Easter Challenges, by Kate Purcell
After suffering from eating disorders, eating an Easter egg is a personal triumph, By Kate Purcell, author of Tell Your Eating Disorder to F** Off*
For most people, Easter is one of the most enjoyable festive holidays in the year. However, for those of us who may struggle with eating and body image issues, it can be one of the most challenging periods.
When I was hospitalised for anorexia nervosa at the age of 14, my mum and dad knew that the likelihood of me consuming any Easter chocolate bunny treats was next to nothing. I hated the sight of chocolate. My mum and dad, as a loving and caring gesture, would buy me a bunny or a chicken as soft toys, to try and make sure I didn’t miss out as my brothers consumed chocolate around me. I don’t know if I appreciated this act of kindness as much as I should have at the time. I was too consumed with self loathing to give it enough thought.
Throughout my recovery, chocolate represented a particular challenge. It was so loaded with calories that I couldn’t bring myself to go near it. When I was in the midst of my recovery at Hollywood Clinic – who had a dedicated eating disorder inpatient program – I started to try and change my relationship with food. This is necessary in eating disorder recovery – although eating disorders aren’t really about food as such; they are more about feelings of low self-worth and needing to be thin to feel like you are enough.
In an effort to move forward in my recovery journey, myself and another girl who was experiencing similar issues, decided to try Mars lite bars. It was challenging, but it did the trick in terms of recovery… It helped me to feel like the eating disorder was no longer in control. I was in control. It was a personal triumph.
Since that time, dieting and restricting my food hasn’t gone away entirely… However I have learned to become comfortable with chocolate. And a lot of this dates back to when I was really challenging the eating disorder at the age of 16. That is what has to happen in recovery. You must stand up with strength against the eating disorder, and tell it that YOU are now in control. So, eat that chocolate bunny. Tell your eating disorder to f** off, as I say in my new book. You deserve to enjoy Easter as much as the next person.
I don’t go overboard with chocolate at Easter, but I do allow myself to enjoy what I eat. I enjoy small amounts of chocolate in my usual diet. I love it, and whilst I don’t gorge myself, it is a normal, healthy part of a nourishing diet.
Don’t think for a second that because it may be considered as “junk food”, that you must feel guilty about it! Your relationship with food needs to get to a stage where you stop categorizing foods as “good” or “bad”. As someone who has been through the ringer with eating, weight and body image issues, I can honestly say, now that I am generally against dieting in any way shape and form. Nourish your body because that is what it deserves. You can stay healthy, and still enjoy food and have a balanced diet. So, this easter, as I do every easter, I will enjoy a bunny or two, and more than likely enjoy a hot cross bun or two as well!
The only way you can improve your relationship with food is to challenge yourself and remember to tell your eating disorder/weight obsession etc to get F’d!
I believe in you. If I can do it. Anyone can. My experiences with anorexia, if anything, make me more grateful on a daily basis, to simply enjoy my food.
As Luciano Pavarotti says…
“One of the very best things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing, and devote our attention to eating.”
This way of thinking is absolutely ok, absolutely healthy, and absolutely necessary in eating disorder recovery.
Happy Easter!
You 100% DESERVE to enjoy yourself.
—
Kate lives in Perth WA with her partner, Leon, and their fur-baby, Pan. She loves music, fashion, seeing her friends and sitting in the sunshine at her local pub. Kate is a passionate soul and believes in the statement that ‘Hope is passion for what is possible’.
Tell Your Eating Disorder to F**k Off: Reclaim Your Power
…I want the rest of my life to be the best of my life, and I am determined to not have an ED be a part of that. This is what we all deserve.
Tell Your Eating Disorder to F**k Off is a self-help book for eating disorders from someone who lives with one. Kate Purcell has spent much of her life in the grips of anorexia nervosa. Now healthy and happy, she is here to tell you how to separate who you are from your Disorder.
In these pages are the tools to start building a life that you are in love with. A life full of hope and inspiration and without the looming shadow of an eating disorder. Here, in these pages, is your ED’s kryptonite.
With empathy and encouragement, Kate leads you to a place where you can confidently stand up and fight. To begin the earth-shattering battle between yourself and your struggles with food, weight and negative self-perception.
It’s time to join the path towards healing. Allow this book to be the light at the end of the tunnel and a powerful declaration to your eating disorder to f**k right off. Your life awaits. Let’s do this.
BUY HERE
Category: On Writing
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