The Unseen Lives of Anorexic Men

Nathan was a graduate student when he met his girlfriend in 2006. She was concerned about her weight and tracked every meal in a food diary. Nathan, (his name has been changed here), had always been naturally thin, but began cutting out certain sweets from his diet, then processed food. Soon, he was eating only fruits, vegetables and, on occasion, meat.

"It wasn't a vanity thing," he says. Nathan married his girlfriend, had three kids and continued his studies while searching for a job. As the pressures in his life mounted, his diet became increasingly restrictive. At the time, he says he would think to himself, "I can't control how my dissertation is going. I can't control that my kids are crying but I can control what I eat."