Anorexia Nervosa

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Websites promoting anorexia, created by anorexics themselves, are of growing concern. The Eating Disorders Association estimates there are an estimated ten million women and one million men suffering from anorexia, bulimia, and compulsive eating in the US alone. Pro-Anna sites are helping to give incentive to sufferers to throw up their last meal and to reinforce their 500-calorie-a-day diet. These so-called clubs may not cause anorexia but they encourage members to lose weight and avoid recovery.
The first website I visited was called “Ana Angel 112 (www.envy.nu/anaangel112/).” I found this website through Yahoo by typing in “pro anna.” The opening page of this site declares that it is a pro-anna site and that anyone who was not anorexic must leave. A 19-year old girl named Kristen who is 5’7” and weighs 145 pounds created this site. She started this site for motivation to reach her ideal weight of 112 pounds and a size four figure. There have been 1914 visitors to this website.
As I clicked my way through each page of this site, I was astonished to see all the strategies mentioned to lose weight. For instance, the 2-4-6-8 Plan consists of a five day plan where one would intake 200 calories on day one, 400 calories on day two, 600 calories on day three, 800 calories on day four, and between 900 and 100 calories on day five. This was especially striking to me because the thought of someone eating only two hundred calories a day is sickening. There was also a page of tips that includes the advice to “start a pro-anna website this way, you have to stick to your convictions, or else be hypocritical.” I found the tips to be very smart. The ways this girl gets around eating her food and the small things she does to lose weight seem very planned out. However, in the same effect, I find it sad that her life is consumed with how and what she eats, or doesn’t for that matter. There were no pictures or chat rooms in this site. Kristen did encourage that people submit their thoughts by e-mail.
The second website I found through Yahoo was www.bluedragonfly.org. When I first opened the page I found pictures of beautiful models, all of which were extremely thin. The text on the screen included “6 Minutes in the Life of an Ana.” It was so heartbreaking to read that all of the six minutes were consumed on her weight and how others looked.

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