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"I'd rather starve than be fat," says 22-year-old Julia. But at 5-foot-7-inches and 95 lbs., the frail girl is compared by her Polish parents to survivors of Auschwitz.Julia's story was featured on last week's episode of our favorite reality show, A&E's "Intervention." As a young teen, when Julia developed earlier than her identical twin, she began exercising to lose weight.
Her sister, Sonia (three minutes younger and 3 inches shorter) who'd clung to her newfound identity as "the thin twin" followed suit.
A Deadly Pact
The girls' sisterly competition soon gnarled into a shared eating disorder. When the show was shot, the twins consumed about 300 calories a day, counted each others' steps to guarantee they burned equal calories and weighed their food before eating it, counting each piece of rice.
They also had a pact that they'd always weigh within 3 lbs. of each other. "I don't feel like we're two people sometimes," says Sonia. "We're one person." (Click here to see video of the girls.)
We spoke with the show's interventionist, Ken Seeley, author of the new book "Face It and Fix It" about their incredible story.
Click Next below to find out more about the girls -- and why their behavior is less rare than you might think.
More from around the web:
What it's like to live with anorexia (AOL Health)
A weird way to end insomnia? (Health.com)
Get healthier while you watch TV -- really (Lemondrop)
Comments:
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Monday 15 June
By Maelynn
Really? This is story worthy? Pul-lease, get help move on.
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Monday 15 June
By Pinkie
4-real! There are people straving in 3rd worlds that would really use the blessings these girls are tossing--- at least send the money equivilent to Feed the Children Foundation!
Monday 15 June
By Barbara Fleming
As a counselor for inpatient eating disorder patients, I find your comment hugely naive. Don't you think they would, if they could??? This is a disease.
Friday 19 June
By Barbara
I had been overweight for the past five years. I had tried almost everything in the market, right from taking diet pills to enrolling in a gym but nothing really worked. Yes I did lose a few pounds but nothing substantial. It was then that a friend recommended Acai Nutraburst http://tr.im/AcaiNutraburst to me. I have been using the product for about a month now and have slimmed down considerably. I have actually started to wear all those dresses that I had put off for so long. The product is definitely one of the best weight loss products in the market today. I have already finished two bottles of Acai Nutraburst and am on my third bottle now. It totally changed my life! Not only did I lose a lot of weight quickly, I have also never felt more energetic and so full of life!
Saturday 20 June
By ruby
it's not that simple
Saturday 20 June
By Sal
"We make ice, for mice."
Monday 15 June
By Leana Jo
These ladies really need help. 300 calories a day is not enough for them to keep going. It's all good to lose some weight, but damn, you still have to eat to sustain life, energy, and muscle tissue. They are literally dying (5'7, 95 lbs., yes, she would look like a concentration death camp victim!). That is just way too damn thin for her height (in reality, she's supposed to be around 135-150 or somewhere in that ballpark figure).
I hope they get help fast and know about good nutrition and a healthy workout plan, than what they are doing now. They are killing themselves.
Reply
Friday 19 June
By DreamerGiggles
"That is just way too damn thin for her height (in reality, she's supposed to be around 135-150 or somewhere in that ballpark figure)."
What' a freaking crock. When it comes to weight, things besides height do come into play. At 5'10" and 160lbs I'm not an overly thin person. My mother on the other hand is. Always has been. She's the same height as these girls (5'7") and outside of her pregnancy with me has never weighed more than 115lbs (probably about 106lbs right now). She's even got a little belly pouch LoL. If she got up to 135-150 she'd look huge.
She's never dieted let alone starved herself. I doubt she's ever counted a calorie in her life. Her body is NATURALLY thin, always has been, and probably always will be.
Saturday 20 June
By ruby
I'm sure they're highly aware of that. It's much more complex than that.
Monday 15 June
By alix
they weigh more than me. im 12.
Reply
Monday 15 June
By denise
You may be less weight but how tall are you? If you feel you are fat then I think you may have an eating disorder. You should hear people if they tell you are too thin. If you are worried about weight you should really talk to someone.
Friday 19 June
By amybuddy09
So what? She weighs more than me, and I'm 13 years old.
Monday 15 June
By Lynda
These girls need to get focused on something productive, like a charity or even better a real JOB. They're focused too much on themselves instead of the reality of life. I wish them the best of luck, because they're going to need it.
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Monday 15 June
By taylor
that is so ignorant. saying that they are too focused on themselves and that is why they have a disease? its no different than someone having ocd. i suffered from anorexia for 6 years followed by bulimia for 2 years. it is not something selfish and maybe you wouldnt understand because you have never had a disease that actually controlled the way that you think, the way that you live your life. it is a constant fear that one extra ounce will put you over the edge.
Saturday 20 June
By cvf
People like you are scary, and you have no empathy. As a person suffering a medically-diagnosed mental illness, I can tell you this: telling someone to go and serve a charity or stop thinking of themselves is easy to do, but the "just go and do something nice for someone and get over it" mentality is ignorant and useless. People with mental issues need medical intervention, not glib comments from someone who believes that they are the next Dr. Joyce Brothers. Do you go around telling cancer patients that they could get over their disease if they did philanthropic work? Do you tell AIDS victims that they should snap out of it and think themselves well? It's the same thing, whether you can understand it in your little closed room of a mind or not.
Maybe, in order to gain some understanding of mental illness, YOU should do some volunteer work with people who suffer from mental illness, instead of sitting behind your computer on your backside, hurling uninformed opinions at the general public. Your attitude stinks, and unless you get some education on and understand this subject, you should stay in your own tiny corner of the world and stop annoying the rest of us with your callousness.
Monday 15 June
By Jerome Crosson
They're 22, weigh 95 lbs., and get by on 300 calories ? They may not make it to 30 unless they discard their mutual obsession. Remember Karen Carpenter - we lost a great musical talent because of 'gotta' be skinny.
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Saturday 20 June
By ruby
yes and only *then*, after someone died, did people realise they neededt o actually do something.
Monday 15 June
By Kate
The girls suffer from an eating disorder it's going to take time to get them at a healthy weight if they ever get to one. I wish this story would go more into depth about eating disorders & the young americans today. Even guys have eating disorders & people fail to realize that. Also many people fail to realize that people with eating disorders usually know the value of good nutrition, as well as they need exercise. You don't just develope an eating disorder over night. It takes time. There are more eating disorders then just anorexia & bulimia. In fact people with eating disorders don't really have an eating disorder because they think their "fat". Its actually because they need control of something. They may feel they have no control at home, school, work, etc. As a recovering Bulimic (who was bulimic for about 6 years who suffered anorexia at times) they need to go to an inpaitent service. They also need love & support from their friends & family, take 1step at a time. Though the best help they probably will receive is the support of their twin as the other one becomes healthier they need to make a new promise to each other.
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Monday 15 June
By MEG
I agree with you 200%. While some may see this as trivial, it is not to the person going thru it! Eating disorders continue to affect girls and boys at a younger age each year. It is an obsession that takes hold and no matter how much someone else may say "Get over it" or "You just need to make them eat" it is a much harder and complex problem than anyone who has never been affected by it can imagine. My thoughts and prayers are with Julia and Sonja as well as anyone else out there suffering wih this disorder.
Monday 15 June
By Elizabeth
I can't stand it when people write comments like "these girls need to get over themselves." It's so ignorant and narrow-minded. Just because this isn't YOUR problem doesn't mean it isn't someone else's. Obviously, these girls, as well as others with eating disorders have a mental PROBLEM, and if the solution would be to tell them to "get over it" then it wouldn't be so wide-spread and even lead to death. And yes, it's news-worthy, because people out there need to know what's going on and be informed about this. It can help them to help someone they know with this problem, or maybe even themselves. There's a whole range of things that affect people, from disease, to mental disorders, and yes, even starvation in a third-world country. You can't pick one thing as worst than the rest and ignore the others as real problems.
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