An Edinburgh woman is hoping to represent Great Britain at the Miss Universe pageant in Central America just years after battling a serious eating disorder.
Jordan-Louise Smith, who lives in Dalry, works as a chartered accountant with Ernst & Young in the capital. She will be joining around 30 other shortlisted contestants taking part in the 2023 Miss Universe Great Britain competition in South Wales in July.
The winner will get the chance to represent Great Britain in Miss Universe in El Salvador at the end of the year. Jordan has suffered first hand with eating disorders for many years and now that she is several years into her recovery she is determined to use her platform to educate about the types, effects and misconceptions associated with the condition.
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She believes a better understanding of eating disorders would have meant she received a diagnosis and treatment much earlier - and so would not have endured much of the torment that she did growing up. Jordan has been an active fundraiser for Beat, the UK’s Eating Disorder Charity, for over 3 years, including taking part in a 10,000ft skydive.
She has also become an ambassador for the charity and has spoken with several MSPs regarding access to eating disorder treatment and legislation that impacts people, such as calorie labelling on menus.
“I suffered with an eating disorder that is not well known - avoidant restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID). It is essentially a phobia of food,” Jordan said.
“There was generally a very limited number of food items that I could eat. Anything outside that would send me into a panic where I’d suffer from anxiety attacks where I couldn’t breath.
“It would induce vomiting and even looking at or smelling certain types of food would make me unwell. It wasn’t even just the thought of eating it.
“For as long as I remember it was an issue but I never really knew I had a disorder until I was 18. I was constantly turned away from medical professionals and people would just call me a fussy eater whilst writing me off.
“It was when I went to Lancaster University that it really began impacting my life. My parents' kitchen at home was full of food that was safe for me and both my family and friends were great and really supportive of me - they didn’t see me as a burden or that I was weird.
“But when I went into a shared flat with 11 other people it was not the same experience. I then began to stop eating altogether. I spent six months living off of a liquid diet and having the odd portion of chips.
“I went to go see my GP at uni as I was really struggling and knew it was not sustainable. I did not know it was an eating disorder but I knew I was unwell.
“The GP told me that it did sound like an eating disorder but that I couldn’t get treatment because I weighed too much. Thankfully at that time I was not weight focused but I can only imagine how those inconsiderate comments could have led to someone else spiralling if they had body dysmorphia.
“Reaching out to get help is terrifying and it takes courage so it was disheartening that your first port of call can not help or react in the way that you want.”
Jordan said that it took for BEAT charity awareness week in 2022 for her to learn about the problem within the medical industry. She says that throughout a medical degree, a medical student on average will only receive two hours of medical training when it comes to eating disorders, this is despite it being one of the biggest killers of any mental illness.
She went to dieticians, nutritionists, psychiatrists and doctors to get help but she says she got nowhere. Jordan adds that if there had been more information or education out there then it may not have taken 19 years for her to get a diagnosis.
“After that GP encounter I then started suffering from bulimia and the bulimia got taken seriously which is what got me in to see a psychiatrist who then gave me a formal diagnosis,” she added.
“It was not the best experience but I’m glad I have been able to use my lived experience to drive me in what I want to do. I am very passionate about my experience and helping others. I am very open about it as I feel a lot of people aren't able to use their voice, so I want to make sure I am amplifying mine as much as I can so we are heard.”
Jordan says that she loves the contrast between her pageantry and day job and that she sees something powerful in being a woman in a male dominated world in finance. She says that although her industry is considered quite black and white - she is anything but.
“I got into pageantry a few years ago through a friend. People told me to get back into it. I competed years ago after being scouted in my hometown," she said.
“I didn’t do anything with it for seven years and it was only after I received treatment for my eating disorder and went through the recovery before I thought about starting again.
“I was already doing charity work and thought why not look at another platform that could help me to reach a new audience.
“Miss Universe is the biggest pageant in the world and it comes with huge prestige. They have a message that is all about empowering women and supporting each other.
“What really appealed to me was that you could choose what to advocate and that it is not dictated to you. Some pageants have chosen charities or causes they support which can feel less natural.
“Representing something I’m so passionate about was really something I wanted to do.
“I go into work full of colour, I like to express myself in that way and embrace my feminine energy whilst maintaining my professionalism. It shows you can be your own person in traditional settings.
“With my pageantry, my work, family and friends have been very supportive but you do get some that don’t understand or get the work that goes into it. Folk think it is turning up on the day in a nice dress or bikini.
“The Miss Universe Great Britain score is based 40 percent on your face to face interviews which means it makes up a lot of your score. You have to seriously prepare and explain what you are advocating and why.
“The on stage questions for the top finalists are not like in Miss Congeniality, you get asked questions on the vaccine or hard hitting topics like Johnny Depp - Amber Heard, calories on menus, which I have a lot to say about, and also current affairs and news topics - it is not fluff.
“I’d say the pageant world is full of Sandra Bullock’s as opposed to the other characters in that film nowadays. Miss Universe and pageantry is very glamorous but I want to use the glamour and platform to de-glamorise eating disorders as there is far too much glamour around these conditions.
“When I grew up watching TV you would see people making themselves sick and supermodels being reported on as if their disorders were a healthy or sustainable diet. I’m hoping my message can target the people that need to hear it more than anybody.”
You can learn more about BEAT UK and access support for eating disorders through their website here.
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