Michelle Duggar opens up about her battle with bulimia

On Tuesday night's episode of "19 Kids and Counting," Duggar family matriarch Michelle opened up about her battle with an eating disorder.

"I ended up starting a bad habit of making myself get sick after I would eat, especially if I had more food than I felt like I should eat, and it was destructive," said Michelle Duggar on "19 Kids and Counting."

While prepping for her upcoming 30-year high school reunion, Michelle admitted she struggled with bulimia while she was in high school.

She said she used to gain weight easily, and she never felt like she measured up to all her friends.

She started making herself get sick after meals, and no one knew she had an eating disorder for a long time -- but Michelle recently let the world know about her battle with bulimia in the book "Growing Up Duggar," which her daughters Jana, Jill, Jessa and Jinger published.

She told People that she wanted to tell her story so she could help others struggling with an eating disorder. "When the girls were writing their book, they brought this up and I thought, if my sharing it is going to help another young lady, then I want to share it."

Michelle credits her recovery from bulimia to her husband Jim Bob, and she says it built a solid foundation for their relationship.

She said in an interview with NBC last year, "Jim Bob has never put me down for my body. He has never mocked me for my mommy tummy. He is one of my biggest encouragers."

Now, her philosophy is simple: "Life is too short to never have a chocolate chip cookie. But you have to be wise in doing that." We couldn't have said it better ourselves.

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