Dear Amy,

I'm really unsure of what is wrong with me. I know I don't eat properly, but I don't know if I have an eating disorder or not. I'm 18, 5'8 and weigh 123lbs. about once a week I don't eat for a full day or two, and the rest of the week I eat only 1 small meal.

When I eat very little or drink even, I feel full very quickly and often purge. I haven't really lost any weight, or missed any periods since I started this way of eating about 6 months ago.

I've been a dancer for 14 years, and everyone tells me I'm not fat at all but I feel and see myself as being huge. Please write back, I need to know what is wrong with me!!! Thanks!

-Confused.

I honestly know more people with eating disorders than those without. It's essentially impossible to escape. That said, I think it's a given that we all have some weird issues around food and as the experts tell us, it's really a mental disorder, not a physical one.

Therefore, I think it's important to address it from that perspective and then figure that eating is just a manifestation of something larger. I don't necessarily think it's something complex; it could be as simple as trying to resist perceiving ourselves one way while we are perceived another.

Changing our perspective. I think that each of us has to go through a time of really rejecting our looks/body and then we can begin to reclaim it.

I hope that helps,

— Amy