Demi Lovato has said that she can’t remember when she had a healthy relationship with food in her life, and so believes she was born with an eating disorder. Demi, who received treatment in a rehab facility in late 2010 for her problems, has opened up candidly on how her problem developed over the years, which started with binge eating:
“I think I was born with an eating disorder, because I’ve never had a relationship with food that was normal. I remember looking in the mirror with nappies on thinking, ‘You’re fat, change it’. I started overeating when I was about eight; I was a binge eater. I would bake a whole plate of cookies and eat them all. Then when I turned 12 I was bullied in school and they called me fat. I went from being an overeater to stopping eating and I lost about 30 pounds. From then on I continued undereating, but my weight plateaued. I started throwing up to lose weight.”
Demi believes that her time in rehab helped her get over her food fears because she was forced to eat 3 full meals 3 times a day, which terrified her at first, but she soon began to eat regularly so she could get released, which in the end helped her figure out her problem:
“Breakfast would be at 8.30am, a bowl of cereal with yoghurt or milk and fruit. Lunch would be a sandwich, salad and fruit or vegetables. Dinner might be macaroni cheese with a side of vegetables and milk. I cried often because I was terrified at having to eat three meals a day. I said, ‘No, this is too much food.’ I started eating just so that I could go home. I don’t know what made it click but I realised I just wanted out of my eating disorder.”
Demi admits that she is still tempted to skip meals and throw up, but she continues to fight it because she wants her fans to look up to her:
“Now I can eat as many meals as I am supposed to and not throw up any more. There’s definitely temptation – every meal I fight it. It’s an addiction and I’m going to have to fight it for the rest of my life. There’s no cure and I may mess up, but I want to be a better role model for my fans and my younger sister.”
