Anorexia is a serious mental illness which is too often stereotyped, glamourised, misunderstood, simplified and belittled.There can be no simple, straightforward explanation for an illness as thoroughly complex as Anorexia Nervosa. Eating Disorders affect around 1.6million people in the UK, and although Anorexia isnt the most common, itis the most deadly. Characterised by an overwhelming fear of weight gain, those affected dramatically reduce their food intake and may also over-exercise, vomit or use laxatives in a desperate bid to lose weight.