I write this latest blog, in part as an open letter to the editor of heat and other magazines that trade on images of women that I deem extremely damaging.
I have been in recovery from anorexia for nearly three years. I am now at a healthy weight and people will probably think I'm recovered because I look 'fine', but every day is a mission to keep healthy and happy.
In the past I would go out every Tuesday and buy the latest magazines... including heat. I would spend around £15 a week. If you multiply that by 52 (weeks in a year), I spent over £700 on magazines. Magazines that slated other women - and men. They fed me with the latest body trends that, in all honestly, I really thought I needed to follow to be seen as 'beautiful'. Some of them carried diet plans and even advertising for slimming pills.
I would look at the pictures of super-slim models and celebrities and think: "Why can't I look like them? I need to diet, I need to follow this trend."
Even so, I was stunned to see the cover of this week's heat magazine, which showed a half dozen celebs with impossibly tiny waists, with a headline 'The rise of the Cinderella Waist', sub-headline Extreme Body Trend. For those not in the know, actress Lily James wears a corset in the new Cinderella film to give her a fairytale waist.
I wanted to scream!
It seems to me that magazine editors are using celebs to sell their magazines for all the wrong reasons. Why can't they work hand in hand with our generation to encourage positive body image for all, not images of shapes that most people can never achieve? I guarantee a lot of girls will see this headline and feel bad about themselves.
I think magazine editors have a massive responsibility to the young of our society. Ever since I started to speak out about my feelings that the media needs to address its part in body image, a lot of people have agreed with me.
I became ill because I would look at the images in those magazines - I thought they were beautiful and because I didn't look like that, it made me low. Mental illness, in the form of anorexia and bulimia, took hold of me.
I am not blaming ANYONE for causing my illness. However, I do think such magazines should be more positive about every body type. Maybe they could talk in terms of nutrition not new 'diet trends', so young people understand what healthy food is doing for them. And just maybe they could help encourage us to love ourselves?
Following my experience, I became so passionate about preventing anyone else going through what I did that I joined forces with charity young people's social action charity Fixers to create an awareness film about body issues - and to promote a message about positive body image. You can watch it here.
How about we now work together? I would love to be able to meet the team at heat in person, to explain more about the dangers of their images - to hear their explanation of why they fill the magazine with the same images. I'm campaigning to get the government involved with my plan - to get positive body image, self-love and nutrition taught in schools."
It would be great to get the media on board too! Let's FIX eating disorders together.