Laetitia de Carufel’s Instagram is full of food.
With more than 700,000 followers, she’s not promoting restaurants or recipes, but rather her recovery from an eating disorder.
It’s something she’s struggled with most of her life.
“Boys, when I was eight years old, started telling me to lose weight,” she said.
It got worse when she went to high school, saying her eating disorder manifested in over-exercising, as a way to punish herself for eating.
After getting help at Maison l’Eclaircie, a centre that treats eating disorders, she had a relapse when the pandemic hit and she couldn’t access the gym and spent a lot of time isolated and online.
“I realized I had a problem when the only thing I could think of was losing weight,” she said. “My body, my body image, the way people would think about my body, it would take so much room in my brain that I was not able to concentrate at school.”
Experts say eating disorders are often a response to stressful situations.
It is estimated that around one million Canadians may be struggling with an eating disorder, which can range from anorexia to bulimia to extreme restrictive diets.
Some of the warning signs are dramatic weight loss, skipping meals, avoiding eating with others and overexercising.
Lise-Andree Masse had an eating disorder and is now a support group coordinator at Anorexia and Bulimia Quebec.
She said the problem is that many unhealthy eating behaviours are reinforced in society and online.
“Everyone says ‘Wow, you look good! You’re good, you train a lot,’ so everyone is thinking that it’s good, but when it’s the main focus in your life, that’s a problem,” she said.
Research shows that many people struggling with an eating disorder don’t receive a diagnosis or get treatment, and those who do experience lengthy delays, especially for publicly funded institutions.
“One of the biggest problems in Quebec and many other places is the fact that we don’t have enough help for eating disorder,” Masse said.
Although some disorders will lead to hospitalization, others can be treated on an outpatient basis. As a bridge, ANEB offers a helpline for people who need advice or emotional support. Masse said the first step in recovery is to reach out to someone and tell them what’s going on.
“Eating disorders isolate you. You cannot go to the restaurant or it’s complicated, and you avoid, getting outside because you are ashamed of your body,” she said.
De Carufel, a lawyer who is now an ambassador for ANEB, said once she got help, she wanted to reach out to others.
She’s documenting her recovery journey online and has amassed hundreds of thousands of followers in the process, through humour and sharing videos of eating and body positivity.
Each video comes with a simple message that’s become her motto: please eat today.
“I’m not 100 per cent recovered,” she said. “I don’t think I ever will be. Eating disorders are something I think you learn to live with.”
If you or someone you know is struggling with an eating disorder, you can reach out to the Anorexia and Bulimia Quebec (ANEB) helpline at 514 630-0907 for Montreal area residents and 1-800-630-0907 for those outside the Montreal area.
