many beautiful bigger ladies this summer who I couldn't help looking at for style inspirations, they were really pulling off their curves and you can do!! I certainly wasn't looking away.
LIE: Bones are clean and pure
TRUTH: Bones are bones. We all have them. They're just a part of our skeleton. You cant change how pure they are. You cant change how clean they are. Bones are bones, a part of our skeleton and that is all I'm afraid.
LIE: FAT is dirty, hangs on you as a parasite
TRUTH: Everyone has some amount of fat on them, yes - even anorexics. It's very rare that fat will actually 'hang' on you and it's certainly not a parasite or dirty in fact it's vital. Its healthy and important to have some degree of fat covering your body and it shouldn't be looked at as a bad thing.
LIE: Thin people look good in ALL clothes
TRUTH: This certainly isn't true unfortunately. What someone looks 'good' in depends on the entire person not their weight, I've seen bigger people in clothes that weren't the most flattering but I've also seen smaller people in outfits that drowned them or just looked odd. Regardless of this you shouldn't worry what other people think you look like in your clothes, just wear something that's comfortable and you feel good in.
LIE: Fat people die earlier
TRUTH: Morbidly obese people are at a higher chance of developing heart disease, diabetes or having a stroke and dieing as a consequence then healthy people are but underweight people have a much higher mortality rate than obese people do. It's believed that only 60% of anorexics will make a full recovery and 20% will die from the illness.
LIE: Ballerina or beanbag?
TRUTH: Hmm.. So this has nothing to with your weight. If you want to be a ballerina then go and take up some dance classes, enter some plays as a ballerina, work hard and you'll hopefully become a professional or teacher one day, I look forward to seeing you in next years edition of The Nutcracker. You want to be a beanbag? Ermm... Okay, try sitting in the corner in a ball like shape and invite people to sit on you. Good luck on your journey whatever path you take.
LIE: Starving Anorexic girl, or Ugly mingling FAT girl?
TRUTH: Being fat does not make you 'mingling' or 'ugly' Beyoncé is definitely not fat but she is curvy and I don't see anyone describing her as 'mingling.' I have many very beautiful friends who are on the bigger side and if you do a quick search on google you'll find many beautiful plus size models. I cant argue the other part, you probably will be starving but you still wont be able to eat I'm afraid.
LIE: A minute on the lips, a lifetime on the hip
TRUTH: This phrase is so common and so frustrating. One piece of food will not stay on your hips forever, in fact it probably wont even go to your hips most of the time. Our bodies are SO clever and they know how to distribute fat evenly around our bodies you will also most likely burn off that food just by doing day to day activities throughout the day after you've eaten.
LIE: People will congratulate you on how much you've lost
TRUTH: At first you might receive compliments on your new look and weight loss as people who lose weight usually need to lose weight so people have become conditioned to congratulating people who manage to lose weight but these compliments will quickly turn into constant nagging and worrying. You'll lose more and more weight and the compliments will stop, instead you'll be told you look ill, tired, warn out.
LIE: You'll use less soap in the shower, and save money
TRUTH: This is so ridiculous, I doubt anyone really cares how much soap they're using and soap usage is definitely not a reason to starve yourself to death. You may save money on soap but you'll end up spending way more on other things (I'll go into this in more detail later.)L
LIE: People won't think 'what a fat cow' when they see you
TRUTH: People don't generally look at someone and judge them that harshly on first view. Being 'fat' also does not make you a 'cow' and if you believe it does then it's not your outside appearance that needs to be worked on
LIE: Skinny people get better jobs
TRUTH: People get good jobs based on what they're good at. If an obese person who had a qualification in nursing applied for a job and a skinny person who done nursing in week experience for a week applied for a job who do you think would get it? Of course it would be the person with the qualification. The other important thing to note is that if you're anorexic you will not be able to work anyway, you will be too weak and wont be able to concentrate properly on the task at hand.
LIE: Fat people don't get leads in plays
TRUTH: If you can act the part well then you will get the part, if you're the best actor auditioning you will get the role, directors want their plays to be good. However if you're anorexic then you probably wont be able to act in a play regardless of what your role is, starving will leave you too tired to stand and constantly go over scenes for the long hours that plays require and the risk of you collapsing on stage, ending up in hospital or needing your under study to take over for you will be too high.
LIE: Starving works, diets don't!
TRUTH: Diets work long time, starving makes you lose water weight (so you become dehydrated and end up in hospital) and the minute you eat something again every calorie from it will be stored as fat encase you decide to starve again. Not only that but your metabolism is slowed down so your body wont be able to burn calories through your every day activities (breathing, walking around etc) only from intense exercise.
LIE: Food makes you fat
TRUTH: Food will only make you fat if you spend all day eating foods high in sugar, bad fats and animal products and don't move around. If you eat healthy most of the time (it doesn't have to be all the time) and try and get at least 15 minutes of exercise then you will not gain weight from food.
LIE: Fatso's can't be loved
TRUTH: Anyone can be loved if they can show love towards others and if they deserve it. Love is SO much more than what you look like. Regardless there are millions of 'fat' people in very happy relationships. You can't be loved if you're dying and still being horrible to everyone because you're so hungry and have pushed them all away.
LIE: People LOVE Ana's!
TRUTH: People will still love you if you're anorexic, but they wont love you BECAUSE you're anorexic, it's unlikely that they'll love you anymore or less. Anorexia is an illness that very often results in death, anyone who says they love you because you're 'ana' are supporting you in killing yourself. Do you really consider that love?
LIE: You'll feel more energetic
TRUTH: This one couldn't be more wrong. You'll hardly be able to walk, your heart will pound and your chest will hurt just from walking up the stairs, every time you stand up you will loose your vision, you'll have a lot of back pain, you won't be able to stand for long without feeling like you're going to collapse. You definitely will not feel energetic, you get your energy from food so if you're not eating food then how can you expect to have energy.
LIE: You'll save money on grocery bills
TRUTH: It's quite possible you'll save money on grocery bills to start off with but you have a higher chance of binging at some point when the hunger takes over, this means you'll spend up to £100 on high calorie/carb foods that you can binge on. You'll also spend possibly thousands on medical bills once the side effects of anorexia begin, especially if you end up having to pay for inpatient treatment. Can you really afford that?
So this is only the first 35 of the 70 ridiculous comments above so part 2 will be coming soon. I just want to make clear that I am not trying to promote the article rather just hoping that when someone does search 'reasons not to eat' they will come across this rather then the toxic original.
DISCLAIMER: Information above is not fact checked, I am not a medical professional and my words should not be taken as if they were from a professional. All information provided is either something I have been told by a doctor, physiatrist or counsellor and was relevant to my own experience at the time (but may not be useful/ relevant for your own unique experience) or was something I noticed first hand from my own journey or someone noticed first hand and told me about their journey with similar issues. No information provided should be taken in replace of seeing a doctor.
Remember to drop your opinions on the matter in the comments below and follow me in order to stay updated with new posts and be told when part 2 is out so we can continue to fight the stigma surrounding mental illness together!! Share to raise awareness. <3
Stay strong, Stay positive, Stay beautiful - Stay you.
