Image(s): FreeDigitalPhotos.net
So last night I tweeted a link to a post I had read on Huffington Post by the gorgeous Scarlett Johansson, to think that an actress must go online and write a post on a website to set the record straight about her supposed 14-pound weight loss for The Avengers is terrible, as she says “f I were to lose 14 pounds, I’d have to part with both arms. And a foot. ” I was enraged reading it thinking of how all of us are so lead on by the media, it wasn’t a lightbulb moment, I’ve never passed much heed to the articles but enough is enough.
Each week, magazines bombard us with new diet after diet that will supposedly give us flat tummies in 5 days, help you drop 10-pounds in 7 days and so on, it’s ridiculous to watch. The other day I encountered a woman giving out to someone in a shop because she had only bought a paper because of a diet special that was in the paper that day and that the special wasn’t in it, is this what we want all the little girls (and boys) growing up to see, all us adults obsessed with the aesthetics of how we look and how we want to look like some celebrity.
In the current week here are some of the cover page blasts of diet and/or body image-related articles:
Bella – Carb Rotate Diet. Lose a stone in 28 days!
Closer – BB’s Josie’s Body Battle along with an article ‘Diets don’t work so I’m paying for my 16 yr old to have gastric surgery liek me’
Heat – TOWIE Body Wars! The Competitive Dieting tearing them apart.
New! – Body Struggles
Chantelle confeeses ‘I cried when I saw this picture – I feel disgusting’ (she’s pregnant, not disgusting, you’re growing a human, give yourself a break lady)
Josie reveals ‘I don’t want my fiance to touch me – I’m gross’
Lauren loses a stone then ditches the diet on boozy night out
Now – Celeb Body Shocks – mono boobs, bony back, spot of bother, ‘I hate my wobbly bits’
Woman – Why is FERN BINGEING on CUPCAKES? (excuse the capital letters, that’s not me shouting, that’s how it’s written on the cover)
Woman’s Own – Fast Inch-Loss Diet. LOSE 4in off your tum in 2 day? Yes!
Woman’s Way – 6 Ways to Ditch Diets Forever Plus Eat Cake Lose Weight
How must these people (celebrities) feel with not only their every move being tracked, their love lives constantly commented on and add in that if they were a baggy dress or eat a big dinner or have a bit of the monthly bloat that they must be pregnant, don’t even get my started on Jessica Simpsons pregnancy – she was growing a human, was glowing and so excited and happy to be adding to her family and all it was in the papers and magazines was how she was so huge and she was setting a bad example to people out there, how is she more of a bad example than some of clearly underweight girls shown inside said magazines?!
I’d love to see the lady bashing stop, not just for future generations growing up, but for our own sanities, the average dress size in Ireland is a 14, in the UK its 16. I’m a 16, I’m not going to have a flat tummy in a week, no matter what a magazine promises me, even if its plastic surgery (that’s a matter that can be talked about another day), how are things like this healthy for us to read.
I just want to be healthy and have a good self image and not feel the need to be a size 8 and teeny tiny, my frame wouldn’t let me allow me be that size since puberty hit and my hips widen with hormones, granted they’ve widened since than with chocolate inhaled like air on stressful days but you’ll have that. If you see me out for a walk/run, or going to the gym, I’m going for my health, both physical and mental, and so that I feel good in myself, a nice endorphine boost, not because I want to best anyone with how much weight I can lose any given week, and that’s why I gave up group diet meetings, I felt as small as my baby finger when I didn’t lose as much as some people on certain weeks and I’d prefer to go a slow and steady path to a size I’m meant to be without so much jiggle, not more yo-yoing like I’ve done over the last few years.
So I’m trying to turn my back of the rag magazines that used to be my favourites and instead I love a good read of U (Irish and no diet articles ever), Health, Healthy, Zest, Top Sante, Easy Health – these may have diets but there not so much crash diets and they have great articles on exercises and new products to try and gorgeous, healthy recipes that have me salivating instead of making me want to go grab a large McDonalds meal when looking at some of the cardboardy/tiny meals recommended on some ‘plans’.
We’re all meant to be different shapes and sizes, much the same as we don’t all have the same eye and hair colour and features, embrace your own qualities and love them, forget about what the media say.
Tags: be your best you, celebs, health, magazines, media, rant, scarlett johansson, stop the bashing, weight
Image(s): FreeDigitalPhotos.net
