My First Diet

I was only 10 years old when I started dieting. Sadly, two-thirds of American girls have already been on their first diet by their 10th birthday. This was just the beginning of what I call my "diet nightmare," which lasted more than 15 years, and included dramatic weight fluctuations from anorexia to obesity. Here's what I remember about how it all began. This is an excerpt from my latest book, How Much Does Your Soul Weigh? (HarperCollins, 2003), pp. 9-10:

"I remember very clearly when my weight problem began. I was ten years old, and I was reading a story about a little girl who was always teased because she was fat. “How awful that would be,” I thought. The girl described how her thighs rubbed together on hot, summer days. Panic set in as I realized my thighs rubbed together too. “Maybe I’m fat,” I thought. Although I was an average-sized child, this triggered my first diet. For the next fifteen years, my life revolved around weight control, and I experienced a variety of weight problems and eating disorders. Terrified of being teased because I was fat like that girl in the story, I decided I needed to be thin to be accepted by others. I compared my best friend’s thighs to mine. Hers didn’t rub together. Comparing her overall shape and size to mine, I noticed that I was much bigger, all over. For the first time in my life I really started to feel fat..."

And so, I went on my first diet. This was back in the 70's, so guess which diet I picked? Yeah. That's the one. Thanks for my diet nightmare, Dr. Atkins. May your ghost never haunt me.