I can't eat, I'm not hungry, I can't eat, I feel sick, I can't eat, I'm too busy, The excuses are slick.

We talked to our Helpline Manager, Sam, about some of the common questions her team gets around this time of year, and her insights and tips for dealing with the challenges of Christmas.

Why do we perpetuate this enormous lie, that sets a beauty standard that makes grown women cry?

For many years I accessed online support for bulimia and was repeatedly told ‘recovery is always possible’. This felt really hollow to me. People kept telling me it was possible but not how it was possible.

I was still in the healthy weight range (most of the time), my blood tests were coming back and everything was in the green and where it should be, so I was healthy, right?

I’d moved to Thailand after graduating to teach English. I developed a bit of anxiety and unhappiness due to loneliness, which I controlled through eating. Unfortunately, I took it too far, and upon my return, was admitted straight to hospital.

I am following my meal plan as best I can; I’m steadily gaining back the weight I tried so hard to lose. I am back in the healthy weight range for my age and height, so I’m recovering. Right?

To my fellow fighters: as you know, eating disorders are often glamorised and seen as a fashionable thing had by models and celebrities. As you know, the harsh reality is not so glamorous.

I seem to have lost the old me,
Forgotten the woman I used to be,
I used to be brave, I used to be strong,
When and how did things go so wrong?

I am not the stereotypical eating disorder sufferer. I am overweight and middle aged, so therefore am I sure that I have bulimia? I have been asked this question many times and each time it hurts that little bit more.

The evident stigma that’s often associated with mental health increases my passion towards trying to eradicate it and show how mental health is actually something that should not be trivialised.

As a sufferer of a severe eating disorder, I have spent a substantial amount of time throughout my journey reading stories of people who are recovered and have beaten their eating disorders and of those who have learned to beat or cope with other mental illnesses too.

So what are you supposed to do? When you no longer look broken, needing to be repaired. By the people surrounding you, to be nurtured and protected from the outside world.

We're delighted to feature a guest post by Eva Musby, author of Anorexia and other Eating Disorders: how to help your child eat well and be well, about our campaign to introduce waiting times standards in Scotland to match those laid out for young people in England.

For me, this year wasn’t about exams. For the first time in my life I have prioritised myself and managed to find a healthy balance in an intensely pressured situation.

I was extensively asked what I feel needs to be changed in society and within the medical profession for wider exposure to the understanding of eating disorders.

To look at me you would never know I live with an eating disorder. Even typing the word feels wrong. A name that depicts images of skeletal figures and fashion models from the 70s and 80s, not a “regular”, “healthy-looking” person like me.

Summer is almost here, which for all its shiny pros also comes with a multitude of cons for those in recovery from an eating disorder.

In the past I’ve wanted to hide the eating disorders that are part of my history, but I want to shout from the rooftops: I'm proud of how far I had come!