BULIMIA: FRIEDA CURTIS, REST IN PEACE...

"This is a girl who thought she was fat and ugly," said Frieda Curtis' father, Chuck Curtis Jr. Frieda was his only daughter.

From the Wisconsin State Journal:

"NOV 17, 2008
DAVID WAHLBERG

On the Wednesday night before she died, Frieda Curtis ate a quarter pounder, fries and a large vanilla shake.

She returned that Thursday morning to McDonald's for eggs, sausage, hashbrowns, a biscuit and another shake.

Friday night, after making a big pot of chili, she went to bed — and didn't wake up.

A bottle found on the floor near her body Sunday hinted at what she likely did with her meals: vomit them up by force...

Frieda, a 19-year-old student at Edgewood College who planned to be a history teacher, died a year ago this month from a heart condition related to bulimia.

By her junior year at West High School, a few blocks from the family's historic house on Madison's Near West Side, Frieda agonized about her body almost daily in journals she kept to herself.

Next to cutout pictures of ultra-thin actresses such as Cameron Diaz, Calista Flockart, Halle Berry and Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, she recorded her weight, calorie intake and efforts to get rid of the food she ate.

One day in 2004, she said she had eaten one packet of oatmeal (160 calories), three nuts (about 50 calories), Spaghettios (240 calories), four more nuts (about 50 calories) and a granola bar (140 calories).

She wrote: "640 calories so far, but I had a LOT of Chinese food AND strawberry shortcake! I was able to throw up most of the Chinese food and some of the dessert but I have no idea how many calories I actually digested."

The next day, after a similarly Spartan list of foods, she wrote: "I was also able to get up a little bit of the apple and peanut butter before we left. But still it's not enough!"


Please click here to read Frieda's tragic story in its entirety:

Frieda

Link: http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/local/314589