Demi Lovato Sets Good Example for Fans with Honesty About Eating Disorder

COMMENTARY | As a member of online fitness/diet tracking website MyFitnessPal and a frequent reader of the message boards there, I have read a lot lately about eating disorders and the sad effects that come with them. Contrary to seemingly popular belief, eating disorders include more than just men and women who want to be smaller and starve themselves or purge in order to reach their goal of perfection. The term also includes people who are "emotional eaters," or those who eat well for a long time and then binge dangerously (which often leads to purging).

While I have certainly suffered my share of break-up-induced ice cream socials, I do not have an actual eating disorder. But it is so heart-wrenching to read the stories of those who do. Demi Lovato, former Disney star, is the most recent celebrity to come forward with such a disorder.

Lovato, an 18-year-old actress and singer, recently left rehab for her eating disorder, and, according to Contact Music, claims rehab is what saved her life. In an interview with Ryan Seacrest on E!, Lovato admitted to being anorexic, bulimic, and a self-mutilator. Her story, especially the bit about realizing she was ruining her voice with her after-meal purging, is touching.

Her decision to seek treatment in 2010 is admirable as it meant she had to admit she wasn't, in her own words from the interview, "normal." As she has started her journey to be healthy and end her destructive behaviors, she has had both supporters, largely her fan base of young teens, and nay-sayers, those who hate to see anybody doing well and assume she is "coming c! lean" ab out her issue just to sell albums. Regardless of her reasons for making her struggles public, it is obviously positive that Lovato is setting a good example for other girls or boys who fight the same issues.

Reading about everyday people struggling with eating disorders as well as celebrities who look and seem so perfect has been an eye-opening experience this year. The fact that Lovato is a young girl with such a wide audience of impressionable teens and preteens makes it doubly important that she received treatment and is open about her problem and the way to solve it.