Eating a raw vegan diet almost killed me

Such a restrictive diet helped to mask the harm I was doing to my body, writes Amelia Loulli. My ability to concentrate or engage with life became basically non-existent. I was sick. Very, very sick

Done right, veganism can be a choice rooted in abundance and health, but I fear this is often not the case (PA)

I first stopped eating when I was 14 years old.

Buried beneath the stresses of looming GCSE examinations at a girls’ grammar school that didn’t believe in mental health, coupled with an unstable home life, I began a pattern that would come to take a hold on my life. This was a pattern of attempting to exert some control by monitoring what I did and didn’t eat – sometimes to dangerous extremes.

This wasn’t a conscious relationship, but it was a compelling one. Over the years I have suffered from various eating disorders including anorexia, bulimia and binge eating; my weight fluctuating wildly – along with my grip on myself and food.