Early Years:
Throughout my time at primary school I was forever battling a diet problem, I was skinny as a rake and received comments such as ‘If you carry on eating like that you’re going to die…’ At this point in time I was oblivious to the meaning of the phrase and kept on eating what I liked, the only things I liked.
My packed lunch would include a peanut butter sandwich, 2 packets of crisps and 2 chocolate bars, day in day out. Every day I would be one of the only kids who didn’t enjoy a nice school dinner as I never liked any of the meals. I was the only kid ever to not eat the school Christmas dinner and sat on my own eating my packed lunch.
I was skinny, desperately underweight and indulged in a terrible unhealthy diet. I was too young to understand. During my time at secondary school things didn’t change, left on the playground eating my crisps and chocolate while the rest of the school were having their school dinners. I would come home and eat chips and bread for dinner, every day without fail as I never ate, or even tried anything else. I was always pushed, sometimes to tears to try new food, but every time I did my body rejected it and I couldn’t eat anything else.
This lasted through till I was becoming a more independent, self-conscious and more grown up teenager. It came to the point when I was becoming more interested in the way I look, my hair, my body and I realised I still had the body of a 12 year old. I wanted things to change!
I started to try new foods, even starting with the basics such as fish fingers, burgers, anything that would try to adapt my diet. It was hard, I didn’t like it but I know that if I wanted to change the way I look, I needed to change my diet, significantly. I started going to a gym when I was 16 to try and build some muscle mass, but desperately needed sufficient foods to change the way I look. I started to eat egg and bacon sandwiches, forced myself to try chicken every time my parents had it at mealtime, and tried red meat but it disgusted me. Can you believe that I didn’t like steak?!
What does my daily diet look like now?
I wake up and I eat porridge, eggs, drink water and start the day full of energy. By lunch I would be cooking or already prepared fresh meat, broccoli, green beans, carrots, rice or sweet potato. I snack on fruit, nuts or Greek yoghurt and oats. My dinner would consist of different animal sourced meats, fish, turkey, and more vegetables, and a source of carbohydrates. No one would have ever though I would be where I am now, if they knew me as a teenager.
Why is it easier for you?
I’m guessing you never had a diet of just bread and chips. I’m guessing you never got broken into tears to try a steak. I’m guessing you enjoy a lot of foods and have a wide variety of healthy options to choose from. Every single food I eat now was a struggle to even try it, let alone like it.
I WANTED TO CHANGE, SO I MADE MYSELF CHANGE