Professor Harriet Brown's daughter was bright, athletic and outgoing when the girl started feeling anxious. She began crying for no reason. Brown and her husband thought this may be the start of adolescence. Then the anxiety got strange. Brown received a phone call from the girl on a Monday asking what they were going to have for dinner on Friday. Later, she asked for a subscription to Gourmet magazine so she could plan a dinner party for 30.

It wasn't until 8th grade graduation, "when we saw her from across the room that we realized how thin she was," Brown recalls.

She knows now that she had misconceptions about anorexia. While her daughter had not lost weight, she hadn't gained weight, and that was a problem. Brown, an assistant professor of magazine journalism at Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, wrote about the personal journey of her daughter and the whole family in her book, "Brave Girl Eating: A Family's Struggle With Anorexia."

She spoke about her experiences in a Health Link on Air radio interview, airing at 9 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 9.

Listen to the radio interview.

Read more about the book.