Eating Disorders In Wintergirls By Laurie Halse Anderson

Food is an important aspect of our life that we thrive off of. But what happens when one doesn’t have a good relationship with food? Eating disorders affect 720 million people worldwide (or 9% of the population) There is not as much awareness about eating disorders compared to other mental illnesses even though eating disorders are the second deadliest mental illness. Eating disorders are a deadly disease that need to be brought more awareness to.

One person who has experienced the eating disorder, Anorexia, is Jenny Osland. Jenny was only in high school when she developed anorexia. She was in many sports which caused her to start focusing on how much she was eating and how many calories were in her meals. She would start to break down every

Wintergirls is about a teenage girl, Lia, who just lost her best friend, Cassie, due to her esophagus rupturing because of her bulimia. Cassie’s death caused Lia to spiral down into her eating disorder even further, leaving everyone who knew her worried for her. “I’m hungry I need to eat. I hate eating.”(145) Cassie would push through all of her thoughts about hunger to avoid getting sent back to a recovery place. Although people wanted to help Lia and push her to become better, she didn’t want to be better. Lia wanted people to think she was healthy and over her anorexia, so she would lie to people in order to sink further into her unhealthy habits. “Aren’t you going to eat anything?”(152) Lia’s family was aware of her eating disorder and tried to help her resolve it numerous times throughout the book. But, Lia was too set on accomplishing her ideal weight that she never listened. Lia came very close to death near the end of the book, she had to get rushed to the hospital and was put back into a recovery hospital. “I am thawing.”(278) Because of Lia’s near-death experience due to her severe anorexia, she realizes that she is more than her body and she needs to focus on mind over matter. Knowing Lia’s and Jenny’s stories, it is upsetting to know that millions of people suffer from the same disorders as they

ANAD (National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders) was founded in 1976 by Vivian Meehan. ANAD was created in honor of Vivian's daughter, who struggled with an eating disorder but had no support to help her through it. ANAD’s mission is to help anyone with an eating disorder feel heard and guide them through recovery. ANAD helps anyone who has or has had an eating disorder, while they may not have recovered every single person who seeks help from them, they do make sure that nobody feels alone. ANAD offers online support groups, helplines, resources, and guides open to anyone and for free. ANAD has a donation option of eight dollars that goes toward their helplines. Eating disorder organizations offer numerous types of support that help people through their