It's estimated some 750,000 people in our state will combat an eating disorder in their lifetime.

That according to the strategic training Initiative for the Prevention of Eating Disorders.

To combat those troubling statistics, the current Miss New Jersey 22 year old Elizabeth Mandel has teamed up with Democratic Assemblywoman Andrea Katz to raise awareness about the mental health condition and rally support around a pair of bills aimed at mitigating factors that can contribute to developing the disorder.

They join me now.

Well, welcome.

I'm really glad that we could get you on the show to talk about this.

Elizabeth, I want to ask you first why you decided to pursue this topic.

It sounds like it's near and dear to your heart.

It's extremely near and dear to my heart.

So I started my community service initiative titled Images Everywhere, simply because I have had a long and hard personal struggle.

I'm recovering from an eating disorder.

So when I came to the other side of my journey, I knew that I wanted to be firsthand in helping others who are also struggling and help them get to the other side where I am now.

And so you linked up with Assemblywoman Katz, and there is a pair of bills that have been introduced.

Assemblywoman, what do they include?

What are these bills?

So the first would open an office of disordered eating prevention within the Department of Health that would be able to bring some much needed attention to the subject, as well as to look for grants to be able to help programs receive the funding that they need to get support to the folks who need it.

And then there's another bill, which I find really interesting, because it has to do with social media, which of course, in recent years, so much more research has come out about the impact of social media, particularly on adolescent girls.

What does that bill entail.

That would prohibit social media companies from targeting their algorithms in ads to folks to young people who are who are struggling with eating disorders?

Why was that a key component for you both in putting forth this legislation?

So I am my day job has been a stay at home mom, and I like to legislate and have my governance come from my personal experience.

I have two teenage daughters who are beautiful and wonderful and smart, but I see what they're starting to see on social media.

And I know that if they're experience and seen seeing these images that other young girls are as well.

And young men as well, too.

And so I just wanted to make sure that we were able to help out our young folks here in the state of New Jersey.

Elizabeth, I see you nodding your head.

That seems to resonate with you, this social media component.

Yes, absolutely.

I am 22 years old and I am involved in an organization that is extremely we are very in with social media and it's a very great thing.

But it can also be a very bad thing.

So, you know, the effect that assemblywoman is willing to take on such an important bill to really hold the social media companies accountable for what they're putting out to the youth is extremely important.

So I am I am full support of this bill.

When you're in a role like Miss New Jersey or competing in pageants, to get to that point, you're very forward facing.

And from what we know about eating disorders, it's very much an internal struggle.

How did you overcome that, especially having to put yourself out there on the stage?

No less?

So I get this question a lot.

As Miss New Jersey, there's a lot of people that ask me, doesn't this make it worse for you and for me it doesn't.

I always find the good in everything.

For me, I have a lot of young girls, young boys, women and men looking up to me to this hold me accountable.

And the other thing that helps me get to the other side is my friends and family.

If it wasn't for the people that stood behind me that told me, it's okay, we're going to figure this out together, I would not be in the situation that I am now.

My outcome would have been much worse.

So it's the organization and my friends and family that really stood behind me that helped me get to where I am right now.

Assemblywoman, you know, bills have been introduced at the federal level as well to try to target these social media companies.

What specifically are you looking to have happen with the algorithms?

You're looking to have them limit the age group that they can reach?

Is that the target here?

Yeah, that because we know that our youth are more vulnerable.

And so we just want to make sure that they're not going to be seeing these ads.

There's no reason that any teenager should be seeing an ad for diet pills or how to get skinny.

That's not something that they should be focusing on.

I read some stories where you can be searching for fitness topics and you're going to the algorithm is going to eventually point you towards eating disordered subjects.

And that's not something we want to have happening to our kids.

Yeah, any one of us who has scrolled on our Instagram account has likely inevitably come across fat.

Where do you go from here?

Because you've forged, it looks like a great partnership and friendship.

Where do you hope to take this message and what is your message?

Elizabeth I'll come to you quickly first.

My message is that there is a light at the end of the tunnel and that there's people like Assemblywoman Katz that have the authority and the power to possibly pass a bill like this.

And the fact that we have created a partnership and a friendship is truly incredible.

And it's two women that come together that are willing to make a greater good for the world.

So I think it's really incredible to see for young girls like myself and also moms like Assemblywoman Katz that two people can come together and really make a change.

Assemblywoman.

Yeah.

I just I hope that our kids know we're here to help.

We're here to.

To forge these unlikely friendships and relationships and paths to get them the help that they need.

So there is hope, and we're doing everything we can on this and to give our kids the tools that they need.

Assemblywoman Andrea Katz, Elizabeth Mandel, Miss New Jersey, thank you both so much for coming on the show.

Thank you so much.

Support for the medical report is provided by Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, An independent licensee of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association.