Kirsten Haglund of Michigan won the 2008 Miss America pageant on Saturday.

Like all Miss Americas, she has a cause. Based on her own experience with anorexia, she wants to raise awareness of eating disorders and encourage people to have a healthy body image.

“You have to have curves,” she said proudly.

“You can’t look like a stick-thin model.”

Haglund isn’t alone:

The National Eating Disorders Association estimates eating disorders affect 10 million girls and women and about one million boys and men in the United States.

Some of them, like Haglund, recover. But others don’t, leading one site to call anorexia “the most deadly mental illness.”

Treatment for eating disorders has a heavy psychological component, including therapy and behavior modification.

Although I was rooting for Miss New York (her brother was a friend of mine when I lived upstate), I wish Haglund the best and hope other people with anorexia can find inspiration from her story.