Katharine McPhee Struggle With Bulimia | Women Lifestyle, Fashion, Health, Beauty and Personality

Katharine McPhee Struggle With Bulimia
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Katharine McPhee Struggle With Bulimia In an interview published yesterday on People magazine’s website, “American Idol” runner-up Katharine McPhee has spoken of how she battled bulimia for many years, “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.”
Katharine McPhee’s five-year battle with bulimia began when she packed on 20 pounds during her freshman year at The Boston Conservatory. At her worst point, she was throwing up as many as seven times a day, which is like “putting a sledgehammer to your vocal cords,” she tells People in its new issue.

The star gives “Idol” props for helping her conquer her war with food after successfully auditioning for the show last fall. “When I made it onto “American Idol,” I knew that food — my eating disorder — was the one thing really holding me back,” she said. “I was bingeing my whole life away for days at a time.”
“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 said.
It was shortly thereafter that the raven-haired beauty enrolled at the Eating Disorder Center of California in Los Angeles, where she underwent three months of individual and group therapy six days a week before the competition got under way.

With the support of her parents, Peisha, 52, and Daniel, 57, and her actor boyfriend, Nick Cokas, 41, in October McPhee enrolled at Los Angeles’ Eating Disorder Center of California, where she spent three months undergoing group and individual therapy, six days a week.
Now, McPhee, whose first single comes out June 27, has dropped 30 pounds as a result of the “intuitive eating” approach she learned 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. … I remember that first night, my dad holding me, crying and saying, ‘I don’t know why you have to suffer through this, but it’s going to be okay.”
“I still bite my nails,” she said.

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.
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.

On May 24, 2006, Katharine finished second to Taylor Hicks, the winner of American Idol.
After the Idol finale, McPhee went on to sign a record deal with RCA Records in conjunction with 19 Recordings Limited.
Her first single, “My Destiny,” coupled with “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” is scheduled for release on Tuesday. As of Thursday, the tracks were ranked number 52 in music by Amazon.com.
Though the Idol competition is officially over, McPhee still has her work cut out for her if she hopes to catch up to Taylor Hicks, who released his first single last week and instantly rocketed to the top of the charts.