Love from, Florence Grace

To 16 year old me, Where do you start with a letter you are sure will never be read? I don't know for certain that time travel exists, so how can I be sure you would ever get this letter? I can't be. And yet there is so many things I want to tell you about, so many words of wisdom and warnings that I would like to pass along to you, to protect you from the negatives that are coming your way and to help you look forward to the positives (without ruining the surprises to come too much!). Perhaps even if you- my 16 year old self- never reads this, another 16 year old girl will do, and I can help her too. Knowing this is a possibility makes me happy...so let me continue to write, and hopefully pass on some nuggets of information to you that will help you in one way or another. At just 18, I still have plenty more to learn about life. And yet at just 18 I have learnt enough to guide someone younger than myself through their teenage years. I must first break you the disappointing...

WARNING : The following content is sensitive and may be found triggering to those suffering from, recovering from or those who have recovered from an eating disorder or mental health problem. When we think eating disorders, we think skinny. We think sagging skin and jutting bones, two fingers down a throat forcing food to reemerge from our system. We do not often think of the other end of the spectrum- not the people who refuse to eat, but rather, the people who can't stop. Obesity effects between 16 and 33% of young adults and kills 300,000 people a year. Although it is one of the easiest medical conditions to diagnose, it is one of the most difficult to treat. In comparison to anorexia and bulimia, obesity is not regarded as an eating disorder. Rather, people will look at a victim of obesity and think "they clearly eat too much" or "they're so fat it's disgusting". People don't often stop to think about why  the victim may be eating too muc...

WARNING:  The following content is sensitive and me be triggering to those suffering from, recovering from or who have recovered from eating disorders such as anorexia or bulimia and other health problems such as depression. As I sit down in my local pub ready to tuck into my generous portion of gammon and chips, I feel a prickle on the back of my neck- that all to familiar feeling of knowing that someone is staring at you. As I whip my head around the dining area, my eyes fall on the slender figure of a girl, probably around my age, maybe a few years younger, looking at me with disgust in her eyes- disgust clearly at the way I look and what I'm eating. I feel fat, bulky, uncomfortable and I let my glance fall to her own plate, noticing she has a salad, mostly untouched. She sips constantly at her water like it's the only thing keeping her alive. It probably is. It is a sad but true statistic that over half of teenage girls and one third of teenage boys use unhealthy wei...