Best Body: Pretty, Miserable, Perfectness a Memoir of an Eating Disorder

December 19th, 2001: author Jordan Lee Knape is thirteen years old and admitted to a psychiatric unit days before Christmas to treat a severe eating disorder. Her parents are told she might not survive the night.

The #1 killer in the world of mental illness, eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia are deadly diseases that all too often go unnoticed for far too long by friends and family members because we think the victims are beautiful and disciplined.

The truth is people with eating disorders are struggling with a disorder that is part mental illness, part addiction. And if those struggling do not find recovery, they will die from the disorder.

Eating disorders have more to do with major depression and addiction issues than with the common phrase, "I just wanted to be beautiful." Hospitalized days before Christmas at the age of 13, Jordan struggled with anorexia, bulimia and major depression before tapping into her fierce inner determination to take back her life on her own terms.

The BEST BODY story could have been a tragedy but with a fighter's spirit and a willingness to pursue a "disruptive life," Jordan created the real life she wanted -- and serves as a reminder to even the most sick that full recovery is possible.

Much more than a tell-all but just as captivating, BEST BODY weaves together the intimate story of Jordan's descent into a life-threatening ED with her decade-later, bluntly insightful commentary about how and why her life nearly ended.

BEST BODY offers some much-needed hope and understanding to those struggling from eating disorders, depression and anxiety and offers a realistic guide to how recovery is possible - and worth it.