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I'm gay, and I'm loud and proud. But it wasn't so long ago that I was hiding my truth from the world. The longer I held onto this secret, the heavier it seemed.
When you hide something as central to your identity as your gender or sexuality it can seem as though there is a vast chasm between you and the rest of the world, and it is a lonely and isolating existence.
I remember hearing an anecdote about the burdens we carry. It goes something like this.
The unhealthy relationship with my body began when I was in my teens. I had just started high school and for the first time in my life, people started commenting on my changing body. I was taught that my worthiness was based on appearance and constantly felt the pressure to look a certain way. Food became a friend Around this time, I started ...
At its worst, binge eating disorder totally took over my life.
It caused me to experience uncontrollable food cravings. Eating became an unconscious thing; it wasn't a lack of willpower, it was like I was on autopilot.
When I was binge eating, I would swear not to do it and the next minute I'd find myself stuffing food into my mouth. If someone had watched the process they would have seen me gulping down one thing after another.
My most recent episode started in January this year, I almost didn't notice it at first.
I started finding it harder to get out of bed, even after 14 hours' sleep, and felt anxious in social situations, meetings, anything that involved speaking up. It was the little things you're not quite conscious of.
Then, the little things started growing into more than little things.
To reduce the rate of eating disorders in Australia we need to raise awareness of the symptoms, causes and impact. And to do this effectively we need to increase public understanding that these disorders are real and can affect anyone.
But there are lots of common myths that get in the way. These myths make it harder to raise awareness and can even result in judgmental attitudes and stigma. So to help demystify eating disorders, increase understanding and to stop the stigma here are five myths busted!
The day my daughter was diagnosed with anorexia nervosa was one of the worst days of my life. I thought anorexia was an illness for people who refused to eat. How wrong I was!