MLA Bowinn Ma speaks up about past eating disorder
'I had a deeply intense need to control my body, and by extension my life'
North Vancouver-Lonsdale MLA Bowinn Ma has spoken up for the first time about the two years she spent trapped in the vicious cycle of an eating disorder.
The NDP politician, 33, tweeted about her struggles on Feb. 7 for Eating Disorder Awareness Week.
"To be honest, I was one of the lucky ones," Ma told On the Coast host Gloria Macarenko.
"I was able to climb out of the pit without help, but that won't be the case for everyone. And I don't recommend to anyone that they try to do it on their own."
Ma did not go into detail about the exact type of eating disorder she battled. She said she was able to fix her relationship with food and eating on her own, but says that won't be the case for everyone who battles an eating disorder.
I lived two years of my life trapped in the vicious cycle of an eating disorder.<br><br>It's a secret I've kept for well over a decade, even from my family.<br><br>This week I <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BreakTheSilence?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BreakTheSilence</a> so that others might too find the strength. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/EatingDisorderAwarenessWeek?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#EatingDisorderAwarenessWeek</a>
—@BowinnMaThe trigger
At age 18, Ma was enlisted in the Canadian Armed Forces. The program she was involved with required her to train full-time in the summer and return to Vancouver in the fall to attend school.
Ma was attending the University of British Columbia at the time. At the time, she intended to become an officer with the Canadian Department of National Defence.
Ma left Vancouver to do basic training in Quebec.
"The training was incredibly intense. It was so intense that one of the coping mechanisms I and others used to get through the day was to count meals," said Ma.
Ma says without fail, no matter what happened during training, trainees were entitled to have three meals per day.
Ma says the trainees were extremely active. She says she was eating three to four times a person her size would eat under normal circumstances.
When Ma finished the training course, she went back to UBC and a more sedentary lifestyle.
'There was a lot else going on with me'
"I found that while my physical activity had dropped off almost entirely, I could not reset the unusual relationship I had developed with eating and with food."
Ma said she does not want to give the impression that military training causes eating disorders.
"There was a lot else going on with me. I had a deeply insecure sense of self-worth that had been building in me over a long time. I had a deeply intense need to control my body, and by extension my life."
Listen to the full interview here:
With files by On the Coast.