DEAR DIARY: You can still be sexy in that body

This is a very sensitive topic for women. As women, living in our own bodies can be a challenge as we aspire to get a certain look. We are always rushing to lose weight faster than we gained it. Recently, a nursing mother in my prayer cell shocked us. She wanted slimming tea though she was breastfeeding. Our attempts to warn her about its effects on breast milk production and breastfeeding in general fell on deaf ears. She told us she wanted to look like size zero models.

I agree that they look great but what is behind their sizes will shock you. While the younger models are naturally this size, their older counterparts are not and work extremely hard to achieve the desired weight. Nevertheless, it is perceived to be the ideal size for the high fashion industry.

A story of top Uruguayan model Luisel Ramos death hit headlines in 2006 after she collapsed minutes after stepping off the catwalk.

The already skinny 22-year-old had been told to lose more weight by her modeling agency so that she could conquer the fashion world. She then embarked on diet of diet coke, salads and other green veggies. Her death sparked calls from various quotes to fashion agencies to adopt more healthy looking women as their models.

In May this year, France announced that it would ban unhealthy models. And then there was a Miss World Kenya who looked really skinny to most people until the panelists decided that she was a bit hippy (not thin enough to fit the bill).

Many people were shocked since she was already painfully thin, but here we were being told that she was not thin enough. Well, she did not take the world crown, but she is back home doing several innitiaves in the community and reaching out to the less privileged. Her story did not end tragically like Ramos.

We are not going to deny that certain clothes look great on slim frames but we have to differentiate between slim and skinny. Girls don’t need to be forced to diet extremely to become top models. They have to endure calorie counting, obsessive dieting and extreme exercises to achieve ideal weight for the fashion agencies.

I think women can still be happy, sexy, powerful and confident in whatever body size. Without self-induced vomiting, punishing diets plus pills to look acceptable. My two cents.