The wages of food obsession

My cover story in the current issue of WORLD looks at the religion of healthy eating. Last November WORLD published a story I wrote on eating disorders that began with a profile of Jessica Perez. After reading about my own battle with eating disorders, she wrote to me, saying, “It is obvious that your religious background has been a font of strength and wisdom to you. … I want to know God.”

Jessi noted her attempts to change bad habits and concluded, “I feel like I can’t do this by myself … only something stronger than me can help me, and the only thing I can think of is God.” I told her she was blessed through her suffering, because she now knew a truth that not many people accept. But earlier this year Jessi died in her sleep. She was 25 and weighed less than 60 pounds. After almost 15 years of struggling with an eating disorder, her body finally gave up.

When I heard the news, my first thought was, “Oh no. No, no, no.” The second thought was, “I hope she’s with God right now.” I hope so. One morning after we talked about the gospel via Skype, she clasped her tiny hands to her cheeks and gasped, “I understand. I get it!”