Laurie was fourteen to eleven years old and weighed one hundred and fifty-five pounds. She went through elementary school as a kid who everyone called fat and never felt love from any of her peers. Even a counselor at her YMCA after-school program made her an example to other kids. The teacher told all the children that she was as tall as Laurie. Putting aside all the criticism from her peers and teachers, she found the courage and strength to lose weight. She started doing sit-ups and eating “healthier.” In reality, she was eating less and less every day. She went from a size fourteen to a size nine and then from a size nine to a size five. All this happened to him between summer and Christmas. The following summer, Laurie was a size double zero. During the next school year, she was called to the nurse's office to be weighed and the scale read ninety-seven pounds. Laurie had become anorexic due to the childhood mental abuse she experienced from her peers. Every culture has a “perfect body image” that everyone compares their own body to. Girls, in particular, mentally think that they have to live up to the models on TV and magazines. In the United States, the skinnier girls are, the more perfect their image is perceived. The “perfect body image” has a fascinating past, health and psychological problems, and currently few solutions.BackgroundThe history of having an “ideal body” type dates back to colonial times. Jennifer L. Derenne and Eugene V. Beresin have studied the “ideal body” from colonial times to the present. During the colonial era, women were valued when they were fertile, physically strong and capable. Indeed, during this period, women helped take care of...... middle of paper ...... (Ed.), Nutrition and Wellbeing from A to Z (Vol. 1, pp 69-71). New York: Macmillan Reference USA. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.comDrugs (Illegal). (2006). In J. Merriman and J. Winter (Eds.), Europe since 1914: Encyclopedia of the war and reconstruction era (Vol. 2, pp. 886-891). Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons. Retrieved from http://go.galgroup.comFranco, K.N., Alishahie, M., & Bronson, DL (2004). Body image. In S. Loue & M.Sajatovic (Eds.), Encyclopedia of women's health (pp.110-112). New York: Kluwer Academic Publishers. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com Gleason, W. (2006). Hobbies. In J. Gabler-Hover and R. Sattelmeyer (Eds.), AmericanHistory Through Literature 1820-1870 (Vol. 2, pp. 639-644). Detriot: the sons of CharlesScribner. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.comhttp://www.eating.ucdavis.edu/speaking/told/anorexia/a42laurie.html