Shilpa: Hi, I'm Shilpa Melanie: Hi, I'm Melanie
Shilpa: And today we're talking about eating problems
Shilpa: Can you talk about some of the eating disorders and problems that you're aware of?
Melanie: Anorexia nervosa, I'd heard of bulimia, but everything else aside from that I wasn't
aware of until I kind of started experiencing things such as binge eating and orthorexia
Shilpa: Could you explain some of those? Melanie: What I know of anorexia is usually
people will restrict their food intake, and they will view themselves as a lot bigger
maybe than they actually are. Bulimia is when people will force themselves to get rid of
calories to lose weight, so this can be done through forcing yourself to vomit, and some
people do this through taking laxatives or they can even do excessive exercise as well.
When I started binge eating, and when I found out eventually what that was, was that I would
kind of just eat healthy enough for a few days and then I would gorge. I would just
be trying to fill a hole with food, and it was like a bottomless pit. I started developing
orthorexia. It's associated with an obsession with only consuming pure foods and not wanting
anything impure. I went through a phase of only eating one ingredient foods and I would
cut out entire food groups. It wasn't that I was just following a healthy lifestyle plan,
I was obsessed with it Shilpa: Was there a point where you thought
okay, now this is becoming unhealthy, or it's kind of taking over my life?
Melanie: I noticed it was not normal when other people started pointing it out to me,
and when it was interrupting my social life. Even like we would go shopping for food, and
it would be such an ordeal for me. I often used to think that my eating disorders were
coming from an urge to be thin, but then when I really like, through counselling and through
therapy, that a lot of the emotional eating came after a very traumatic time in my teenage
years. I think knowing I could control what went in and out of my mouth gave me this feeling
of like oh I'm accomplishing something with my day and so I lived for that
Shilpa: At the time did you feel like you knew what those triggers were?
Melanie: I definitely didn't think that things going on in my life were making me turn to
food or turn away from food at the time. It never did actually make me feel better, it
just in the moment it would. Even if you are having a bad relationship with food, it doesn't
hurt to go and talk to someone to make sure you can at least then rule out eating disorders
and then you know okay I just have to work on things
Shilpa: So if someone does have an unhealthy relationship with food, there are some things
that you can do Melanie: Definitely. The first thing is coming
out about it to yourself and accepting it yourself. And then going to someone else to
talk to about it, and that can be really scary for a lot of people but you don't have to
just only tell your mother or your father. Maybe you don't have a good relationship with
them. You can go to a ChildLine counsellor, you can go to a friend, in your school they
may have counsellors there and kind of people to help. Once you do start talking about it,
then you'll start identifying the triggers, what's causing it, and you can then get educated
about what is a healthy way to eat Shilpa: Do you think there is a sense of fear
about what the reaction might be? Melanie: With a lot of things like this there's
a stigma around it and a lot of people, a lot of older people do accuse younger people
of jumping on bandwagons nowadays, and it's only because we're being more open about our
problems, and our mental health, and I think that's a brilliant thing, and I don't think
anyone should ever hold stuff in for fear of judgement or what other people are going
to say Shilpa: There can also be some quite negative
things on the internet as well Melanie: All these awful hashtags, it's very
difficult to know who is a good role model. I think that anyone that's kind of encouraging
you to stay in the pattern of disorder thinking and eating you need to know that that's not
healthy and it's not good. I'm drawn to people who promote balance and promote just loving
yourself through your whole journey and stuff like that
Shilpa: So self-acceptance and building self-esteem Melanie: I personally feel like you need to
focus on your mental health first, and then you can find it a lot easier to fix any health
problems that you have Shilpa: When you were looking for help and
support, was it easy to find? Melanie: My first thing that I had to do was
just to go to a regular doctor, and I didn't think the doctor would be able to do anything
because obviously it's not something you can just take a tablet and it gets rid of your
problems. It's important to go to the doctor because they have access to all the other
services that are available and they can refer you on to the right people. It shouldn't be
scary, and if you're afraid of it don't worry about it because it's very common nowadays,
and they've heard a million times worse than what you're going to go in and say to them
Shilpa: It's really important to remember only a medical professional can diagnose you
with an eating disorder and also provide treatment too
Melanie: Not google! Shilpa: I wondered if you had any tips about
how you can maybe support a friend if you thought that they were having an eating problem
Melanie: Some of my friends and they've admitted to this since that they didn't handle it in
the best way at the time. They'd comment on my body or they'd comment on my figure or
what I was eating and kind of make fun of how little or how much it was. I knew my friends
did care about me but they just didn't realise that I wasn't looking for them to try and
make me eat more or make me eat less. If it is your friend, don't try and force them or
have a say in what they're doing. Just be really supportive and understanding and listen
to them. If you notice that someone is just never eating with you or is making up reasons
to avoid social situations, maybe just ask them very nicely, you know is everything okay?
Very gentle prying can help someone to open up
Shilpa: Just listening can be really helpful Melanie: I think just -
Shilpa: - not judging Melanie: Not judging, yeah. And it's hard
to do, it can be hard to do when you don't understand but hopefully anyone watching this
if they're going through this they'll know from now on
Shilpa: And if you are struggling or thinking about eating disorders or eating problems,
there is more information on the ChildLine website. Thanks so much Melanie
Melanie: Thank you! Shilpa: We'll see you next time
Both: Bye!