Anorexic teen who only has gum and sparkling water for meals now gets healed

An 18-year-old anorexia teen, from Gothenburg, Sweden, had suffered from the illness since she was 11. She was living on a diet with only sparkling water and chewing gum, which she made herself feel like "dead".

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Amanda Kristiansen, who is a receptionist, hated the way she looked and believed that losing weight would her noticeable and have more friends. 

She cut out all sweets and carbohydrates from her meals and turned out having a serious weight plummeting to 5 stone (70 pounds). 

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However, dieting didn't teach her to love herself back or win friends, but, instead, she struggled with the eating disorder making her feel even more lonely eventually. 

She only weighed 5 stone and 2 lbs (72 pounds) at her lowerest.

"At that time, I was incredibly insecure, hated how I looked and how I was, I was the silent girl and barely had any friends. I had always been normal weight, but I always had a very wrong body image," said Amanda.

She said after summer 2010, she was very extremely depressed and lonely, so she got the idea that she should start to lose weight to change herself.

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Instagram photo

Instagram photo

She trained several times a week to every day. She banned herself from candy and carbs. 

"I lived on carbonated water and chewing gum to keep away the hunger feelings. I didn't allow myself to sit at all, just when I sat in a car or when I was asleep at night, though I was not allowed to sleep for more than seven to eight hours a night," the teenager recalled. "I hid a lot of food in my slippers, bra and pockets and I was an expert at lying."

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Instagram photo

Amanda said she has no control of her own thoughts or actions that every day went by she was losing more and more control while the disease got more and more control over her. She felt like she was dead and she wanted to. 

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She later tried to recover for her family but as time went by she started to fight for herself and the treatment started to work only until she wanted to be free from the illness. 

"I found my love for strength training and that was one motivation to start eating. I also started to hang out with friends again and found new friends. I wanted to be able to do everything that they did," said Amada. "I started to see the positive things in life and that did that I fought harder."

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Instagram photo

The teenager now shares her experience to encourage the others. 

"I am happy about how my body looks, I wouldn't say I love it 100 percent but I don't think anybody in this world does," she said."But I feel comfortable in myself most of the time and I can live my life how I want."

Her family and friends are proud of her and are relieved. She said her mum had been her angel and had saved her life. 

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Instagram photo

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — The Swedish parliament passed a law Wednesday lowering the age required for people to legally change their gender from 18 to 16. Those under 18 still need approval from a guardian, a doctor and the National Board of Health and Welfare.

No longer required is a gender dysphoria diagnosis, defined by medical professionals as psychological distress experienced by those whose gender expression does not match their gender identity.

Sweden joins a number of countries with similar laws including Denmark, Norway, Finland and Spain.

The vote in Sweden passed 234-94 with 21 lawmakers absent, following a debate that lasted for nearly six hours.

Sweden Democrats, the populist party with far-right roots that supports the government in parliament but is not part of the government, opposed the law.

Jimmie Akesson, leader of the Sweden Democrats, told reporters it was “deplorable that a proposal that clearly lacks the support of the population is so lightly voted through.”

But Johan Hultberg with the Moderates of Sweden’s conservative prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, called the outcome “gratifying.” Hultberg called it “a cautious but important reform for a vulnerable group. I’m glad we’re done with it."

Kristersson's center-right coalition had been split on the issue, with the Moderates and the Liberals largely supporting the law while the small Christian Democrats were against it.

Peter Sidlund Ponkala, chairman of the Swedish Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex Rights, known by its Swedish acronym RFSL, called the law's passage “a step in the right direction” and “a recognition for everyone who has been waiting for decades for a new law.”

Elias Fjellander, chairman of the organization’s youth branch, said it would make life better for its members. “Going forward, we are pushing to strengthen gender-affirming care, to introduce a third legal gender and to ban conversion attempts,” Fjellander said in a statement.

Last Friday, German lawmakers approved similar legislation, making it easier for transgender, intersex and nonbinary people to change their name and gender in official records directly at registry offices.

In the U.K., the Scottish parliament in 2022 passed a bill allowing people aged 16 or older to change their gender designation on identity documents by self-declaration. It was vetoed by the British government, a decision that Scotland’s highest civil court upheld in December. The legislation set Scotland apart from the rest of the U.K., where the minimum age is 18 and a medical diagnosis is required.

A view of the Swedish Parliament as lawmakers vote on the new gender identity law, in Stockholm, Wednesday, April 17, 2024. The Swedish parliament passed a law Wednesday lowering the age required for people to legally change their gender from 18 to 16. Young people under 18 will still need approval from a guardian, a doctor, and the National Board of Health and Welfare. The government of Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has been split on the issue.(Jessica Gow/TT News Agency via AP)