'The worst time of the year': Facing Christmas 'hell' with an eating disorder
Rather than the most wonderful time of the year, it's the "worst" or "hell" for those with disordered eating, as "food is metaphorically flung at you from every angle - adverts on TV, in conversation, family discussion on where you'll be going to eat and what you'll be having. It feels all-consuming".
She first developed anorexia when she was 10 and lived with the illness for 13 years which she says "robbed me of a lot of precious childhood moments and teenage years"."Christmas was hell when I was in the grips of an eating disorder," the 37-year-old says. "An eating disorder thrives off control and when you're thrown into a period of time where you don't have control over anything, your eating disorder is raging, it's angry, it's problematic."She recalls going home on Christmas Eve and "even though I was relieved to be home for Christmas, I was devastated that I would have to be part of it and that's how cruel the illness is.
After living with bulimia at its worst, the 29-year-old spent four years trying by himself to recover, and during that time he often felt in control of his illness, but Christmas "always brought it back as I knew I would be over-indulging... it's all about parties and centred around eating as much as you can".
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