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Miss America 2008, a recovered anorexic, shares story at USF

Tribune photo by JAY CONNER

Former Miss America 2008 Kirsten Haglund poses for a photo with Leah Rothe after speaking to a small group about eating disorders at USF Hope house For Eating Disorders.

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By NEIL JOHNSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: April 16, 2009

Updated: 04/16/2009 01:30 pm

TAMPA - At 12 years old, the girl who would become the 2008 Miss America went on her first diet. Four years later, she was being treated for anorexia, a battle that lasted a year, and even at 20 she still occasionally fights.

"Every day I have to commit to being recovered," Kirsten Haglund said today as she shared her story with a group of women at a University of South Florida facility that provides support for people with eating disorders.

The 2008 pageant winner visited patients, family members and the staff at the USF Hope House for Eating Disorders.

The Hope House is an outreach facility that offers free therapy for eating disorders and supplements medical care and therapy. In addition to patients, it works with family members.

Haglund's visit is part of her campaign to raise awareness of the disease and to show by example that it can be overcome.

Haglund, a former Miss Michigan, founded the Kirsten Haglund Foundation to raise money for scholarships for those with eating disorders. She started the foundation in February after her reign as Miss America ended.

Experts estimate — conservatively — that 12 million people in America have an eating disorder. Today, the average age at which girls start to diet is 8, she said.

The constant worry about weight can lead to the disease. "It starts the day you start hating your body," she said.

Hers began when she was involved in ballet, thinking that being thinner translated into being a better dancer. Eventually, the obsession with losing weight consumed her, she told the women.

"The more weight I lost, the less happy I was with my body," she said.

Recovery involved giving up ballet and getting treatment.

"The mind battle is the most difficult," she said.

The nation's fight against childhood obesity, with its emphasis on losing weight, is also having an unintended influence on people with eating disorders.

"There's an entire generation of kids growing up with a fear of fat. Kids don't need to be afraid of food," Haglund said.

The nearly 90 minutes spent with Haglund touched Leah Rothe of Tampa.

"She was very open and honest about it. Like, here's what I went through. Here was my struggle. It's OK to seek help and support," Rothe said. "Especially when she was talking about patterns. Been there. Done that."

Rothe, 26, has been coming to Hope House since February.

"The first time I came in here I knew it was right," she said. "I knew I was doing right by myself. You can't do it alone. I tried too long to deny it."

Contact reporter Neil Johnson at (813) 259-7731.

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