When I was in college, I subscribed to the common mantra the thinner the better. Now, I guess you know what they did to cut down on the urge to binge in the 60s pop appetite suppressants, regardless of consequence. I’m here to tell you that I didn’t do that, because a good friend of mine got hooked on those, progressed to meth and finally died in an intensive care unit in Houston. Drug overdose you BET I didn’t touch anything like that following this incident.

But I did have other problems, and I was still a freshman when the college counselor first called me in about what he referred to as anorexia nervosa. The dorm mistress has found me in the hallway, apparently in dead faint that I was later told came from malnutrition. Anorexia nervosa were scary words I knew that Karen Carpenter had died of it, and had seen some snaps of her just before she died that I’d prefer to forget.

Mr. Hubert explained a lot to me that morning. Anorexia is just a healthy feeling of being full, he said. That is not a problem. In fact, we would all be overweight if anorexia didn’t set in after a meal. What I see in you is not normal. Are you eating at all?

I was what I thought of as fashionably lean, but he was right. I’d been eating one low-cal meal a day for five months, and had been working out in the gym to lose additional weight.Your medical report says that your heart and cardiovascular system are in bad shape, he said.Are you on laxatives, too??

I was. Every single day.

Anorexia is Americas #1 killer in psychiatric disorders. I’m referring you to a specialist clinic.

I was under psychiatric care for six months and eventually got better. And I’m here to tell you I almost died that summer. And to tell you that if you find that you’re eating less than you should, don?t take it lightly.