Got an exciting fundraising event being discussed for you Exonians with a culinary flair ;). MORE DETAILS TO COME! xox

I've done a 10K, I've done a 12K obstacle course and now it's time to do a 21K in October before I probably do a 15-17K obstacle course in May. 

I've decided to raise money for BEAT, a charity providing helplines, online support and a network of UK-wide self-help groups to help adults and young people beat their eating disorders. I think this is an insanely important charity that needs as much recognition and help as possible. Eating disorders can be completely disregarded as a mental health illness, with comments along the lines of sufferers "just going through a phase" or "attention seeking". It has even got to the point where the term "anorexic" is commonly used as an adjective rather than referring to a serious and sometimes fatal illness. 

Some suffer in silence, because they feel they don't deserve help... or they are made to feel that they are "too fat" to have an eating disorder, which only drives them to lose more weight as to not feel as though they are merely seeking attention. Those that do get help are at risk of being pushed away as EDNOS (eating disorder not other specified) if they don't exactly fit the criteria for anorexia and bulimia and unfortunately receive less immediate help. It's heartbreaking that in a lot of circumstances those struggling with eating disorders can't get help until they are so consumed by their eating disorder that recovery is a ridiculously hard struggle. 

A lot of people in my life, myself included, have struggled with disordered eating patterns and whilst I've made a pretty strong recovery, one of my best friends is still incredibly ill so it would really mean a lot if anyone could find a few quid to spare for a donation.

These are some of the things that Beat do with their donations:

• £5 helps to send an eating disorders information pack to a sufferer or carer
• £35 helps to run the Beat Helpline for half an hour
• £50 helps to run an online support sessions for carers 
• £300 helps Beat to train a Young Ambassador to talk to the media and raise awareness
• of eating disorders
• £700 helps Beat to print 1,000 information leaflets for carers
• £3,000 helps Beat to train 10 Young Ambassadors to reduce the stigma of mental health
• and campaign for better healthcare services
• £4,000 helps Beat to set up two support groups to provide support and advice to both
• sufferers and their families
• £12,000 helps Beat to run the helpline for a month