Hi everyone! I wrote this essay for my advanced composition class in early January, and I'd really like to share it with all of you vegwebbers. I'm posting this so that maybe it will help someone, or have some small impact in someone's life. Whatever the case may be, I hope you enjoy this essay....Thank you.

One in 200 American women suffers from anorexia nervosa: an eating disorder, marked by an extreme fear of becoming overweight leading to excessive dieting to the point of serious ill-health and sometimes death. I was one of these women.  Anorexia pushed me to places I shouldn’t have been, pushed my family where no family should ever go, and pushed me to the edge of my life.
Sadness washes over me as I think of my anorexic past. Lack of nutrients caused collections of my beautiful brown hair to slide down the bathtub drain, my womanly monthly menstruation to stop for over a year, my face to turn a ghostly white, my zero energy level, my unhealthy 40-50 beat per minute heart rate. My food diary became my best friend, calculating every calorie I ate and every calorie I burned. My daily weigh-ins determined whether it would be a good or bad day. My sour attitude and dreadful eating habits caused my parents and sister hell. I was the substandard child.
I had always been an active child. My parents taught me how to be active. We would spend time together hiking, bike riding, and playing sports. My mom always made healthy foods for the family. I was never an overweight child, just never as skinny as other girls. I remember other family members commenting about me. My uncle’s would call me fat and would tell my sister that I should go running in the field. I was teased over instant message by teens my age. I’ve always been a very sensitive person and these comments stabbed my heart with a lemon-drenched blade.
My battle with anorexia was a hard challenge for me to overcome. I remember visiting my doctor once every week, for months on end. Then, if I was “good”, it would be once every two weeks, and so on. I fluttered between eating enough and detesting my body. As this slow process consumed months of my life, I slowly started to see that I have to eat healthy to stay healthy. I don’t have to be a size two to be happy and if people can’t accept me the way I am then no way will I waste my time with them. You need to do the things that make you happy and being anorexic was not making me happy. I looked emaciated, weighing only 112 lbs. My body was never meant to weigh  112 lbs, and even though I weighed so little, I truly hated my body. I would look in the mirror and hate myself, wishing I could loose even more weight. That is the message that play’s through every eating disorder person’s mind: If I meet my next goal weight, then I’ll be happy…right? 
Anorexia is one’s personal battle within. Luckily, I had my family who helped me through this battle. I would never have kept going to the doctor’s appointments if my mom didn’t make me. I would never have eaten enough if my family didn’t help me. It was a battle for the whole family, and I feel selfish for putting them through that. In the present time, I feel content with my body. I eat a healthy vegan diet and exercise frequently. Anorexia could never make me happy. I had to realize that if I live a healthy life then I would be happy. I want to be able to climb mountains, travel to many places, join the Peace Corps, and contribute to my family and society. Being anorexic would have hindered me from achieving these life goals.
There are many challenges one will have to overcome in life. One of my main challenges so far in my 17 years of life was conquering anorexia. I had to get it through my stubborn head that I was not healthy. It took a long time for me to grow out of my self-destructive phase and realize that being “thin” isn’t one’s main goal in life.  Life isn’t about starving yourself, detesting yourself, and analyzing every part of your body. Life is about doing the things that make you happy. Life is about loving yourself and loving everything and everyone you surround yourself with. I realize and accept that I will never be “thin”, but that doesn’t make me any less of a person.
Hindu Prince Gautama Siddharta once said, “Those who are free of resentful thoughts surely find peace.” Through the help of my family, my doctor, and myself, I have shattered my anorexia chains. I shall never again be held down by anorexia. I have found my peace. I have found myself.