When I was 16, I wrote a post that I published on a website called Stackstreet called Role Model or Runway Model. If you want to read the post, you can read it here. I published this post around the time I like to say my journey actually began, because when I published this post I knew that my mission in life was deeper than talking about fashion. I had just recently transferred to online school before I posted that article, but I received a ton of emails from girls who I went to school with & their parents. I knew I was onto something the minute I let the internet see me as vulnerable. I went from being a fashion chick to a young girl who had an eating disorder and just wanted people to know that they’d be okay if they had one too.
The internet is a funny place because I bet you and I both know someone who preaches body love & mental health topics on social media yet hasn’t ever battled any mental health issues on their own. Promoting self-love and body positivity is fabulous, but talking about the topic just to gain more Instagram followers isn’t too cool. Having an eating disorder/ mental health issues isn’t that fun coming from someone who has dealt with both!
The eating disorder I had is classified as an obsession with healthy eating. The Dictionary name for my ED is orthorexia. I didn’t realize I had an eating disorder until I got older, but people always told me (including my family) that they thought I had issues. I laugh when I type this because telling someone they have issues won’t get them too far in life, will it? But when you’re in the midst of any type of mental or physical issue you’re not mentally able to understand what people even mean when they tell you to get help for the issue they think you have.
Now I eat what I want. I eat everything but try to follow a paleo lifestyle (which is no grains/gluten or refined sugar, but I do eat a lot of sugar and don’t care) because I don’t like diets. I don’t have a TV segment and think to myself I can’t eat for 24 hours prior. My friend/mentor Izabella also had an eating disorder so we decided to film a little video talking about what we think healthy eating is and how you can make your body and your mind healthy with food.
