Jordan Younger: My quest for the perfect diet almost ruined my life

Jordan gave up her obsessive regime for a balanced diet

VEGANISM has never been more in the news with celebrities queueing up to give the plant-based diet a go.

 

Singers Ellie Goulding and Jennifer Lopez are both believed to be fans and last year Beyoncé launched her own 22-day vegan programme. 

Going vegan involves cutting out meat, fish and poultry as well as other animal by-products such as eggs, dairy and honey. 

According to The Vegan Society 150,000 people in the UK follow the strict diet. 

However for successful food blogger Jordan Younger, deciding to follow a vegan diet triggered a dangerous obsession with food and an eating disorder. 

In her new book Breaking Vegan, Jordan, 25, describes her journey back from the strict vegan diet which resulted in her developing the eating disorder orthorexia, an obsession with eating only pure, healthy foods. 

Born in California, Jordan grew up suffering from debilitating stomach problems. 

“Since childhood I’ve had pain, bloating and nausea. Anything I ate which contained fat, oil, dairy, sugar and wheat would leave my insides reeling,” she explains. 

As a result, cutting out food groups and skipping meals became the norm for Jordan as she tried to soothe her stomach. 

But it wasn’t until she reached 16 that her real issues with food began. 

 

More than 150,000 people follow a strict vegan diet in the UK

When her high school boyfriend tried to kill himself a devastated Jordan felt her life spiralling out of control. 

My hair was thinning and on more than one occasion large clumps fell out while I was in the shower

Jordan Younger

“I turned to food – and the avoidance of it – for comfort. When I starved myself I felt as if I was in control,” she says. 

“I stopped eating red meat, went gluten-free and scaled back my portion sizes. I lost weight and enjoyed being able to control any challenges that came my way by restricting my food intake.” 

Throughout her early 20s Jordan experimented with more extreme deprivation and cleanses. 

In January 2013, after trying out a five-day plant-based cleanse, she decided to cut out all animal products and go fully vegan. 

The effects of her new diet were instant and spurred her on to continue. 

“I felt incredible, fuelling my body with fruits and vegetables. My parents noticed the change and encouraged me to keep it up.” 

“My skin was glowing, I had more energy than ever and all my stomach problems seemed to have vanished.” 

But almost immediately she encountered challenges. 

 



Jordan's extreme diet eventually led to serious health problems

“It was tough going out with friends who would order delicious smelling burgers and chips. 

“I became known as the girl who always took little pots of food with her to restaurants.” 

At home it was easier and after experimenting with vegan dishes and photographing the results Jordan started posting them on a blog. 

The Blonde Vegan was an instant hit and each time she posted a photograph hundreds of supportive comments would flood in. 

But it wasn’t long before Jordan’s quest for perfection meant that simply being vegan was not enough. 

Despite cutting out meat, fish and dairy, she couldn’t shake the feeling that she could eat better. 

“I wanted to feel perfect. I felt that if I looked perfect I would feel perfect too.” 

In the end Jordan cut out everything that wasn’t fruit, vegetables or nuts. 

“I started lengthy juice cleanses which would leave me looking great but feeling exhausted.”

 



Jordan cut out all animal products to go fully vegan in 2013

A year into her extreme diet, as she rang in the new year with a kale juice, Jordan’s periods stopped.

“My hair was thinning and on more than one occasion large clumps fell out while I was in the shower,” she says. 

Jordan moved to New York to study creative writing and it was there during a visit from her parents that the extent of her illness was revealed. 

She was in the middle of a 30-day juice cleanse and insisted on leaving her family every two hours to go home to get her juice from the fridge. 

“My family were concerned about my extreme food choices,” she says. 

“And by this point so was I. Food fully dictated my mood, my body image and the amount of fun I had.” 

This was a turning point and with the help of her friends and family Jordan slowly introduced former “forbidden” foods back into her diet 18 months ago. 

“I started with a tiny salmon fillet and slowly built from there,” says Jordan, who also visited a therapist who specialised in eating disorders. 

 

After months of her strict diet, Jordan was left with a bacterial imbalance in her stomach

As a result of months of deprivation she had developed symptoms similar to stomach ulcers and was told she had a bacterial imbalance in her intestines. 

“It struck me just how much damage I had actually done. In my obsessive quest to eat clean I had made myself sick.” 

Jordan started introducing fish, meat, eggs and dairy back into her diet. 

Green smoothies were still on the menu for breakfast but were joined by omelettes for lunch and dinners of roasted vegetables and fish. 

However while Jordan’s body got used to her transition her blog followers did not. 

She put up a post about quitting veganism and received a barrage of abuse and threats. 

“People in the comments called me hateful names and demanded their money back for cleanse programmes they had bought through my site,” says Jordan. 

“To begin my recovery while people were calling me a fat piece of lard and telling me I deserved to rot in hell was hard.” 

THE negative reaction is similar to that faced by clean eating chef Ella Woodward, better known as Deliciously Ella, who was criticised this week for deciding to sell meat in her new café in London. 

After the backlash Jordan remains philosophical, putting it down to the perils of a life lived on social media. 

“Photos on social media show the best parts of your life. What my followers didn’t see – because I didn’t show it – is that my diet was making me miserable.” 

Although she still loves healthy food Jordan says that she has learned to trust her body. 

“There’s nothing wrong with veganism and done right it can be healthy. But I’m a perfectionist and the strictness of the diet triggered a desire within me to achieve more and more nutritional perfection to the point where no foods were safe. 

“I used to ignore the hunger or tiredness that I felt if it didn’t fit in with what I wanted to eat or do. But now I see that the bigger picture is more important. The first step to health is actually your own happiness.”

To pre-order Breaking Vegan: One Woman’s Journey From Veganism, Extreme Dieting And Orthorexia To A More Balanced Life (Fair Winds Press, £12.99) call the Express Bookshop on 01872 562 310 or visit expressbookshop.com