FOR MOST actresses, getting ready for a red carpet event is something to look forward to.
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| Mel took steps to change her dietary habits after battling eating disorders for years |
Who wouldn’t love sitting in hair and make-up being glammed up and having the pick of the latest fashions to find a perfect dress.
But that’s not the way it was for me. My preparation for red carpet events started weeks or sometimes months earlier when I embarked on yet another drastic diet.
In a quest to lose weight I would drastically cut back on food, then stuff myself and make myself sick.
My food problems began when I was just 17.
I enrolled at a performing arts college in Stratford-upon-Avon and immediately started comparing myself to the other girls.
While I wasn’t overweight, I just couldn’t shake the feeling that I could do with shedding a few pounds.
And in my quest for perfection I started making myself sick after I ate.
When I was 18 I won the part of Loretta Jones in Hollyoaks and left my home in Coventry for the North-west, where the show is filmed.
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| Mel says she used to spend hours a night criticising her body in the mirror |
Being thrown into the spotlight was overwhelming, especially as it was my first full-time job and I felt out of my depth.
Being part of an industry that is so focused on looks meant I was constantly scrutinising myself.
I remember seeing my image on the cover of a fitness magazine and hating myself, even though everyone told me I looked great.
No one knew I spent hours criticising by body in the mirror every night.
Or that I would cry because I thought I looked fat in my clothes.
I was obsessed with how I looked on TV and when I was photographed on a beach holiday, I’d agonise about my figure.
I dealt with it the only way I knew how: with food. I’d either starve myself or binge eat.
Every Monday I would start a fad diet with a new set of rules.
It could be anything from eating only chicken and broccoli for the entire week to drinking endless Diet Coke and packet soups.
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| Mel left her home in Coventry to join the cast of Hollyoaks at the age of 18 |
I also had periods of bingeing on food and would go to the gym as often as I could and aim to burn 1,000 calories.
It is no way to live your life and I was never happy. But I was still convinced that if I found the right diet and the right set of rules, I’d get the perfect body and be happy.
From an outsider’s point of view it would have been impossible to spot that anything was wrong, other than the fact I wasn’t a nice person to be around.
I was always snappy, sullen and insular.
When you’re obsessed with food, your weight and your image, you tend to push people away and that’s what I did.
I withdrew from social occasions because I didn’t want to be photographed.
When I did have a red carpet to prepare for I would spend hours in the gym.
My mum noticed the change in my personality and took me to see a couple of counsellors but it didn’t help.
However at Christmas in 2011 everything changed.
My dad was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and given just four months to live.
It was a massive wake-up call.
As I looked at my dad and saw how he would have given anything to have his health back, I thought, “What on earth am I doing to myself?”
Sitting by his side I realised that I wanted to be a mum one day and have a family of my own.
If I had daughters I knew I’d have to be a good role model for them.
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| The Green Goddess Academy helps women try to beat their eating disorders for good |
When my dad passed away in April 2012 it made me realise what was truly important.
Later that year I stopped acting and signed up to the Institute for Integrative Nutrition to begin an online training course to be a nutritional health coach.
At first it wasn’t about changing my career path but about educating myself on how to be healthy and lower my cancer risks.
Slowly I found the strength to stop bingeing and turning to food for the wrong reasons.
Wanting to share what I had learned with others, I started a blog called The Green Goddess Life.
It started as a plant-based vegan blog but I quickly realised that as veganism gave me a new set of rules to follow, it wouldn’t help my underlying eating issues.
It made me obsessed with food all over again and even more of a perfectionist.
When I focused my blog on freedom around food – advocating that we are free to make our own choices rather than try to follow a strict diet – that’s when it really took off.
A freedom-based way of eating means nothing is off limits and I firmly believe that deprivation isn’t a healthy way to live.
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| 1.6million people in the UK suffer with an eating disorder possibly linked to body image issue |
It still involves eating a lot of plant-based food as this is key for a happy digestive system and a lean body.
It can also boost energy levels and lead to a clearer, more focused state of mind.
I hold retreats all over the world and run The Green Goddess Academy, which helps women to get to the crux of their eating issues to help beat them for good.
While my diet has changed, the most important change in me has been my attitude.
It was hard at first but I have learned to love myself and value my body.
It’s not something that happens overnight, it’s an ongoing practice but I’m trying to be the coach and role model that I needed when I was 17.
When my readers and my clients tell me I’ve given them their life back, it’s the most fulfilling feeling in the world.
Women can spend years consumed with diets and body image so to set someone free from that is amazing.
For more information see thegreengoddessacademy.com
Mel’s first book The Goddess Revolution will be published by Hay House on June 7.
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