‘I WANT TO HELP OTHERS WITH WEIGHT ISSUES’
ATEENAGER would throw her school lunch away, make herself sick and sometimes self-harm as she battled with the eating disorder she hid from her family. For as long as 16-year-old Kiera Hammond can remember she has struggled with the pressure to look perfect. At her lowest point, it was a battle which saw the teenager eat just one meal a day, or otherwise become wracked with guilt about how she looked. After a year of recovery, the teenager has spoken out about her relationship with food. Kiera, from Bargoed, said: “I always worried about what other people thought of me. “People told me I was ugly and I was fat and I think that had a big influence on me. “I started to feel bad about myself as people I knew were thinner than me so I felt unhealthy.” For Kiera, the pressure continued to grow until she found herself eating less and less every day. She said: “I wouldn’t eat breakfast and I would go to school and take lunch with me so my mum thought I was eating it. Really I would put it in the bin and just have a small meal when I came home. “I would continuously think about it. I was always hungry. I would lower my calorie intake until it was to the point no one could survive.” While Kiera thought she was hiding her problem, however, in reality those around her were becoming increasingly worried.
She said: “A lot of people noticed. I looked a lot thinner and I struggled at school because I didn’t have the energy for day-to-day activities.”
People told me I was ugly and I was fat and I think that had a big influence on me. I started to feel bad about myself as people I knew were thinner than me so I felt unhealthy 16-YEAR-OLD KIERA HAMMOND
Things came to a head when Kiera was referred to the NHS Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS).
She said: “My mum took me to the doctors to get a referral to CAMHS.
“There were three women, which was quite intimidating, and I was bombarded by questions about a lot of things I hadn’t opened up about. My mum refers to it as the dragons’ den.
“They told me all these expectations and that they expected me to eat, otherwise I would be taken to hospital.”
Kiera, a pupil at Ysgol Gyfun Cwm Rhymni, added: “The whole process was difficult as it wasn’t gradual, it was just all of a
sudden. It would upset me every time I would eat something.
“Usually I would try to make myself sick and I had to not do that any more.
“One day I would be fine about eating something, the next day I would have a completely different perspective. Occasionally it made me self-harm.
“There are foods I still feel guilty about eating and can make me feel quite bad about myself, like crisps.”
After receiving a telephone call from school about her daughter, Kiera and her mum now have a policy to be as honest to each other as possible about their feelings.
Mother of three Tracy said: “Initially I was a little bit concerned, as I noticed that when Kiera was at home she might not always finish her meals.
“She would eat at around six or seven and then eat a very small amount and ask for food like a stir fry or a chicken salad and wouldn’t eat carbohydrates.”
For Tracy the true extent of the problem only revealed itself after concerns were raised by Kiera’s friends.
She said: “We received a phone call from the school as Kiera’s friends noticed she wasn’t eating her lunch. “That was a really big shock. It was really upsetting for me to think Kiera had been going through all that on her own.” Tracy, 48, added: “It’s been tough and there have been a lot of ups and downs, and there’s been a lot of tears from me and from Kiera. She felt so bad after eating that her mood was absolutely horrendous.”
She added: “I didn’t want to be solving problems by creating more problems, so at first she took a meal replacement drink into school rather than going straight into food.
“She would take that drink to her head of year and put it in the fridge and would have to drink it in front of them at the start of lunch.”
After gradually learning to eat healthily again, Kiera has now become determined to help others in her situation.
To raise awareness, she has launched a petition calling on the UK Government to introduce a bill requiring models to produce a health certificate deeming people “safe” to work.
Her petition comes after similar legislation was introduced in France in 2015.
She said: “The pressure to look thin has always been an issue but because of technology and social media it definitely affects people so much more.
“Some mannequins have been found to be the same size as someone with anorexia. I find that really disturbing, especially seeing as they are in shop windows.
“It is difficult to get over some of those feelings and to open up but it’s something I’m passionate about – I don’t want it to affect other people.”
To sign Kiera’s petition, see: change.org/p/uk-government-models-working-in-the-countrymust-possess-a-medical-certificate-deeming-them-fit-to-work
For help and support about eating disorders, see www. beateatingdisorders.org.uk or call 0808 801 0677.