BEHIND THE SLIM BODY

for the past few years, My life was in serious danger, and everything could’ve ended up very badly … Although you still can’t say that everything ended well. I am alive and that’s a plus. But I’m not sure whether my mother still loves me or not. And I really love my mother. Yes, she has a bad temper and pretty specific tastes… but she is my mother! And she never wanted to hurt me.

She just put me on a diet. Even if I added that this was absolutely against my will, it still wouldn’t sound too scary, right? That’s what I thought too, and I never really rebelled against it, because my mother adhered to this diet herself. And, you see, I thought that it was pretty fair. Although at night I often dreamed… of potatoes. Mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, fries – I really loved all of these things, but I was strictly forbidden to eat potatoes. And I couldn’t even dream of eating a steak, a cutlet, or a chicken leg – because I did not even know what they tasted like. Can you imagine?

My mother became seriously concerned, if not obsessed, about nutrition after my dad died. I was three years old and, of course, I do not remember the details. I only know that he died from appendicitis. This illness is not commonly considered lethal, if properly treated, but that didn’t happen in my father’s case… He didn’t have time to do the surgery, his inflamed appendix burst and… well, you see, something terrible happened inside my father’s body. Doctors could not save him. They stated that the reason for his death was that my dad didn’t seek medical help until it was already too late. My father’s death was a real tragedy for my mother.

But We got a lot of money when my father passed away and we found out that he had a wealth that we didn’t know about and me and my mother became very rich. I don’t know exactly how much money there was. I can only say one thing: this money allowed my mother and I to go to the countries of Southeast Asia and to stay there for several years We didn’t live in  expensive hotels and didn’ t eat in restaurants for tourists; my mother wanted something completely different. She wanted us to live very simply and to eat the most traditional foods.

Actually, my mother started this whole journey in order to study the food culture in these countries. She Was interested in everything related to vegetarianism. It was this kind of nutrition that seemed the healthiest and, therefore, the most proper to my mom. She became obsessed with these ideas after my father’s death. Well, as you might have guessed, from the age of four I ate exclusively fruits and vegetables. While we lived in Asia, it was not so bad, because there were so many kinds! But our money was gradually running out, and I had to go to school, so we soon returned to the States.

At home, my mother continued to very strictly monitor that I remained a vegetarian The more I grow up my mother get more obsessed with this diet. she started to look at the works of Arnold Ehret, a German nutritionist who lived in the 19th century. He wrote all of the books about nutrition and I can’t tell you the details because it’s very nasty and from that moment on, she completely deleted from our diet… oatmeal, rice, potatoes, and much much more, it was easier to name the food that stayed on the table.

I did my best to treat my mother with understanding but I began to envy my friends who lived a normal life and I began to feel bad. I constantly felt hungry my mother and I began to noticeably lose weight, both of us had noticeably worse hair and nails. But it was impossible to convince my mother so I just suffered until Mrs.Lena was the first to see me faint on the street as I was on my way into my house. Mrs.Lena is my neighbor she is a middle-aged widow who used to work as a nurse.

When I came to my senses in Mrs.Lena’s house I began to beg her not to call 911. Mrs.Lena didn’t want to listen to me, because when she decided to bring me into her house she discovered how much I had lost weight. So she seriously believed that my life was in danger. I suddenly started to told her about my mother’s views on nutrition. But I didn’t want my mother to get in trouble, so I persuaded Mrs.Lena to keep it all a secret.

She promised me this, but in turn made me promise that I would come to her for dinner every day. Of course, I agreed. And to be honest, I was really thankful. This went on for about six months. For the first time in the last two years, I began to feel normal, even my appearance improved. Mom attributed this to the fact that my body had finally adapted to the new diet and did not suspect anything. So my life has continued like this until now. And I don’t know how to resolve this situation with my mother.