As a teen, I was sent to a therapist because I wasn’t eating enough. I was getting too thin. But I didn’t have much to say to her, as my friends weren’t eating much either. It felt ‘normal’. She said she couldn’t work with me, if I wasn’t going to speak. But before I left, she shared a slice of wisdom. She said: eat what you want, when you want. It took a while for that to sink in but now, I live by that mantra. I think of it as I add a dollop of golden syrup to my creamy porridge and when I forgo breakfast, because I’m not hungry. I think of it as I eat half a packet of biscuits in one go with no guilt whatsoever, and when I choose to have salad for lunch because I love the crunch of a cos lettuce dipped in tangy, mustard-rich French dressing with a sprinkling of toasted seeds on top. I apply it to food and eating but also to socialising, work, getting dressed, debauchery and adventures. What you want, when you want. You make up the rules.
