pigduck.com

Katharine McPhee - Has a story to tell - Eating Disorder makes Headline News

Here are snapshots of Katharine McPhee’s bulimia battle all over Yahoo News. She’s front page news on the New Yahoo Page, she’s headline news in the Top News section, the Entertainment section, the headline news in the subsections of Music, Television and Gossip/Celebrity News under the Entertainment section… she’s everywhere. It seems that Taylor’s No. 1 hit has taken a backseat.

Here are more articles taken from major news sources. I’ve done some snippets of the articles. To read the full articles, please click on the links provided:-

McPhee: “Idol” saved my life - Yahoo News

After landing a slot on American Idol, Katharine McPhee decided it was time to take control of her destiny.

In a new interview with People magazine, the season five runner-up reveals that she struggled with severe bulimia for five years, bingeing and purging in a destructive cycle that could have permanently ruined her singing voice and caused devastating consequences to her health.

At her worst, McPhee says she was making herself vomit up to seven times each day, which she equates to “putting a sledgehammer to your vocal cords.”

But all that changed once the 22-year-old aspiring singer got the go-ahead from the Idol judges and realized that in order to succeed on the talent search, she would need to rein in her eating disorder.

“When I made it onto American Idol, I knew that food–my eating disorder–was the one thing really holding me back,” McPhee tells People. “I was bingeing my whole life away for days at a time. So, when I got on the show, I said, ‘You know what? I can do well in this competition. Let me give myself a chance and just get a hold of this thing.’ “

Backed up by her parents, frequent Idol audience members Peisha and Daniel McPhee, the Idol hopeful enrolled in an intensive treatment program at Los Angeles’s Eating Disorder Center of California, where she underwent three months of group and individual therapy, spending 10 hours a day, six days a week at the center.

“I really had to surrender and give up having a free life to do the program, because I’d be there from 9 in the morning until 7 at night,” McPhee says. But she knew the sacrifice was necessary if she wanted to get well.

“I knew I had put off going to a treatment center long enough–I’d been struggling with bulimia since I was 17,” she says.

“Growing up in Los Angeles and spending all those years in dance class, I’d been conscious of body image at a young age, and I went through phases of exercising compulsively and starving myself,” she says.

By using the intuitive eating approach she learned at the Eating Disorder Center, McPhee was eventually able to redefine her relationship to food.

“I learned that there’s no such thing as a bad food,” she says. “If you look at a doughnut, people think it’s a fattening food–why? Because if you eat it you’ll get fat? No, you’ll get fat if you eat 10 doughnuts.”

As a result, she dropped 30 pounds and broke her cycle of bingeing and purging.

“That’s why I say American Idol saved my life, because if I hadn’t auditioned, I don’t think I would have gotten a handle on food,” she tells the magazine.

By openly talking about her eating disorder, McPhee stands to help fans who may be struggling with similar issues, according to Dr. Thomas Weigel, a psychiatrist at the Klarman Eating Disorders Center at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts.

“Katharine’s portrayal of her eating disorder and its effects on her life would tend toward helping people suffering with eating disorders to seek out treatment,” Weigel said.

“She had a problem, which was affecting her career, and she went through a difficult treatment program to make progress toward recovery. It was hard work, but she fought against the eating disorder to get her life back.”

McPhee one of millions with bulimia - CNN Health

(CNN) — Katharine McPhee’s revelation that she has battled bulimia puts the American Idol runner-up in the company of millions of Americans.

The National Institute of Mental Health estimates that between 1.1 percent and 4.2 percent of females in the U.S. — or 1.5 million to 6 million — suffer from bulimia nervosa in their lifetime. The disorder is increasingly being identified in males as well.

Christopher Athas, a vice president of the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, says one of the many myths about bulimia is that it’s a disease primarily of affluent young white women. “That’s simply not true,” he says. “It’s an illness that goes through society.” (Watch McPhee talk about her battle with bulimia — 1:49)

People with eating disorders often have both anorexia nervosa, marked by starving oneself, and bulimia, known as the binge-and-purge disease.

Bulimics eat excessive amounts of food, often feeling out of control, then, out of disgust and a fear of gaining weight, resort to vomiting or laxatives or other extremes. The behavior typically occurs a couple of times a week, experts say. The 22-year-old McPhee told People that for five years, she threw up as often as seven times a day.

Even though bulimics may maintain a normal weight, the disease is often driven by low-self esteem, excessive perfectionism and negative body image. The individual comforts herself, or himself, with food; the late Princess Diana, who also suffered from bulimia, once likened the feeling of post-binge fullness to a hug.

Then the need to purge comes, bringing temporary feelings of relief. But usually, the cycle starts again.

“I entered the program because I wanted to give myself the best shot I possibly could on the show. And, when I did, it was like God put hands on me and said, `I want you to be healed,’ ” she told People.

McPhee attended group and individual therapy six days a week for three months at the Eating Disorder Center of California in Los Angeles.

Many others who suffer with bulimia don’t realize they have an eating disorder and don’t seek help. Or, they feel too ashamed to tell anyone. Bulimia is a disease marked by secrecy.

But recovery is possible, says Athas of the anorexia association. “You can get totally well.”

It takes recognition of the illness, a genuine desire to get healthy, and usually, he says, therapy, whether individual or group, inpatient or outpatient. Medication can also help control the compulsions.

McPhee says she struggled with bulimia - AP, Yahoo News

It all sounds sounds so serious, doesn’t it? I’m so glad that nobody I know has to go through it. It seems like everything in the article speaks true. I do believe Katharinc McPhee battled everything that was mentioned… from low self-esteem, to lack of control, to negativity and it’s great to see her rise above it all at the end. I highlighted some parts of the articles for better context… I am so proud to be her fan!!!

In other news:-

“Idol” Taylor Hicks heads to top of singles chart - Yahoo News

“Idol” Taylor Hicks has no. 1 single - CNN

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) — Season five “American Idol” champion Taylor Hicks’ soulful rendition of “Do I Make You Proud” will debut on the top of the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart to be published Thursday.

The silver-haired Alabama native sold 190,000 physical singles and another 38,000 digital downloads of the track, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Three of the previous four “Idol” winners also have nabbed the top spot on the singles roster. Carrie Underwood’s “Inside Your Heaven” sold a combined 169,000 units in its first full week last year. Fantasia’s “I Believe” moved 142,000 and Kelly Clarkson sold 236,000 of “A Moment Like This.”

Season two runner-up Clay Aiken scored the No. 1 spot with “This Is the Night” with a whopping 393,000, staving off winner Ruben Studdard’s “Flying Without Wings” (286,000).

Well, it’s great to know that Taylor has such an impact. Although look at Clay Aiken’s single sales. Hopefully, Katharine will do just as well. She’s the best Idol out there !! WOOHOO!