A young woman who was battling anorexia was told she should "eat a few more pies" by her GP.
Jess Hynes, from Neston, suffered from the eating disorder for two years. She said she became obsessed with body image that she was being exposed to on social media.
The psychology student said she started fixating on her weight and began excessively exercising during lockdown after watching fitness videos. After realising she had a problem, Jess visited her GP only to be told she was fine and should "eat a few more pies".
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The 21-year-old was later hospitalised due to her eating disorder, but overcame her demons with food by undergoing cognitive behavioural therapy. After getting back up to a healthier weight, Jess plucked up the courage to enter the Miss Cheshire beauty pageant.
Last week she was stunned to be crowned the winner at a ceremony in Manchester, which automatically lands her a place in the final of Miss England 2022. Jess now wants to use her platform as a beauty queen and anorexia survivor to help and inspire others who may be suffering from eating disorders.
Anorexia nervosa, often referred to as anorexia, is an eating disorder and serious mental health condition where people try to keep their weight as low as possible by not eating enough food or exercising too much, or both. This can make them very ill because they start to starve.
An estimated 1.25 million people in the UK suffer from eating disorders and they can affect anyone of any age. The causes of eating disorders are complex and not yet fully understood, but include a mix of genetic, biological and cultural factors.
Jess said: "I have come a long way and I look back now and can't believe what I used to be like. I started having eating problems at the age of 18 when university life had started but it got worse during the first lockdown.
"I was seeing all these fitness gurus saying you can do all these home workouts. With too much time on my hands I got obsessed with the perfect healthy lifestyle.
She added: "I knew that I wasn’t living and I was not just hurting myself but others who cared about me. I will never forget how upset my mum was when I was in hospital and I never want to put her through that again."
Jess said when she was at her lowest weight she did not go to the doctors for a while. When she finally did, Jess claims the GP weighed her and told her she was "fine" and "to eat some more pies."
The beauty queen added: “It's quite difficult to change your life when you’re so stuck in the losing weight. I used cognitive behavioural therapy which I still have remotely and go in for appointments every few weeks.
"I got my social life back and saw food again as something to enjoy and nourish my body." Jess decided to enter her first ever beauty pageant despite never hearing of Miss England before as a way to get her "sense of self worth" back.
She has also recently been signed for a modelling agency in London as well as having her sights set on the Miss England crown. The 21-year-old said: "I didn’t even know what Miss England was, I was told about it through word of mouth.
“I didn’t actually think it would be an option for me until I recovered from anorexia when I figured I should just enter because I might never do it. I entered Miss England because I was hoping to firstly show myself I can be confident and now I have the strength that I did not have last year to do it this year.
"I lost a sense of self worth for two years and I wanted to get that back. I wanted to spread awareness of anorexia and the damage it can do but to also inspire other sufferers to find the strength to recover.
"I have always been about living in the moment and this is why Miss England for me is so exciting because you never know what you could achieve with ambition. I’m looking to get involved with Beat, the eating disorder charity, as they have close links with Miss England.
"I also applied for a modelling agency in London and I got signed two months ago so I want to see where that takes me too. My goal from the start has always been to inspire young women who may be in the same position I was."
Jess will be taking part in the Miss England final on October 17 at the Heart of England Conference and Events Centre in Coventry. The winner qualifies for the 71st Miss World Beauty with a Purpose final.
To enter Miss England visit https://www.missengland.info/
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