Some people live in an underground world where anorexia and bulimia are promoted as lifestyles, not eating disorders.

Channel 3 I-Team reporter Jamie Roth explained this is the world known as pro-Ana and pro-Mia.

Cori Magnotta always thought she had more to lose. She began modeling as a young girl and coached herself to starve, vomit and inhale up to 100 laxatives a night. Then, she started logging on to the Internet obsessively.

"I was opened to a whole new world," Magnotta said. "I was already engaging in some behaviors, but they loaded the gun and the pro-anorexic Web sites really pulled the trigger and really submersed me into this whole new subculture."

Eyewitness News spoke with a woman who asked to remain anonymous. "Rebecca" watched her friends disappear as bulimia plunged her into a cycle of starvation, binging, guilt, vomiting and more guilt.

Rebecca even locked herself inside her University of Connecticut dorm room so no one would see her.

"I was looking to basically find other people who were going through the same thing I was going through just so I didn't feel so alone," she said.

Rebecca found Ana and Mia and Web sites offering "thinspiration" -- pictures of emaciated celebrities and models intended to inspire others to lose more weight.

Portions of the Web site read: "Dear Ana, I offer you my soul, my heart, and my bodily functions … I seek your wisdom, your faith and your feather weight. I pledge to obtain the ability to float, to lower my weight to the single digits ... I will worship you and pledge to be a faithful servant until death does us part."

"It reminded me that I wanted to be skinny and this is what our society thinks is pretty, and if I don't fit that mold, I'm not going to be considered pretty," Rebecca said.

The Web site also reads: "Eat vicariously. Watch other people eat and feel superior!!! You don't need that food. ... If you vomit a little blood, stop. ... I force you to stare at magazine models -- those …waifish models of perfection … I make you realize that you could never be them. You will always be fat and never will you be as beautiful as they are."

Web Sites Seem To Provide Motivation, Support

"It's encouragement of the unhealthy behavior." - Amy Pumerantz Nutrition Coordinator, UConn Student Health Services

Amy Pumerantz is the nutrition coordinator for student health services at UConn.

"I was horrified," Pumerantz said.

She said Ana and Mia can make sick people sicker through subtle trickery.

"Ana and Mia (are) very friendly names -- this is their friend, something in life that is always there for them. It's encouragement of the unhealthy behavior," Pumerantz said.

At one point, Emily DeGemmis restricted her diet to cantaloupe and diet soda. Unlike her mother or her doctor, Pro-Ana Web sites would never disapprove.

"I do feel that they made it more difficult for me to want to change my behavior because I think they promote the idea that it's a more acceptable and desirable," DeGemmis said. "It's not seen as a problem and when you're already ambivalent about changing, ... that becomes your safety zone."

Practices Prove Risky

Magnotta found more than just finding solace and community, she found organized activities. She explained how a group of Mias, or the bulimics, organized what's called a "team starve" to see who could starve the longest.

"Unfortunately, the prize is usually somebody dies. Literally, we've had girls that do pass away on the boards, and that does happen frequently, unfortunately, on the message board," Magnotta said.

She added, "Someone will post that they heard so-and-so died or someone's sister or family member. There's a lot of guilt on the boards. I remember when someone died, her sister posted: 'You killed my sister.'"

Roth reported that many of the pro-Ana and pro-Mia Web sites assume a religious tone, offering prayers and creeds that promote starvation. She said some sites even offer "The Thin Commandments" that include:

"I think they're very powerful. I think they're dangerous." - Rebecca A woman who spoke anonymously about her experience

• Thou shall not eat without feeling guilty
• Thou shall not eat fattening foods without punishing oneself afterwards
• Thou shall count calories and restrict intake accordingly

For Magnotta, the reading material only took her so far. The sites taught her to conceal her anorexia and bulimia in addition to spelling out which foods to avoid. She eventually linked up with a pen pal, known as an Ana buddy.

"My partner was from the U.K. and because she was in the U.K., she could get the 'good' diet pills that were illegal in the United States," Magnotta said. "It's not too difficult to get these things sent through the mail, unfortunately."

"So, you would send her money, she would send you pills?" Roth asked.

"Yeah, I'd either send her money or United States pills. It was like, 'Hey, let's trade!' And, I realize how dangerous and how stupid this is now, but when you're in the eating disorder mindset, you would do anything," Magnotta said.

Women Find Muster To Recover

Magnatta, DeGemmis and Rebecca all wound up in the same place: the hospital emergency room.

Doctors assumed Magnotta was a crack addict. DeGemmis was told to plan her funeral. Rebecca admitted suicidal thoughts and had to be committed to the psychiatric ward.

Now, all three have found the will to recover. Magnotta graduated, started working and is contemplating her next step. DeGemmis is pursuing a degree in psychology. Rebecca's finishing her classes at UConn, but even now, she admits that looking at pro-Ana sites is risky.

"Looking at the Web sites, … they come back a little stronger, like, I kind of want to get back in to that again because I'm not happy with how I look. Or, I want to look like the person on the Web sites," Rebecca said. "I think they're very powerful. I think they're dangerous."

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