posted June 09, 2006 05:24 PM
I have a friend that I have known since I was very young. We are best friends, and will probably be best friends for the rest of our lives. She is an avid skiier and spends her winters at a ski school training; she has a pretty good chance at being an Olympic skiier. She's always been a very lively and optimistic person...but now I wonder about her a bit......Well, she has never really had a huge appetite, and has always been very thin and pale. But recently, my mom (her mom and my mom are best friends as well) told me that my friend was having a hard time putting on weight. She told me that my friend wasn't eating enough. I brushed it off and denied that she had a problem...but I'm not so sure now. A few weeks after that, I had a birthday party, and she was at my house. At the party, she actually told me that she doesn't like to eat and that she doesn't enjoy food. That morning at breakfast, I saw her eat, and she was picking at her food a little bit and then said "I'm soo full" after only a few bites.
Last week, I IMed her. I pretended to think that I was fat, just to see if I could find anything else out. She never told me that she thought she was fat, which makes things a little harder to figure out. I casually talked about my favorite foods, and then asked her what kind of food she likes. She told me that she was a "carb-o-holic" and liked bread, plain pasta, and cereal. She made herself sound very enthusiastic (ex. "I LOVE BREAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!") but I wasn't sure how honest it was.
I also remember from when she and I were younger, she used to draw all the time. She was constantly drawing. She was always drawing pictures of herself as a fairy or a princess or Miss America. But she would always draw a picture of herself being extremely thin, with an average sized head and a tiny little body. I doubt that it was intentional, but it does make me wonder a bit. She doesn't draw as much anymore, but a few years ago she did.
She has always had a small appetite, so I'm not so sure if this is an eating disorder or not, but it is questionable. Could she possibly be developing one? Any feedback or advice would be great!