Demi Lovato Talks About Eating Disorders: ‘Starving Is Not A Diet’

Demi Lovato came out on Wednesday with some pretty harsh words on Twitter, regarding common misconceptions facing people who suffer from eating disorders.

Lovato, who is a self-proclaimed “positive role model,” clearly relates to the issue of eating disorders and obviously feels quite passionately about the plight of women who suffer from conditions such as anorexia and bulimia.

Her comments on Twitter began with, Having an eating disorder doesn’t show ‘strength.’ Strength is when are able to overcome your demons after being sick and tired for so long. Starving is not a ‘diet’ and throwing up isn’t something that only extremely thin men or women do.”

She continued, “Eating disorders do not discriminate..Neither does any other mental illness. These are deadly diseases that are taking lives daily. So please, let’s be cautious of the words we use when discussing ED’s and other mental illnesses.”

For Demi Lovato, the perceptions and stigmas often attached to people with eating disorders are wholly unfair, as she noted that ignorance and lack of education are to blame for most people’s misconceptions when it comes to eating disorders.

“There’s a wide misconception that anorexia and/or bulimia is a choice and you often hear people say things like ‘why doesn’t she just start eating?’ Or even ‘just stop throwing up. It’s the ignorance and lack of education on mental illnesses that continues to [p]ut mental health care on the back burner to congress even though this is an epidemic that is sweeping our nation, and causing more and more tragedy every day.”

For her part, Demi Lovato has always been open about the fact that she has suffered a lot in the past, and present, from bipolar disorder, substance abuse, and eating disorders. Talking about a picture comparison for herself, Lovato commented on her 2008 MTV VMA’s look,

“I remember the day I wore the dress in the very first picture. I remember asking for spanx to flatten my stomach because I use to feel so heavy and ‘fat.’ Now looking at this picture, you can clearly see my hip bones. It makes me sad because I wasted so many years ashamed of my body when I could’ve been living the happy and healthy life I live today.”