Roz Purcell has admitted that hearing her readers’ stories about binge eating finally helped her face her own struggles with it.
Before becoming a popular food blogger and author, Roz worked for years as a model – and told how she went through harmful cycles of excessive eating before later embarking on an extreme fitness regime to rid herself of guilt.
“It was in the process of the first year or two of setting up the Natural Born Feeder blog and also from talking to readers about it that I said to myself, ‘I don’t want to be like that any more’,” she told the Sunday Independent.
“I began to hear their stories. I realised there were a lot more girls like me. Once I started talking to them about it and rationalising it for them, it almost rationalised it for myself in my own head.”
Unhealthy: Roz used to binge eat – and then kill herself in the gym | INSTAGRAM
Binge eating effects approximately 4 percent of the Irish population, however, experts believe the real figure is much higher.
“I think we all have a little bit of it. I used to binge-eat terribly. How I would describe it is that I felt like I had let myself down if I ‘slipped up’. I would be so mad at myself. I would start giving out to myself and say, ‘God, I’ve ruined it now. Why can’t I do this properly?'”
“I was really, really ‘good’ until Saturday night, then I would sit down and eat [a meal] and then eat everything else in the house. Then Monday would come and I would kill myself in the gym and really restrict my calorie intake.
“It was completely unsustainable. It took me years to get over it,” she explained.
Making a change: It took the former Miss Universe Ireland years to get over her binge eating habit | VIPIRELAND.COM
Opening up, Roz revealed the moment which made her want to quit her unhealthy eating habits.
“I lost a good bit of weight and my reward for all that was to just sit at home and eat, and I put on weight really quickly. I always remember my mother was like, ‘Woah! That’s binge eating!’ I felt so bad because I felt I had undone all the good work.
“I then got a call to tell me I had to go away again to model and I thought, ‘Oh no, I’m not going to be able to eat for two weeks to balance it out’ and I just made the decision to stay [at home] and concentrate on getting healthy.
“The one thing that changed me was not allowing myself to feel that pressure or to compare myself to anyone else. If I have a slip-up and eat cake, I don’t beat myself up. I don’t let the guilt overwhelm me. That helps me get straight back into a normal routine but that has taken years,” she said.
Role model: Roz now follows and promotes a healthy and balanced lifestyle | INSTAGRAM
The former Miss Universe Ireland also blamed social media for putting pressure on girls, insisting that it has “ruined the industry”.
“Girls are way more open to talking about it now. Social media has ruined the industry a bit and a created a competitive element and it does make you feel insecure.
“But there are a lot more girls opening up, and you think: ‘Jesus! You look great. It’s all in your head’. You can’t waste so many years feeling guilty, and that’s what I did, but life is for living,” she added.
