This coming week Merrimack College is celebrating "Love Your Body" week, a week dedicated to promoting healthy body imagine. After reflecting on what this week means, I decided that I would like to join the conversation in helping spread awareness on a topic that I don't think is being talked about enough: eating disorders.

I would first like to start off by saying that I, myself, have never suffered from an eating disorder, yet I have witnessed first hand how destructive they can be. This piece of writing is inspired by my best friend who I have watched so courageously battle one of these awful diseases. My goal in writing this piece is to shed honest light on the topic and to confront the monster that has tried to take my best friend from me.

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, eating disorders are defined as "serious and often fatal illnesses that cause severe disturbances to a person’s eating behaviors." The most common types of eating disorders include bulimia nervosa, anorexia nervosa, and binge-eating disorder.

Despite what many people think, eating disorders do not discriminate. These diseases affect both males and females and people of all ages, races, sexualities, and backgrounds. In reality, thirty million people in the United States suffer from an eating disorder at some point in their lives. This statistic should be a red flag.

In order to change this shocking statistic, it is important to understand the power of prevention. Despite the fact that eating disorders have the highest death rate of any mental illness and even with the overwhelming number of people being affected, for some reason these disorders are still kept on the "hush."

Though you, yourself, may not be directly targeted by an eating disorder, it is likely that someone you know is fighting a battle you may know nothing about. So please, join the conversation on eating disorders. Know the signs and symptoms. Educate yourself by visiting the NEDA (National Eating Disorders Awareness) webpage. And always remember that you're never alone.

Lastly, I'd like to end with a quote from a piece my best friend wrote during her battle:

"To everybody who is struggling with an eating disorder, just because you've had a few slip ups lately doesn't mean that you're a failure by any means. If you need help, ask. You might not be seeing clear enough to recognize that people care but I promise that they do."

So to the monster that tried to take my best friend from me, I hope you know that you will never succeed. Some days it may seem easy to you, you may feel like you've gained complete control over her, but I promise you're wrong. My best friend is beautiful. She's a fighter. And she's stronger than you will ever be. I'm not sure what you're intentions are or why you've chosen her, but you're up for one hell of a fight.