News News Blog: Bulimia

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FOR MOST actresses, getting ready for a red carpet event is something to look forward to. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_H-GreUtZbJodoX0HmOtCtWOWBj0Tm5fspj_qk72vYfeMS7DMhCBZw9qpoioIOSvEXIszbh01V5uBpXBf3rIP3-mgwf9v5e_C4X8yFuCuHyQT3CPHvlySZW5_Z8MwKy1AYCGNR3NBeAgp/s1600/Mel+Wells-+My+glamorous+life+as+a+soapstar+hid+my+battles+with+bulimia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Mel Wells: My glamorous life as a soapstar hid my battles with bulimia" border="0" height="378" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_H-GreUtZbJodoX0HmOtCtWOWBj0Tm5fspj_qk72vYfeMS7DMhCBZw9qpoioIOSvEXIszbh01V5uBpXBf3rIP3-mgwf9v5e_C4X8yFuCuHyQT3CPHvlySZW5_Z8MwKy1AYCGNR3NBeAgp/s640/Mel+Wells-+My+glamorous+life+as+a+soapstar+hid+my+battles+with+bulimia.jpg" title="Mel Wells: My glamorous life as a soapstar hid my battles with bulimia" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mel took steps to change her dietary habits after battling eating disorders for years</td></tr>
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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. </div>
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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. </div>
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In a quest to lose weight I would drastically cut back on food, then stuff myself and make myself sick. </div>
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My food problems began when I was just 17. </div>
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I enrolled at a performing arts college in Stratford-upon-Avon and immediately started comparing myself to the other girls. </div>
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While I wasn’t overweight, I just couldn’t shake the feeling that I could do with shedding a few pounds. </div>
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And in my quest for perfection I started making myself sick after I ate.</div>
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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. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj76CT93gzldVhHUQEmLPsEUfuxiMDAH2OKG4U7FEQEff7rS_p7JaPJWws7lKESwzH8Kzhu70VYMGEBQnpv7GEDyklNAh_q5cN5_hk3GyTVKBTOuHusHceNzBxaqf395AeKvnWPfH6npbno/s1600/Mel+Wells-+My+glamorous+life+as+a+soapstar+hid+my+battles+with+bulimia+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Mel Wells: My glamorous life as a soapstar hid my battles with bulimia" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj76CT93gzldVhHUQEmLPsEUfuxiMDAH2OKG4U7FEQEff7rS_p7JaPJWws7lKESwzH8Kzhu70VYMGEBQnpv7GEDyklNAh_q5cN5_hk3GyTVKBTOuHusHceNzBxaqf395AeKvnWPfH6npbno/s640/Mel+Wells-+My+glamorous+life+as+a+soapstar+hid+my+battles+with+bulimia+2.jpg" title="Mel Wells: My glamorous life as a soapstar hid my battles with bulimia" width="632" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mel says she used to spend hours a night criticising her body in the mirror</td></tr>
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Being thrown into the spotlight was overwhelming, especially as it was my first full-time job and I felt out of my depth. </div>
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Being part of an industry that is so focused on looks meant I was constantly scrutinising myself. </div>
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I remember seeing my image on the cover of a fitness magazine and hating myself, even though everyone told me I looked great. </div>
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No one knew I spent hours criticising by body in the mirror every night. </div>
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Or that I would cry because I thought I looked fat in my clothes. </div>
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I was obsessed with how I looked on TV and when I was photographed on a beach holiday, I’d agonise about my figure. </div>
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I dealt with it the only way I knew how: with food. I’d either starve myself or binge eat. </div>
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Every Monday I would start a fad diet with a new set of rules. </div>
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It could be anything from eating only chicken and broccoli for the entire week to drinking endless Diet Coke and packet soups. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwPaXql-9JJd936Xb-jlKv8eV3ZmfonRCtpk4DSVJpEuj-005yrUEYIbjyhx3jtcQZ1MTs0TAIKBgXAk-mRNTSUn8cRqnSQVc_P_mSjn4x6V0QARlB5xhNp7GFffDgHg0ONiZsz4YkjsY7/s1600/Mel+Wells-+My+glamorous+life+as+a+soapstar+hid+my+battles+with+bulimia+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Mel Wells: My glamorous life as a soapstar hid my battles with bulimia" border="0" height="378" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwPaXql-9JJd936Xb-jlKv8eV3ZmfonRCtpk4DSVJpEuj-005yrUEYIbjyhx3jtcQZ1MTs0TAIKBgXAk-mRNTSUn8cRqnSQVc_P_mSjn4x6V0QARlB5xhNp7GFffDgHg0ONiZsz4YkjsY7/s640/Mel+Wells-+My+glamorous+life+as+a+soapstar+hid+my+battles+with+bulimia+3.jpg" title="Mel Wells: My glamorous life as a soapstar hid my battles with bulimia" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mel left her home in Coventry to join the cast of Hollyoaks at the age of 18</td></tr>
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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. </div>
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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. </div>
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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.</div>
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I was always snappy, sullen and insular. </div>
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When you’re obsessed with food, your weight and your image, you tend to push people away and that’s what I did. </div>
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I withdrew from social occasions because I didn’t want to be photographed. </div>
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When I did have a red carpet to prepare for I would spend hours in the gym. </div>
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My mum noticed the change in my personality and took me to see a couple of counsellors but it didn’t help. </div>
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However at Christmas in 2011 everything changed.</div>
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My dad was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and given just four months to live. </div>
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It was a massive wake-up call. </div>
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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?” </div>
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Sitting by his side I realised that I wanted to be a mum one day and have a family of my own. </div>
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If I had daughters I knew I’d have to be a good role model for them. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNtaG3hBzi2Wo2TYgOZ_s3QSnfa-nYOtBK2HyixU4DHAPm0SwuznlPdQHZCF-GsunY7_kegU9CiuK3WmaQQWoOR0SPHgVo-O5a3ZGH2HDTrIhKX4r7QdF9I2Y6WiPqrfZDxaVVib520-R8/s1600/Mel+Wells-+My+glamorous+life+as+a+soapstar+hid+my+battles+with+bulimia+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Mel Wells: My glamorous life as a soapstar hid my battles with bulimia" border="0" height="378" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNtaG3hBzi2Wo2TYgOZ_s3QSnfa-nYOtBK2HyixU4DHAPm0SwuznlPdQHZCF-GsunY7_kegU9CiuK3WmaQQWoOR0SPHgVo-O5a3ZGH2HDTrIhKX4r7QdF9I2Y6WiPqrfZDxaVVib520-R8/s640/Mel+Wells-+My+glamorous+life+as+a+soapstar+hid+my+battles+with+bulimia+4.jpg" title="Mel Wells: My glamorous life as a soapstar hid my battles with bulimia" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Green Goddess Academy helps women try to beat their eating disorders for good</td></tr>
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When my dad passed away in April 2012 it made me realise what was truly important. </div>
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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. </div>
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At first it wasn’t about changing my career path but about educating myself on how to be healthy and lower my cancer risks. </div>
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Slowly I found the strength to stop bingeing and turning to food for the wrong reasons. </div>
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Wanting to share what I had learned with others, I started a blog called The Green Goddess Life. </div>
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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. </div>
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It made me obsessed with food all over again and even more of a perfectionist. </div>
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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.</div>
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A freedom-based way of eating means nothing is off limits and I firmly believe that deprivation isn’t a healthy way to live. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCHzeSn2j1DU_MVK8VuQYV3UkLuxGubm3I3Pnz7oN_DvC1m27YkM5Hoc4X_jNOGI89daYQwTfHb4Im6lUK9S7FnzpbcF_CCQpf8WsPv4D4lfeqvSw3F8KvDSB10JnSIiU_78bKdz0jgwYs/s1600/Mel+Wells-+My+glamorous+life+as+a+soapstar+hid+my+battles+with+bulimia+5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCHzeSn2j1DU_MVK8VuQYV3UkLuxGubm3I3Pnz7oN_DvC1m27YkM5Hoc4X_jNOGI89daYQwTfHb4Im6lUK9S7FnzpbcF_CCQpf8WsPv4D4lfeqvSw3F8KvDSB10JnSIiU_78bKdz0jgwYs/s640/Mel+Wells-+My+glamorous+life+as+a+soapstar+hid+my+battles+with+bulimia+5.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1.6million people in the UK suffer with an eating disorder possibly linked to body image issue</td></tr>
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It still involves eating a lot of plant-based food as this is key for a happy digestive system and a lean body.</div>
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It can also boost energy levels and lead to a clearer, more focused state of mind. </div>
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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. </div>
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While my diet has changed, the most important change in me has been my attitude. </div>
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It was hard at first but I have learned to love myself and value my body. </div>
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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.</div>
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When my readers and my clients tell me I’ve given them their life back, it’s the most fulfilling feeling in the world. </div>
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Women can spend years consumed with diets and body image so to set someone free from that is amazing.</div>
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<em>For more information see <a href="http://thegreengoddessacademy.com/" target="_blank">thegreengoddessacademy.com</a></em></div>
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<em>Mel’s first book The Goddess Revolution will be published by Hay House on June 7.</em></div>
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Mel Wells: My glamorous life as a soapstar hid my battles with bulimia

FOR MOST actresses, getting ready for a red carpet event is something to look forward to. Mel took steps to change her dietary h...

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