If you search for "eating disorder" in a stock photo library, you will likely see the same thing over and over: a young, skeletal woman looking sadly into a mirror. While this represents some people's reality, it has created a dangerous myth: the idea that you have to look "sick enough" to have a problem. The Diversity of Struggle The truth is that eating disorders are diverse. They do not have a "look," a "size," or a "weight." Body Size:  Most people struggling with an eati

They taught us the body is a city the gods may enter at will. So I learned early how to lock my gates. Apollo came first— not with plague, but with measure. He laid his lyre across my ribs and said: only what is tuned survives. I listened. Demeter passed me by in winter. Her hands were full, and I pretended not to be starving so she would not stop. I told myself this was discipline. The earth believed me. I counted like a priestess. Seeds. Hours. Bones. Every omission felt li

I watch her every day and I see everything she does. The lunch table hears her murmur about going to the bathroom but only I discern the faint gagging after she disappears to carve her belly whole. The nurses disregard her, painting her emptiness as hunger, but only I hold her hand as she traces the flaring of her ribs. Her boyfriend teases her, squeezing her cheeks and arms, but only I see her falter as she pinches her thighs. I know her thoughts I feel her emotions I see ev