Overcoming eating disorders

Funny girl Rachael Oakes-Ash thought she would have it all if she was thin. After a lifetime of eating disorders it is only now, having given up dieting, she's discovered she can

Rachael Oakes-Ash has led a life of extremes. She had her first orgasm at the age of three and was binge eating by the age of 11. It was to be the start of a life dominated by extreme behaviour - one that saw her lose and gain more than nine and a half stone in 14 years.

Between the ages of 17 and 31 Oakes-Ash battled anorexia, bulimia and binge eating disorder. She ran up huge debts, slept around, took too many drugs, drank and flogged herself silly in the gym.

Now, aged 34, this warm and striking Australian says she is, 'cured of my disordered eating and my attitude to my disordered eating. As a result everything else has calmed down too. I lead a life of moderation and I work very hard at it.' This from the woman who once said her life was 'all or nothing'.

Oakes-Ash, who describes herself as a 'producer, presenter, writer and humorist' has since documented her life in the autobiography Good Girls Do Swallow (Mainstream Publishing £7.99).

So who does she think will read it? 'I hope any women who has ever gone on a diet will buy it, any women who has ever trawled her credit card or had an impulsive PMT purchase, any women who has been ditched by her boyfriend then found herself shopping madly or drinking madly or eating madly,' she says.

Any woman who can read this book and not identify with at least a handful of Rachael's razor-sharp insights is a lucky one. There will be very few who fail to take away its powerful message - stop dieting.