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Bulimia book explores life with 'underground, private illness'

Bulimia book explores life with 'underground, private illness'

Bulimia is a lonely, secret, shameful disorder, says Vancouver author and artist Janet Ford.

She knows, having struggled with it for 22 years, since she was 14 years old.

Ford drew illustrations of how it feels to live with the disorder, and now those drawings are compiled in a new book, 100 Days of Bulimia.

"It's very, very personal," Ford told On The Coast host Gloria Macarenko.

"It's such an underground, private illness … bringing it out in the open was really cathartic for me."

The project started on Instagram: a friend challenged her to draw 100 drawings of something she knew "everything" about. Bulimia came to mind.

She says it was challenging to put herself out there at first but got a lot of positive feedback.

That inspired her to keep going, she said, calling it "bittersweet" to see so many people identify with the illustrations.

These days, Ford says she is doing better. She says her relationship with food is "very healthy... But it took a lot of struggle to get to where I am today."

Her hope is that services for people with eating disorders improve. In general, she says, there aren't many options out there.

And her message for anyone who might be suffering from an eating disorder — especially young people — is to seek help.

"It's worth it to have some rolls on your stomach and some cellulite on your butt than to have a life of hell."

A launch event for 100 Days of Bulimia was held by Moniker Press on May 15.

Listen to the full story:

With files from CBC Radio One's On The Coast