Wiltshire woman encourages people with eating disorders to see ‘light at the end of the tunnel’
Eating Disorders Awareness Week runs until Sunday (2 March)
A woman from Wiltshire who suffered from an eating disorder in secondary school says there are a lot of people who “silently struggle”.
Alex Beeby was 16 when her eating behaviours changed, and she was diagnosed with anorexia.
According to charity BEAT, one in 50 people in the UK are living with an eating disorder – that is a total of 1.25 million people.
Alex Beeby said: “At first it was actually really hard for me to even know what was happening, because at first it was just like ‘I'm just going to start eating healthier and doing some exercise’.
“I think when things started to get a bit like ‘oh, maybe this is something else’ was when I was trying on a prom dress for my year 11 prom. And my mum saw me and she was like ‘What's happened? You look ill’.
“A part of me was a bit embarrassed at the time, but in my head, I almost felt like a little bit of guilt as well. But at the same time, I was also in a bit of denial about it, so I just couldn't really face that reality”.
She then started seeing different doctors and dieticians until one of them noticed that there would be no point in recommending any diet changes because she showed signs of an eating disorder.
Alex is now 22 and has recovered from her anorexia, but she also thinks some of the thoughts will never disappear completely.
Instead, it is all about taking back control.
“I feel like with eating disorders it's tricky because you can recover from them. But I always think there will be a small part of it there with you.
“With recovery it's managing to be in a place where you can ignore your eating disorder thoughts and be able to control them instead of those eating disorder thoughts controlling you. When I first started recovery, it was probably like 80% eating disorder thoughts and I could not control that or stand up against my eating disorder.
And then when I was a lot better, the eating disorder thoughts got quieter and quieter and you just stop thinking about them as much.
“Sometimes when you get a bit stressed, you might hear like an inkling of it coming back, but you have got that control over it now”.
Spot the signs
As this week (24 February – 2 March) is Eating Disorders Awareness Week, BEAT are urging people to become more aware of the signs of eating disorders in their loved ones.
They are trying to spread the message that eating disorders are serious mental health conditions that can affect anyone and that need to be treated as early as possible.
Alex explained that having gone through an eating disorder herself, she can often tell when others are struggling as well.
Some of the signs she looks out for in others are:
- Getting defensive about their eating behaviours
- Withdrawing from activities with friends and family, especially if they involve food or drinks
- Always insisting on going for the healthiest option on the menu
- Starting to bring their own food (e.g. to school)
- Eating very small portions
- Becoming vegetarian or vegan seemingly out of nowhere
'More than just the food'
Many people living with eating disorders still feel like they will be judged if they speak up about their struggles.
“I think with eating disorders, people just don't like to speak about it because it sounds quite graphic. Even though a lot of people do deal with it, people aren't educated about it enough to know how to address it properly”, said Alex.
“People don't understand it as much because a lot of people kind of are like ‘Just eat, come on, it's just food’ and just don't quite understand the thought processes behind. It is quite hard to talk about because you just you feel like people won't fully get it because it's just so much more than just the food and just being able to eat the food. And it's hard to talk about fully without feeling like people think you're being a bit ridiculous”.
She is now hoping to use her story to show other people that there is a way out of eating disorders and encourage them to keep going.
“I managed to get out of that awful place and be able to recover and take control of those eating disorder thoughts and not let them affect my life anymore. And I’m just showing people you can get better and you can find a way out of it. There is a light at the end of the tunnel and you will get there if you want to recover and you choose to recover”.
Anyone looking for help with eating disorders can contact the BEAT helpline under 08088010677 or call 999 in urgent cases.