Mickey

[Mickey]

Hello raw foodies,

My name is Mickey and I'm 20 years old, living in North Hollywood, California. I grew up in a small suburb of Chicago, Illinois, and moved out to Los Angeles immediately after high school to study photography at the Art Institute. I am currently working as a gallery assistant in West Hollywood, which is where I always wanted to live.

I grew up with a strong connection with animals, and lots of compassion. At ten years old I told my mom "no more" to meat, and I became a vegetarian. Now, obviously, at ten years old, proper nutrition was hardly even a thought in the back of my mind. I replaced meat with twice the amount of breads, cakes, pastries, cookies, cheese, pasta, and pizza and I ended up gaining wait, and not the good kind. I always considered of "average" weight for my height (however it seems our country's "average" keeps getting bigger and bigger) but even at such an early age, I could see myself getting rounder, and that I needed to do something about it. At age thirteen, further devoting myself to my vegetarianism and the animal rights movement, I became 100% vegan overnight. I loved it. I felt completely guilt free about almost everything I ate. I was the poster child in my school for health and wellness. I was the only one doing it at the time, which gave me a sense of uniqueness, and I even began to loose some weight. Somewhere between fifteen and sixteen, however, I overloaded my extracurriculars and perhaps, unintentionally began starving myself. I would wake up, skip breakfast because I would sleep in until the last minute, skip lunch because I was always in the darkroom or the art studio working on assignments, and then would have theatre rehearsals and volleyball practices after school and I would rely on heavy doses of caffeine to keep myself going. Eventually when it all came to an end, I was so hungry and my body craved food so much that somewhere along the line I had my first eating binge. I don't remember exactly when it was or what I had eaten, I'm assuming some pasta or something, and I remember feeling such tremendous guilt, and I purged for the first time. This cycle of starving, bingeing, and purging continued throughout all four years of highschool, and into college where it got worse. After moving out on my own, things got worse. I no longer needed to hide my behaviors from my friends and family, and I would often go to the grocery store three times a day, load up on all kinds of food, and spend the whole day bingeing and purging, anywhere from two to five times, where my caloric intake was getting between 12,000-15,000 a day, but I was loosing weight and keeping it off, so the cycle continued. Eventually it got so bad that I started stealing food because I had used up my $800.00 I had saved up for college on bingeing and purging. I was stealing upwards of $400.00 a week in food, and throwing it all up. I was abusing diet pills to the point where I was having formication on my skin (when you feel like there's bugs crawling on you) and my entire world revolved around the terrors of having my next meal. It was a food addiction, and this year, I decided would be the last.

I have been following a 90% raw vegan diet for almost two months now (I started on New Years Day) with some minor setbacks, but a lot of determination. I absolutely LOVE the foods I'm eating, and for the first time in almost six years, I had made it two weeks without purging my food. My first few days were rough, because I did end up gaining a little weight. I would overeat to satisfy my cravings, and it was hard walking around with a full stomach (a concept that is still pretty new to me) but slowly but surely I have noticed my anxiety over food and eating is starting to fall off. I still plan on seeking the help of a therapist, because as anyone who has had an eating disorder before will tell you, it's not about the food. However, I do think that going raw has been a big first step in my recovery, and I credit it to a lot of my success.

SO that's my story. I can't wait to start chatting with you all!

Mickey

[Mary Kay]

You are so young to have gone through so much! Thanks for sharing your story....and just by sharing, and facing it, I think you must be beginning the healing cycle.

Good luck,

Mary Kay