Friday, July 11, 2014

A Day In The Life Of A Student With A Severe Eating Disorder

Felicity Mckee is a 23-year-old undergraduate at Ulster University. On paper, she sounds like any other normal student - except she suffers from a severe eating disorder which sees her regularly hospitalised.
"The disorder is basically my everyday life," she tells The Huffington Post UK. "Every aspect of my life is touched by it.
"It my life were a pie chart, it would take up most of it and the other areas would be tinged by it."

The condition has resulted in Felicity suffering from brittle bones, depression and a life-threatening electrolyte instability which means she is admitted to hospital on regular occasions.
felicity mckee
Felicity during a hospital visit

It also controls where she lives - stairs are hard as the electrolyte problems cause light headedness and muscle weakness - and whom she lives with - Felicity has to make sure she is around friends who are capable of medically assisting her.
"Hospital admissions interfere with me attending university, exams and coursework," she continues. "And my disability meant I was declared unfit to work. Any job I did have wasn't always happy to accommodate taking medications or time for medical appointments."
Felicity is currently on medical leave from university for the second time, and says a big issue is people assume eating disorders are primarily about weight - when they are actually a mental health problem.
"There was definitely a level of denial as when I initially reached out for help, people would say 'don't be silly, people with eating disorders are skeletal', which is a total falsehood. Even when I was at my worst, I'd tell doctors I wasn't ill as I wasn't really skinny.
"If you aren't thin you aren't seen as ill. But my electrolytes were all over the place and on some occasions and I was at risk of heart attack or cardiac arrest. I was warned even breaking into a sweat could kill me."
Felicity used to be a regular gym goer at university and says even when her BMI was too low, she was complimented on her illness and physique.
"This only feeds the problem," she explains. "The gym certainly didn’t help, and people complimenting me wasn’t useful either. Once it became the unspoken secret around the student village, and people then used it as a reason to ask diet advice from me, as I was clearly so successful according to them.
"People still think it is a choice. One lecturer told me I chose to be in hospital."
One Priory Clinic doctor previously warned university was a breeding ground for eating disorders due to the amount of freedom and lack of a support network, which Felicity says was the case.
"I could stay away from home, and those close only saw me rarely, so it is easier to hide. People tend to label their food at uni, and I was no different, except mine was in individual portions labelled with calorie content. People assume you are just health conscious, and leave it at that.
"I think there is a general indifference, or a you brought this on yourself attitude among students.
"The issue was that when I needed help once to go to hospital, most people felt I was always in and out of hospital. Once I was left slumped in the middle of a university corridor ringing around for a lift from anyone. I managed to get a friend to go with me, even though she had to leave class and we managed a taxi to Belfast,
"On what should have been my 21st birthday, I was hardly able to walk."
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Felicity talking at an NUS event

Despite previously keeping her condition a secret, Felicity says she has opened up about her eating disorder in the hope she can escape it.
"Such secrecy only perpetuates the stigma and tightens its grip as you feel unable to speak about it. Sometimes it can be ‘visible’ but it isn’t always. By staying silent and others engaging in silence as well, it allowed me to get away with it for so long.
"Support wasn’t there for me, and so it was easier to be in the grips of this, people knew, but no-one said, it was the unspoken secret.
"Having an eating disorder is a terribly lonely place."
Although Felicity says she is very much still in the grips of the condition, she feels stable, and she is receiving medical support.
"Recovery is like a cha cha, 2 steps forward, one step back."
"But," she adds, "you are still going forward."

Friday, July 4, 2014

Kim MacKenzie, Miss Norway 2014, has teamed up with Joi Hall of Empowered by Joi and the Youth Eating Disorder Awareness, to appear at the Dying to Be Thin Red Carpet Gala in Beverly Hills on June 27

Kim MacKenzie, Miss Norway 2014 in the Queen of the Universe Pageant to speak at the Dying to Be Thin Red Carpet Gala with Joi Hall of Empowered by Joi
Kim MacKenzie, Miss Norway 2014 to speak at the Dying to Be Thin Red Carpet Gala
Kids battling eating disorders have to know that they have support. They have to feel comfortable talking about it. We hope to give them that.
Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) June 03, 2014
According to a National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) funded study in 2011, 3% of U.S. adolescents are affected by an eating disorder, but most do not receive treatment for their condition. Kim MacKenzie, Miss Norway 2014, who will be appearing at the Dying to Be Thin Red Carpet Gala on June 27, 2014, was a part of this percentage.
“The only help I received was from friends and family. But, if I hadn’t told them that I was battling an eating disorder, no one would have known. No one would have been able to help me,” states MacKenzie, “That’s why this gala is so important to me, because kids battling eating disorders have to know that they have support. They have to feel comfortable talking about it. We hope to give them that.”
MacKenzie is teaming up with Joi Hall, a holistic, self-empowerment youth activist, motivational speaker, wellness and lifestyle coach, radio host of “Talking with Truth,” and creator of Empowered by Joi. Together, MacKenzie and Hall will be using the Dying to Be Thin Red Carpet Gala to raise funds for Psycotherapy Plus, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, local agency that has served the Inland Empire and San Bernadino and surrounding areas since 2006. Their goal: to bring awareness about the escalation and severity of youth eating disorders amongst our children as young as second and third grade, erase the stigmas surrounding youth eating disorders such as age, gender, and ethnicity, and, show that through collaboration, there is a solution to this mental illness.
“Most people don’t categorize an eating disorder as a mental illness,” explains MacKenzie, “But it is.” In fact, according to the NIMH, a majority of youth with eating disorders also meet criteria for at least one other psychiatric disorder such as depression; and, youth with eating disorders associate with higher levels of suicidal thinking, compared to those without an eating disorder.
Dying to Be Thin Red Carpet Gala will take place on June 27, 2014 at 7:30PM at Sfixio in Beverly Hills. General admission tickets are $35. VIP tickets are $50. Tickets can be purchased on Eventbrite or on http://dyingtobethinredcarpetgala.splashthat.com/.
About Kim MacKenzie, Miss Norway 2014:
Kim MacKenzie is a Burbank-born screenwriter, producer, actress, and multi-passionate entrepreneur. Named "Pilates Pro" by Oxygen Magazine, as president and spokeswoman for The Body Archer, Kim helps millions of Americans relieve back pain with her company’s doctor-recommended back stretching chair, The Body Archer®. Nominated for three WEGO Health Activist Awards, her writing on healthy living has been featured in Spafinder Wellness 365, Classtivity, Become Natural, Hearts of Gold, and The Care Co. Kim has also permeated the entertainment industry as a screenwriter, actress, and producer. Her film BRO’ starring Danny Trejo was distributed by Lionsgate in December 2012. As Miss Norway 2014 in the Queen of the Universe Pageant, Kim is sponsored by Rock’s Tree and Hillside Service, The Body Archer, and “Confessions of a Woman” series author, Isabell Wells. Kim’s mission is to combine health and entertainment, inspiring people to live healthy, well-balanced, abundant lives.
About Joi Hall, Empowered by Joi:
Joi Hall is the founder of "Empowered By Joi". She is a self empowerment youth activist, motivational speaker, and soon to be author who has appeared on The Fox Morning Show, The Sheryl Lee Ralph Radio Show, and and has spoken at church organizations, youth events, and various organizations about natural health and family life, mindset reformation for success, and entrepreneurship. She uses insights from her background as a young entrepreneur, success coach, and chronic disease warrior to create personal and captivating presentations that inspire results. As a young mother of 3 children, she is dedicated to creating a movement of empowering and transforming the lives of our youth, and communities from a holistic perspective through self development, health and wellness initiatives, community involvement, and leadership. She is a true asset to youth organizations that want to increase productivity, morale and the health of their youth. http://www.empoweredbyjoi.com.

If you or someone you love has an eating disorder, or struggles with body image, please call us at Ramey Nutrition (206) 909-8022 or visit us at www.rameynutrition.com