SUDBURY -- As National Eating Disorders Awareness week comes to a close, one Sudbury woman is sharing her battle with an eating disorder to spread what she calls is needed awareness.
“I started exercising lots plus walking every day and then I started limiting my calories and in the end it was 300 calories a day was my max,” says Amy Mackevicius, who was bullied in elementary school for her weight.
Mackevicius says her gym coach and paediatrician noticed her obsession and helped her to get the support she needed.
“It’s not talked about enough. There are girls that they think it is normal like I thought it was a normal weight loss you know. People think it’s normal but it’s not.”
Melanie Martin, with Public Health Sudbury and Districts says there are many risk factors when it comes to an eating disorder. While they can’t necessarily be prevented, experts say there are things parents and guardians can do to ensure that young people create a healthy relationship with food from the beginning.
“Teaching kids to listen to their hunger cues and listen to their body so eat when they’re hungry and stop when they're feeling satisfied and really important to try to avoid the use of good food bad food and using food as reward, comfort or restricting food as punishment,” says Martin.
She adds teaching kids how to be aware of stress and how to manage it is also important. Martin says parents and guardians need to recognize that our culture often promotes negative body image and that young people often need help to build their self-esteem around things other than physical appearance.
Over 1 million Canadians are living with an eating disorder. It is also the mental illness with the highest mortality rate.
