"I'm Ana this week, I need to lose a few lbs"

Ahhh, a serious pet hate of mine, and an opportunity to ramble away to my heart's content :)

"Ana is a lifestyle choice, not a disease."

I shall start my dissection of this rather lovely statement with some statistics:

• Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness
• A study by the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders reported that 5 – 10% of anorexics die within 10 years after contracting the disease; 18-20% of anorexics will be dead after 20 years and only 30 – 40% ever fully recover
• The mortality rate associated with anorexia nervosa is 12 times higher than the death rate of ALL causes of death for females 15 – 24 years old.
• 20% of people suffering from anorexia will prematurely die from complications related to their eating disorder, including suicide and heart problems

Read more: http://weighingthefacts.blogspot.com/2008/03/eating-disorder-courage.html#ixzz19zP3I7pR

Wow. Some lifestyle choice.

There are two things in particular which drive me to screaming point about this.

1. Impressionable or just stupid people believing that "ana" is a diet. They think they can eat 500 calories a day for a week and that means they have an eating disorder.

2. Part of having an ED is the belief that you're fine, actually. Encouraging this through the pro ana movement is dangerous. Simple as. It normalises the abnormal for goodness sake!

If you are a member of the pro ana movement, I beg you to think very carefully about WHY. 

Is it because you get support? Well I'm sorry but pro ana does not give you sensible or healthy support. It encourages you to avoid treatment. join plentyoffish.org or anabites.webs.com for sensible support

Is it because you need to lose weight? Well then you are misguided, join minimins for healthy weight loss support.

Is it because you don't want to get well? Take another look at those stats at the beginning. Really? THAT is what you want? It may be what ED wants, but that is not you. Not really.