-- Posted by newmie66 at 11:25 am on July 23, 2008 My friend has an eating disorder. She drinks a tremendous amount of diet soda to mask her hunger. When she gets to the point that she can't stand it anymore, she takes iceberg lettuce and dips it in tomato sauce. Besides the fact that diet soda has all those artificial sweeteners in it, she CAN'T live this way. I'm so worried about her. Whenever I confront her about it, she always says that she's getting enough calories from the tomato sauce that she eats, but I know she's wrong. I'm recovering from an eating disorder myself, and I've confided in this to her, yet she refuses to believe anything I'm telling her, even though it's coming from credible sources like a nutritionist and fitness trainer. Help? -- Posted by iamdeblas at 11:26 am on July 23, 2008 Diet soda makes you hungrier ftl. -- Posted by flanders5t6 at 11:27 am on July 23, 2008 she is what you call.... anorexic. I would seriously suggest trying to get her into a rehabilitation unit/.. -- Posted by WNLX3 at 11:28 am on July 23, 2008 dude diet soda is bad for you... no joke they think that the sweetner could cause cancer. -- Posted by dpalnuiteol at 11:32 am on July 23, 2008 get professional help!! -- Posted by brook at 11:37 am on July 23, 2008 diet soda is bad for you...  plus it tastes funny.  anyway, maybe you need to encourage her to eat more. -- Posted by bbygrl84 at 9:49 am on July 27, 2008 Tell her she looks amazing the way she is and that she doesn't need to lose weight or anything.. Especially if she's doing it to fit in or to look good to someone she likes. Also make sure she knows what can happen: what she's doing is starving herself and that can cause major health problems. There are so many diet plans out there (even on the internet!) that work so much faster than starvation. Let her know that starving will eventually cause her to GAIN weight. She will also lose muscle. I hope I helped. -- Posted by kayzorz at 7:17 pm on July 29, 2008 About a year ago my best friend went ten or so days eating nothing but celery and grapes. It was... the scariest time for me. I've never been so worried about someone. After that though, we thought it was under control so we didn't really do anything about it. Unfortunately... It only went downhill from there. Months later we find out the anorexia never ended... And bulimia came into play when she WOULD eat. She started cutting herself, too, she was depressed. It just... was so awful. Worst experience of my life. It still hurts me to talk about. From my experiences I just know... You HAVE to be paranoid with her, because she isn't always going to tell you the truth about what she's doing. You have to FORCE her to be healthy, not just push her to be healthy. You need to make her parents aware of what she's doing to herself. All things aside, her health is really the most important thing. This is really dangerous. It's not just not eating - it can go far beyond that. It's a mental illness, it's a sadness, it's a health issue... :| It's so much. And, waiting and trusting... It doesn't work So encourage her to be healthy. Tell her it's harmful, and dangerous. Get her to understand. Then get her to go to her parents, and if she won't - then you go, because they need to know. It's a really touchy situation... But don't let it slide. Not that you would... But I did. And it was probably the worst thing I've ever done. So. Good luck. If you ever need any more advice, feel free to PM me. :] -- Posted by Missyjane at 12:23 am on July 30, 2008 Quote: from WNLX3 at 11:28 am on July 23, 2008 dude diet soda is bad for you... no joke they think that the sweetner could cause cancer. You gotta die of something. I love diet coke. -- Posted by Count Suckula at 1:53 am on July 30, 2008 Quote: from WNLX3 at 2:28 pm on July 23, 2008 dude diet soda is bad for you... no joke they think that the sweetner could cause cancer. My god what doesn't cause cancer these days? I'm not going to even bother with health lol. Maybe OP you can talk to your friend's parents or relatives? That's likely the only way unless she collapses in front of them.