Meeting 38-year-old Natalie Winter is not for the faint-hearted. "My teeth are so rotten they're falling out" she told me. It's just one of the many side-effects of suffering anorexia for 35 years. Her mother was severely anorexic when she gave birth to Natalie, and, of course, she says growing up with an anorexic mum as her role model was probably part of the reason she's always battled with food. She thought not eating was normal adult behaviour. But she cites her "unhappy" childhood as the main reason for becoming anorexic and says she's never actually ever felt hungry in her life.  | | Natalie is half the weight she should be |
Natalie used to be a successful company director. She is fluent in seven languages and has a degree in medical engineering. But when her mother died five years ago, Natalie starved herself for four months and doctors said she wouldn't survive. She was hospitalised and kept alive on a drip for a year. But her body has paid the price of years of abuse and she is half the weight she should be. Her digestive system has been destroyed and now she can only eat partially digested liquid food which has been chemically treated. She has to take 16 tablespoons of it each day to give her 800 calories. But it tastes so disgusting, she freezes it to try to obscure the synthetic taste. Her heart has shrunk to half its normal size, she has arthritis and is going deaf and blind. She says she has brain damage, her blood pressure is so low she regularly faints, and her osteoporosis is so bad her bones are as brittle as those of a 90-year-old woman.  | | Natalie's bones are as brittle as those of a 90-year-old woman |
She says she would be dead today if it wasn't for her partner, Heather Coleman, who cares for her 24 hours a day. Natalie has to take 105 pills every day to stay alive and takes morphine several times a day. She says even if she wanted to start eating again, her body wouldn't cope. On one occasion when she was rushed into hospital, she says doctors tried to put 200 calories into her body through her drip, but it was too much for her body and she nearly died. Natalie says anorexia has got nothing to do with beauty, it's linked with emotional pain or suffering. When she starves herself, it numbs out her inner pain. Natalie says anorexia is a death sentence and that she wishes she could eat and have a normal life. Today Natalie counsels other people with eating disorders and you can read more about her touching story on her website. | 
