Live Well, Be Well; Series One

Hope Virgo

“We think with eating disorders, that you have to look stick thin, but actually there is so much more to it than that, it’s about emotion and it’s about control.”

Hope Virgo is an author and international leading advocate for people with eating disorders. Having suffered with an eating disorder in her teens, Hope now campaigns for a better understanding around eating disorders and ways in which to prevent the development of this mental health disease including her campaign to “Dump the Scales”, which she has taken to parliament to review the eating disorder guidance delivered by clinicians. 

Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness, affecting 1.6 million people in the UK, around 25% of which are male. Eating disorders come in many different forms including anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID), Binge Eating Disorder, Orthorexia and Other Specified Feeding or Eating Disorders.

Eating disorders can affect anyone, at any point in their lives and it is important to remember that it might not be obvious from the outside view.

Watch Hope’s video below, where she shares her experiences as an individual who has experienced an eating disorder and how she manages negative thoughts around body image.