After years of bingeing and anorexia centered around my career (I'm an actress), I finally took control of my eating disorders by looking closely at my health and not the size of my pants. The extreme dieting was causing me to have frequent amenorrhea (loss of period) and the bingeing gave me high cholesterol.I took a year off from acting to reduce the pressure of staying a certain size and I went on a low-cholesterol diet. At first I was afraid this would trigger anorexic behaviors, but the knowledge that my fertility was important prevented this from happening.
Gradually life became less about portion sizes and more about feeling good. I recently found out that I lowered my cholesterol back to "normal" and have not engaged in my disordered eating for a long long time.
Now that I'm back in the show business game, I am glad I took the time off to refocus on my health. I know nobody can take that away from me, and if they want to, I probably don't want to work with them anyways. Plus, the future of my children quite literally depends on me having a good relationship with my body.
If you would like to share your proudest healthy memory, email story and photo to healthyashley dot gmail dot com.
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