Purcell - Natural Born Feeder

Ive had a roller coaster relationship with food. From growing up on a farm to living on coffee when I was modelling in New York to developing my whole foods philosophy, Ive been through the whole spectrum.

Working in an industry for the past seven years that is based solely on aesthetics derailed my passion for food. Food became the enemy and was something to be avoided as much as possible. I didnt know anything about nutrition or healthy eating, so I fell into one clich after another. You dont have to be a model to go through all that, though. In this age of social media, we all feel the pressure to be picture perfect all of the time.

But now, at the age of 24, I consider myself to be very fortunate to have found my passion. Food is my way of creating, sharing and unwinding and of being more in the present. Cooking and baking have helped me to realise that life is about the simple pleasures of everyday moments.

EARLY DAYS

Growing up, I had a great outlook when it came to food. My parents made a conscious effort to keep processed foods out of the house, and along with my grandmother, they taught me how to cook. I was making my own school lunches and dinners from the age of six. My mother was the school principal and had a strict healthy eating policy, though I sometimes snuck some chocolate into my lunchbox I was the last person she would suspect!

Food was part of our family traditions and was something to be celebrated.

Sunday dinners were always a big deal. My grandfathers hobby was fishing, so fresh fish was always a feature, mashed potatoes were unlimited and a side table would be groaning under the weight of all the desserts. There are hardly any photos of me in my youth without a piece of cake in my hand or mouth. Saying that, though, I was a very active child. I played on every local team, from camogie to tennis, and rarely sat still long enough to watch TV.

The area I grew up in at the foot of Slievenamon in Tipperary was also a haven of good-quality local produce. Some of my fondest memories are of calling to my neighbours to collect eggs, learning about beekeeping from another neighbour who supplied us with raw honey and picking our own apples to make apple jelly.

I grew up spending most of my time with my grandmother, Aida, who passed on her passion for baking to me. It was, and still is, my main connection with her. She taught me how to make everything from roux-based sauces to homemade marshmallows and she spoiled my sisters and I with three-course homemade meals, freshly baked breads and every kind of cake a child could imagine.

Learning how to cook and bake turned out to be one of the greatest gifts Ive ever been given. As a child, I viewed food as an art. It allowed me to be creative and to make other people happy. Being able to cook for myself and others has made me want to inspire others in turn to make better food choices and rethink food.

I had a wonderful relationship with food and it was a vital part of my family. It was how we would celebrate, create and simply spend time together. But that all changed.

THE VICIOUS CIRCLE

When I started modelling and travelling abroad for work at age 18, I found myself adopting bizarre food fads and eating routines. I felt like I had no choice and no time. I was under huge pressure not to waste this chance and I didnt want to fail. I was young and impressionable, so of course I tried every wondrous new diet and fast fix around. I started to blame food for any of my physical issues and struggles with my measurements. I stopped baking and cooking and caring about food, and I lost my hobby and creative outlet in the process.

Coming from a background where I never deprived myself or put too much thought into what I ate, I had no idea what I was supposed to do or eat now in this new world. I would go through phases of splurging and fasting, or I would wait long periods between eating and skip meals, then punish myself with hard runs when I thought I had stepped out of line even though I didnt know what the line was or where it was supposed to be.

Despite working in an industry based on looks, no one ever gave me any advice on what or how to eat. When I was just starting out I couldnt afford to get personal training, particularly when I was abroad, and any advice I was given usually came from people who needed to get fast results and didnt really care about the long term. When I would return home from travelling I would inevitably put back on all the weight I had lost, and then some. This vicious circle continued for a few years, until it all came to a head in 2011 when I decided to stop travelling. For the first time in ages, there was no pressure, no deadlines.

There were some plus sides to my travels, though. Ive learned a lot from spending time in different cultures and Ive picked up so many tips from working and living with models from all over the world. Participating in the Miss Universe competition in 2010 was a big game changer. I saw a new image of what the perfect body was: it had abs and was very toned, which was way more achievable than a frail, thin frame for me. I trained in Colombia for three weeks prior to the competition in Las Vegas, which lasted for four weeks, and I remember going over thinking, Here we go, be prepared to be hungry. I was happily surprised when my pageant coaches emphasised the importance of eating frequently. They helped me prepare meals every three hours and introduced me to weight training. I started calling in to health food stores and would spend up to an hour asking about all the different foods I had never seen before, from quinoa (remember, this was in 2010) to umeboshi. I suddenly realised that there was a whole other food world out there I just hadnt explored it yet.

Unfortunately, by the time I returned to Ireland I had developed an underactive thyroid. Worst of all, I knew it was all self-inflicted from my years of bad choices. All I heard were the words lethargic and weight gain the very things Id spent the past three years trying to avoid.

TIME FOR A CHANGE

Ive never been the best at taking medicine, so after three months of half-empty packs of pills left to one side, I knew something had to change, and that it had to be my lifestyle. Learning from my past mistakes of going for an all-or-nothing approach, this time I decided to make slow, small, attainable changes over a long period of time instead.

I started by altering my training and eating patterns. Training had been a big part of my life already. I played any and every sport as a child and teenager and ran every day throughout my early twenties (I have the bad knees now to prove it) before a few running injuries compelled me to take up cycling instead. I adapted my training to two short sessions of 30 minutes a day, five days a week. Plus I started to eat regularly and cook everything from scratch pretty much all the things everyone always tells you to do but can seem like too much effort.

But my biggest change was a mental one. I started to focus on what I could eat rather than on what I couldnt. This changed everything. I realised that by eating whole foods, I wasnt missing much anyway. By changing my lifestyle and diet, I managed to get my thyroid condition under control in a little under a year.