Lauren Amber Nielsen is an accomplished actor, model, and opera singer who has performed in over 35 musicals. On top of that, she was named Miss Sarasota and will be competing in the Miss Florida USA pageant later this year. But in the midst of all the accolades and success, Lauren is also an overcomer of eating disorders, having battled with anorexia and bulimia throughout her lifetime.

Today on Overcome With Auntie Anne, I’m chatting with Lauren about these eating disorders, the struggles she’s faced both physically and mentally, how she eventually overcame and continues to overcome, and her inspiration to help others with the same struggles. This is the first conversation I’ve had with someone on the podcast around this topic, so I encourage you to listen to the podcast to listen to our entire conversation.

Or keep reading below for some of the highlights.

Developing an eating disorder

Lauren’s eating disorder started in seventh grade simply because she wanted to lose a few pounds and had a desire to eat healthy. She started going through puberty before others in school and was in the 95th percentile for height and weight. As someone taller and more muscular than the other girls, she was bullied a bit.

She began comparing herself to others who hadn’t hit puberty yet, realizing they didn’t look the same. So having a desire not to stand out and wanting to be like everyone else, her desire to change developed into an eating disorder, anorexia. It’s something that many women and men struggle with today.

After losing a few pounds, Lauren felt good with the comments coming her way. But over time, the eating disorder progressed and eventually got to the point where she was only eating a single jello cup per day. “I was truly starving my body,” she says.

In fact, she was almost hospitalized. The Doctor told her that if she lost just one more pound, she’d be admitted because she could die from what she was doing to her body. “People die from eating disorders all the time,” she says, “and it’s really not talked about enough. It’s something that is swept under the rug as a choice, as something that’s a fad, [as something] they’ll grow out of … And people don’t really realize how many health effects it affects.”

A needed intervention leads to a different eating disorder

Lauren’s parents recognized what was going on. Initially, they tried to make sure she was eating three meals a day, but Lauren says people who are anorexic make excuses like they’ve already eaten or don’t feel well. “Thank God they had the will and the force to take me into the doctor and make me realize then and there that I was struggling.”

Lauren says that many of those with an eating disorder like her struggle with dysmorphia — they cannot see themselves the way others do. This is what was happening with her. “When I would look in the mirror,” she says, “I thought I looked fine. And yet, I was losing half my head of hair. My body had grown hair all over my arms to keep my body warm. And I was just a bone — I was bone thin.” But her parents’ intervention helped, and Lauren realized that she needed to make a change.

Knowing that she needed to put weight back on, she began eating again … and eating a lot. This once again caused changes in her body, creating an internal struggle. Because for Lauren, it was all happening so fast. So to compensate for the changes and her new tendency to binge eat, she became bulimic, purging her food after consuming it. She essentially traded one eating disorder for another.

The bulimic struggle lasted for years because it was easy to hide from people, as Lauren says. And besides that, she didn’t think she was hurting anyone else by doing it. What she eventually realized, though, was that she was hurting herself. “I was destroying the enamel on my teeth. I was possibly giving myself heart complications. And this lasted for about ten years.”

Eventually, Lauren began to experience a lot of anxiety. “The anxiety made me feel like I was having a heart attack, and I would have heart palpitations, and I would wake up in the middle of the night sweating.” Unable to ignore this anxiety, she went to the Doctor and had a bunch of tests performed on her heart.

Although everything was fine, she was warned by the Doctor that if she continued on the path she was on, she eventually would cause damage to her heart. “And so it was that kind of moment when I realized, ‘Okay, this is the second time that God has spared my life.'”

Getting help and helping others

“For so many years, I felt horrible about myself because deep down I knew what I was doing wasn’t right, but I didn’t know how to stop it,” Lauren says. But she acknowledges that the first step toward healing is realizing you have an issue, not feeling shame because of it, and having the desire to change.

Once she finally opened up about her disorder, she felt free, like having a weight lifted. “I will tell everyone who’s listening to admit to a fault, to be open and honest about something you’re struggling with. It will free you. It’s the shackles breaking the chain free.”

It was actually her pageantry competitions that sparked the desire to change. She decided she wanted her platform to revolve around eating disorders, but she didn’t want to be an advocate until she was an overcomer herself. So she began to get the help she needed.

She started working with healthcare professionals and started seeing a therapist. She relied on her loved ones, family, and friends for strength and help. And she leaned on God, too, and began to realize that her worth doesn’t come from her outward appearance but from him alone.

“That was truly where I had to realize,” she says, “you have to love yourself no matter what you look like.”

Eventually, she became an advocate for others, starting Uniquely You. It’s a place where women and men can talk about what they’re going through, where they can be accepted for who they are, and where they can be honest about the banter going on inside of their heads.

Even as an overcomer, Lauren says that this banter is something she continues to struggle with and probably will for the rest of her life. She acknowledges that overcoming isn’t a once-and-done thing; it’s a constant struggle that one has to choose to continue to overcome.

Lauren also goes into different places like schools and hospitals to educate people on the signs of eating disorders, so others can recognize it and know how to address it and intervene. And at Uniquely You, Lauren trains others in healthy eating habits, exercise, and “how to truly be happy from the inside out.” They even have people break weighing scales because she says, “You’re not defined by the numbers.”

Lauren acknowledges that many struggle with the same things she’s struggled with, and that’s okay. “Because many people look in the mirror and find something that they’re not attracted to or that they’re not comfortable with. And we need to realize that we don’t have to take drastic measures to change that because the Lord has made us who we are, and we’re special and unique in our own way.”

Today, Lauren views herself as an overcomer, something she admits is the hardest thing she’s ever gone through. But her life’s mission, she says, is to use that struggle to help others who are going through similar things.

Lauren, thank you so much for sharing your story. No matter how far you go, on the platform or the stage, you will go on living your life and sharing your story, your pain, and your continual overcoming that will never end.

If you’d like, you can follow Lauren on Instagram at either @divagirl1 or @miss_sarasotausa.