Testimony of Healing August 13, 2001 ISSUE

Eating disorder conquered

Translated from Portuguese

Rosana de Castro

When I was 14, I started to worry too much about my body—what I could and couldn't eat, and how much I should exercise. I weighed 110 pounds, but I thought I was too fat. I don't even know how this all started, but I know it kept getting more and more serious. I ate less and less, and thought this was good for me.

I didn't realize what was happening. I started losing my friends and stopped going to the gym where I used to practice capoeira, (traditional African Brazilian rhythmic gymnastics, originally a martial art used for self-defense.) Everybody started to notice that something was wrong. My parents tried to help me, but I didn't seem to care. They talked, but it was as if I couldn't hear them. I lived like this for five months, and my weight went down to 79 pounds.

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