Eating Disorder (Chapter 14)

When reading this section of this chapter, my old friend from high school came to mind. When I was in high school in the 11th grade, I meet this young girl and we became really close. We would go out all the time after school and every time we walked into a fast food place she was always hesitant to buy food. She would make up excuses like, "I had a big meal at lunch today" or "My mom has already prepared dinner at home." I always believed her only because we don't each lunch together and I know her mom always made dinner for them every night so I didn't think it was really a big deal. My friend stood about 5 and a 1/2 feet tall, she looks about 170 pounds, medium to slim body type, so every time she hesitated on eating I never second guessed anything. It wasn't until one day I went to go have lunch and she refused to eat anything I offered her, she lied about eating breakfast that morning and at lunch, she only ate an apple and told me that she was not hungry. Time to time she would get light headed and fainted about two times during school. This is when I finally came to the realization that she has been starving herself. As I was reading this section, we often see how eating disorder can impact someone's life and impact the people around them. I felt heartbroken because I didn't see this coming, I was blinded and If I would have seen this sooner I would have stopped her. I eventually told one of the guidance counselor everything I knew and all that she was doing, in my mind I knew she would hate me but, it was worth it because it could have been worse.