Anorexia is a serious mental illness which is too often stereotyped, glamorised, misunderstood, simplified and belittled. There can be no simple, straightforward explanation for an illness as extremely complex as anorexia nervosa. Eating disorders affect around 1.6 million people in the UK, and although anorexia isn"t the most common, it is the most deadly. Characterised by an overwhelming fear of weight gain, those affected dramatically reduce their food intake and may also overexercise, vomit or use laxatives in a desperate bid to lose weight. Anorexia does not discriminate. It affects people of all ages, genders, ethnicity, race and religion. With this book the author hopes to expel the myths and stereotypes that exist about anorexia and help you to understand the true meaning of anorexia - above and beyond those age-old explanations that only ever scratch the surface.