‘Laura is thinking if only…’: A young bulimic’s last Facebook message before she was found hanged
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 11:09 PM on 03rd July 2008

A student with a history of bulimia and self-harm was found hanged an hour after leaving a farewell message on Facebook.

Laura Gerstel, 20, updated her status on the networking website to read ‘Laura is thinking … if only’.

She also left a note referring to her weight, saying she did not wish ‘to live this way’.

An inquest in York heard that she began self harming at the age of 12 and was diagnosed with bulimia at 16.

She had once been referred to a psychiatric hospital after her parents found cuts on her wrists and legs.

In a statement, her father Antony, from North Berwick near Edinburgh, said: ‘She would not let us help her. But when she was at university she sent us happy texts and sounded fine.’

Miss Gerstel was in the third year of a biochemistry degree at the University of York when she died last November 25.

Laura’s housemate, Emma Wellard, had been asleep at 4am on November 26 last year when she was woken by the screams of another housemate.

Her statement said: “I came out of my room and saw Laura suspended from a red ribbon tied to the banister. My housemate phoned for an ambulance.

“I had known her for two years. She suffered from bulimia, took anti-depressants and did cut herself.”

Laura’s poignant final Facebook message was posted at 2.46am.

In the days after her tragic death, shocked friends and students used Facebook to post emotional tributes to the third-year biochemistry student at the University of York who loved music and dancing.

Coroner Donald Coverdale dismissed a verdict of suicide because she had drunk the equivalent of two-and-a-half pints the previous evening, and he noted that dad Antony had mentioned in his statement that his daughter “became compulsive” when she drank.

Returning an open verdict, he said: “This is a very sad story. Laura had suffered from a number of medical and psychiatric difficulties, and unfortunately had harmed herself in the past by cutting herself.

“I am not aware of any previous attempts to take her own life. The note she left referring to her thoughts and feelings that she was overweight connects to her psychiatric difficulties.

“The level of alcohol she had consumed may well have impacted on her judgment. Because of the uncertainty about her motives and the state of her mind due to the alcohol, I am going to record an open verdict. I’m afraid we shall never know what was in Laura’s mind.”

None of Laura’s family members were present at the inquest.

Speaking after her death, close friend Robin Corey said: “Everyone who knew her loved her. She was one of the few people who it was always a genuine pleasure to be around and talk to, always so bright and bubbly and full of fun and laughter.

“I think I speak for my circle of friends when I say having Laura on a night out made the whole night more enjoyable. It’s always such a shame when someone dies so young, but for Laura she was always so full of life that it seems all the more sad.

“She was genuinely one of my favourite people.”

The following sections have been updated:

• Anorexia section with statistics, affirmations
• Bulimia section with statistics, affirmation
• Other section with criteria, statistics, affirmations
• Treatment sections with effects of starvation, malnourishment/undernutrition information and tube feeding information
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Taking On the Thin Ideal
Time Magazine
June 5, 2008
By Sanjay Gupta, M.D.

Oregon teen Kelsey Hertel now sees she’d been buying what the fashion mags were selling.

There’s nothing new about TV and fashion magazines giving girls unhealthy ideas about how thin they need to be in order to be considered beautiful. What is surprising is the method psychologists at the University of Texas have come up with to keep girls from developing eating disorders. Their main weapon against superskinny (role) models: a brand of civil disobedience dubbed “body activism.” Related Articles

Since 2001, more than 1,000 high school and college students have participated in the Body Project, which works by getting girls to understand how they have been buying into the notion that you have to be thin to be happy or successful. After critiquing the so-called thin ideal by writing essays and role-playing with their peers, participants are directed to come up with and execute small, nonviolent acts. They include slipping notes saying “Love your body the way it is” into dieting books at stores like Borders and writing letters to Mattel, makers of the impossibly proportioned Barbie doll.

Read the rest of this entry »

It has come to my attention that a very popular store by the name of Sephora is selling a product called FUZE Slenderize Guilt Free Lip Gloss by TOO FACED.

From the product page:

What it is:
A super shiny lip gloss inspired by Fuze energy drinks that energizes and slenderizes.

What it does:
Quench your thirst for a beauty buzz with FUZE Slenderize Guilt Free Gloss. Infused with the healthy, delicious fruit flavors and appetite curbing energy boasting ingredients found in FUZE Slenderize beverages. One Delicious dab on the lips will give you a taste of what all the Hollywood starlets are losing it over! Always on the lips, never on the hips.

Active Ingredients:
-Chromium: A micronutrient known to improve the amount of energy you get from food.
-L-Carnitine: An amino acid which boosts energy.
-Super Citrimax: Helps maintain a normal appetite and increase energy in healthy individuals and helps support a healthy metabolism.

Can you believe this shit? For the cost of $18.50 you can have such a thing? Who would WANT such a product? I mean, I don’t generally go to Sephora terribly often because I don’t wear make-up and am pretty low key, but I have gone there for gifts. Not anymore. A store that is that most popular beauty store in Europe and is becoming the same in the United States has a lot to say for itself.

Way to promote the impossibe-to-reach thin ideal that the media throws in our faces. Fuck that. I don’t need it. I am becoming happier within myself daily and I think I’ll stick with my $2 carmex. Grr.

This is my little blog of madness. Give me a little bit to get settled in and you’ll be all sorts of suprised about what I will be blogging about.

I will also be posting updates about my site here…

Have a great day and get nestled in!