I had to learn correct portion control. I eat an egg-white omelet for breakfast, shrimp and veggies for lunch, and chicken with asparagus for dinner.
It's so interesting how you can take a bad situation and make a great song out of it that somebody else can listen to and have a completely different perspective of the song and have their own meaning. That's what's great about it.
People always ask me who my role models are and who I want to be like, and I don't wanna be like anybody; I wanna be me. I look up to a lot of people, and they have had great influences on me, but I wanna be original and different.
I had bulimia for a few years. I was really sick. I don't know that person; I can't believe that was me.
I had really bad polyps on my vocal cords, and I've had them since I was a kid, but the bulimia made it 10 times worse. They were bleeding constantly, and it was straining on my voice. And just the lack of nutrition - my vocal cords couldn't keep up because I was so unhealthy.
I remember my doctors examining my vocal cords and asking if I had an eating disorder, and I instantly said no. But then my mom, who was in the room with me, said my name in her 'mom voice,' and I just lost it. I didn't realize that she knew or that anyone knew.
I don't like fake people.
People are pretty because they're nice, and they care about other people, and they have a good heart. That's what makes you pretty, and I didn't know that at one point in my life.
I'm a goofball, and I have this huge personality, and I used to try to hide that. I used to try to kind of dim my light.
I was 15 on the show, and I cried a lot. I was homesick, and was so worried, that I didn't think of being on 'American Idol.' I was so worried that I was going home every week that I didn't enjoy it as much as I should have.
I love acting. I want to act as much as I can without interfering with the music.
I grew up eating fried food. I thought that macaroni and cheese was a vegetable.
Shania Twain and Martina McBride and all these wonderful women were saying that it's awesome to be a woman, and it's awesome to be a confident woman. Obviously, I could never compare myself to them, and I want to be my own thing, but I think that message is what I want to say as an artist.
I was 15 on American Idol, and everybody had something to say. It was like I had my really awkward phase on national television, you know?
When I first heard my song 'Georgia Peaches' on the radio, I opened up the car windows and started screaming to the other people on the road, 'My song's on the radio!' Of course, I wasn't driving.
The first time I heard 'Georgia Peaches,' I absolutely loved it.
I knew Scotty was going to win. At the beginning of the episode, I was like, 'Scotty, are you ready to win?'. I knew he was going to in my heart. I accepted it. I couldn't pick a more perfect person to get second place to. He's my best friend.
I want to be the girl who has a positive influence on people's lifestyle. I don't want to be the girl who has an eating disorder, and that's why she looks the way she looks.
I didn't lose. I got second. That's still winning. How could I be unhappy with second place? There are a million people who would love to be in my position.
I have insecurity problems like every teenage girl, but you have to work through them.
