Swimming outdoors, playing with the family pet and enjoying an ice cream cone -- that is the summer life of a typical 9-year-old girl.
Not for Sarah Smith. As a child, Smith (whose name has been changed to protect her privacy) formed habits that would eventually lead her to develop both bulimia and anorexia nervosa, both of which she is still dealing with today.
Smith remembers her parents using food in a reward-punishment system. When she was good, she got treats; if she was bad, snacks were forbidden.
"I think there was a mixture of ... intentionally restricting my food and then going to try to find the food my parents were hiding," Smith said. "Even in childhood, it became sort of obsessive."
When Smith was born in 1989, child eating disorders were a rarity. Today, they are far more commonplace.
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