Why Nutrition?

The last couple of weeks I've been asked by complete strangers, "why nutrition?" I simply reply, "because nutrition is important for everyone." As true as this may be, I first became interested in nutrition when my twin brother was diagnosed with sports anorexia nervosa. For those of you who don't know, sports anorexia is excessive exercise and limiting food intake. It was the start of grade 9, and the news hit my family like a block of bricks. The symptoms were all there, but we were too blind and too self concerned with our own lives to see the grim presence of anorexia stealing my twin. My family first found out my brother was sick when he had gone to the local doctor about a knee injury (which was caused from excessive running), and it was then our family doctor weighed him, and did a few blood tests to confirm he had an eating disorder. He was then sent to a psychologist in Camrose to see if anything in his family life may have caused him to become ill. We've had a 'normal' family life as far as we were concerned. We are small town kids, only moved once, had no  family deaths, got along great with our two older siblings, and had supportive parents. My family didn't really know or understood how terrifying anorexia was, however, we quickly found out from the monthly trips up to the U of A hospital at 4F4. Half a year went by and things had seemed to slowly get worse. It was our 15th birthday and I expected my twin and I to do our traditional birthday rituals of waking up at 6:59am, and then  I say happy birthday to him, then at 7:00am he says happy birthday to me..(it was the times we were born at). However this day was different, I found my brother locked in his closet. "Why, Why did this have to happen to me! It's not like I want to be like this," he cried out. We didn't have birthday cake that year because it just wouldn't have felt right. As the year went on, my brother's conditions got worse; I remember him telling me that there were weeks he can't remember and Christmas that year was a blur to him. He kept to himself at school and on occasions he would pass out in class and have panic attacks in gym class. My dad would find him running on the treadmill at lunch time while I was hanging out with our friends and eating lunch. Once my father told my brother to stop running at lunch he instead ran outside during lunch which sometimes was in -40C weather. What kind of disease posses a person to go to such extremes? 


It was the start of grade 10 when things were at the lowest of low. He weighed in at 75pounds, and he looked so sickly that the people in our community thought he was dying from cancer. His hair was falling out, he looked more like a skeleton than my brother. A room finally opened up, and the day of our older brother's birthday, we drove up to Edmonton, unloaded my twin's belongings and with a hug goodbye he was admitted into the eating disorder program at the U of A hospital. This was the toughest time for him and I, we had been inseparable since the day we were born. (My brother and I always 'stuck like glue' to each other, according to our parents). He then spent the next 6 months in Edmonton. Although Castor, our home town, is three hours away, I tried to spend every weekend I could visiting him. My brother made friends, even sneaked out of the hospital to venture around Edmonton with a few friends from the hospital. I got to know a few of the other patients on the unit; it was really intriguing to hear other people's stories of what placed them into 4F4. He was finally somewhere where people understood how he felt and could relate to him. After my twin met his goal weight after 6 months (which is one of the quickest inpatients the unit had ever seen) he surprised me and got our dad to pick him up and bring him home.

Now, at the University of Alberta, we are both back in Edmonton. He is studying kinesiology, in hopes of doing research or something in sports. Me, I am in Food and Nutrition in hopes of transferring into the Nutrition Major and becoming a dietitian. We have even talked about opening up our own gym, where he'd be the person trainer and I could be the dietitian. He is training me to lift weights while hopefully I can educate him in nutrition. 

So, why nutrition? 

I don't want to see others go through what my twin brother did. It was a heartbreaking experience for him, as well as his family and friends. He wants to be like those giant 'jacked' body builders, but the truth is, he'll never be like them. He's 5'7, 130 pounds, and his body will always look young. Anorexia stole my brother's growing years. I am so grateful that he is still here with me today, and I have learned so much about eating disorders from him. It's not always about having the perfect body or losing weight, but how food makes someone feel. He told me once that he felt weak, powerless if he ate. Today he has troubles socializing with friends, because when we were all teenagers, flirting, making friends, he was starving to find himself. Anorexia takes away a lot of someone's life, and it is something that isn't fully understood, and I want to learn more, so others can understand and be helped.


I checked out a fellow classmate's blog, Sydney, and I found her blog about 'Undernourishment and the Art of Wasting Less' very interesting. It's strange how holidays always involve food and bring people together. My brother actually asked me why everything always has to involve food. It's one of the reasons I love nutrition and food; it brings people together. 

So now I ask you.

Why nutrition?