Singer LeAnn Rimes has remained silent for a long time regarding her fight with psoriasis. But the 26-year-old has broken her silence by speaking to Shape magazine about it and joining the Stop Hiding and Start Living Campaign.

Having suffered from the chronic skin disease since she was 2-years-old, the Grammy Award winner only began controlling it (instead of it controlling her) within the last 5 years. How? By finding the right dermatologist and changing her lifestyle.

“There are 7 million Americans living with psoriasis and a lot of them are not getting treatment because they think it’s just a rash,” she told Shape.

But it’s more than a rash. Psoriasis can affect the quality of life the same way other chronic diseases such as depression, heart attacks and heart failure, hypertension or type 2 diabetes do. Rimes, however, manages the disease by alleviating as much stress from her life as she can. She told Shape she does yoga and completely cuts out fried, fatty food from her diet. She’s also constantly applies lotion to her skin and drinks water to keep it hydrated.

When touring, Rimes researches the gyms of the cities she’ll be visiting and tries to get in as much spinning, weight lifting, running and even Muay Thai kickboxing as she can.

Watch her Stop Hiding, Start Living video as she encourages everyone with psoriasis to live their lives to the fullest.

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LeAnn Rimes, who is busy promoting her soon-to-be released Family CD, revealed to Shape magazine her diet and workout secrets for maintaining her great figure.

LeAnn Rimes Diet
A classic southern girl, she makes her favorite comfort foods with a healthy, low-cal twist.

• She makes low-calorie turkey taco salads and grilled chicken with sauteed spinach with garlic, instead of tacos and fried chicken.
• Her healthy version of a grilled cheese sandwich: “Rather than regular American cheese on white bread, I use low fat cheddar on 2 slices of Ezekiel bread cooked in canola oil spray.” “It tastes as good as the original!” Ezekiel’s bread is a flourless, sprouted-grain bread that is lower in carbs, and higher in protein than typical breads.
• She loves to grill veggies like asparagus and broccoli with spices.

LeAnn Rimes Workout
She uses cardio and resistance training, lifestyle activities and yoga to maintain her great shape.

• With her personal trainer, Daon Johnson, she does several 50 minute weight-lifting workouts combined with short 1-2 minute cardio burts each week.
• She and her husband also walk their dogs a few miles.
• She practices yoga regularly with her instructor Tom Larkin. After every show she does a 10 minute routine to relieve stress and “feel balanced.”

Her keys to success
LeAnn learned to satisfy her cravings, by making low-cal, healthier versions of her favorite comfort foods. To prevent weight gain and help maintain her fabulous figure, she has an active lifestyle that includes strength training, walking and yoga which helps boost her metabolism.