In "Indian Education" by Sherman Alexie, what does the line mean from eighth grade "There is more than one way to starve."?

If you take a look at the text of the eighth grade
portion, Alexie's character was noticing girls at the "white school" he now attended
worked so hard to keep skinny that they would starve themselves on purpose by being
aneorexic. This intentional starving was for the purpose of looking skinny, not a
healthy decision.

Then he commented on the Indian way of
life on the reservation. He reported on the disgusting food choices offered. They had to
stand in great lines to get their ration of really gross canned beef. Although they ate
it, they felt sorry for themselves having to eat
it.

Whereas the girls struggled with their self-image in
terms of beauty, the young Indian boy struggled with his self-image in terms of identity
within society, both among Native Americans and teens in normal junior high and high
school settings. Both of these groups robbed themselves, starved
themselves of truly living life to the fullest.

If you look
at the end of each grade, Alexie reveals a truth about Native Americans for both the
Native American and the other American to think about. I think this one here is
insinuating that we all have struggles, we all have problems. That's where he gets the
"There's more than one way" portion of the statement.