Eating Disorders Are Not A Choice

This week I read this article on the Daily Mail about the supposed rise of the super skinny celebrity. I read it and thought to myself how can this woman presume the women in the article have eating disorders.You can't 100% accurately tell if someone has an eating disorder, its not always visible, there are many different types.  Having suffered from one I want to point out that anorexia is not a choice, neither are bulimia or other types.  Also you can look relatively healthy and still be suffering. Should these women not leave the house for fear of influencing people to be 'too thin'.  No.  We have no right to judge their body types.  I believe the media portrayal of celebrity figures have a lot to answer for.  Having articles on 'who's too skinny' or 'who's too fat' or 'look at their rolls' alongside each other to me is far more damaging.  The thing is these magazines and online articles sell, that's why there's such an abundance of them.  People are inquisitive by nature and sadly judging someone on the size of their waistline makes the front page.I agree with the writer that it's a huge worry for our children who are growing up in a much more digital age than I did where access to articles written in a negative way about body image are in abundance such as 'thinspiration'.  However I believe its about educating people on self esteem and not focusing on purely our aesthetic.  Celebrities and models didn't cause my anorexia but I would read for hours in forums written probably by girls like me about the weights of these models.  I want to see articles on raising self esteem and tips on how to boost confidence, not pieces set to knock down confidence.Eating disorders are serious mental health issues with serious consequences.  Working to be pro-active not reactive to them and build up self esteem I believe is vital to helping reduce incidence and improve recovery.