Size 0 Kate Moss is right, skinny feels GREAT
SO when Kate Moss said "Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels" does anyone actually believe she said it to encourage girls not to eat, to be a size zero?
No, of course she didn't. She was echoing a sentiment felt by millions of women - especially women who're forever battling obesity - that being healthy and looking good is better than a date with a bag of doughnuts.
Anyway what does "skinny" mean? And who says it means size zero?
For me being "skinny" is getting into size 12 jeans.
For a woman who's size 22 skinny is being a size 16. It's totally subjective.
And while it's a first for me to be defending Kate Moss, I can't believe the hysteria surrounding the comment she made to a US fashion website.
As for all those harpies - wailing that because Kate's a role model for young girls, millions will now starve themselves to death and it'll all be her fault - clearly they're talking nonsense.
Virtually every woman who's ever lived has been on a diet but that doesn't mean we're all hurtling down the road to anorexia.
The fact is no woman, no teenager, wants to be fat and anyone who says they're fat and happy is a liar.
Because being thin - i.e. the right weight for your height - means you look better, you feel better. Oh yes, and you'll live longer.
I've been on a drastic diet for three weeks now - having recently piled on two stone.
And the only thing that's stopped me chewing the windowsill is the thought that nothing tastes as good as getting back into my slinky black trousers or getting rid of the spare tyre that's attached itself to my waist these last three months and made it impossible for me to run up the stairs. What's keeping me going is that I want to feel healthy again. I want to feel good about myself and I want to feel attractive again.
And you can't feel any of those things if you're fat.
And while the phrase Kate used might have been hijacked by anorexia websites, it's not where it started. It was said to me years ago when I was struggling to lose weight and I've never forgotten it. But I'll tell you what's a damn sight more dangerous than the spectre of anorexia. It's a nation of chronically obese teenagers - and there's a whole heap more of those than anorexics - who will die BEFORE their parents because of fat-related diseases.
There are 700,000 obese schoolchildren in Britain - as opposed to the 300 anorexic teenagers currently being treated in hospital - and of those 160,000 are already showing signs of developing heart disease and another 160,000 have high blood pressure.
All of those kids might just get to live longer if they get to grips with the notion that nothing tastes as good as being the right weight feels.
The fact is, girls who starve themselves aren't doing it because of what Kate Moss says - and I don't believe that's what she was advocating.
Anorexia is a psychiatric disorder triggered by many factors. It's not just about being thin - it's about control.
A recent global study of anorexic teenagers says 40 per cent of them also suffer from one other psychiatric disorder - usually obsessive compulsive disorder. Is Moss responsible for that as well?
It's ludicrous to blame her for encouraging kids to starve themselves. But if we're talking blame then blame a society obsessed with image, the body beautiful and vacuous celebrity.
Blame the mothers who let their daughters have breast ops at 15, give them Botox for their 18th birthday and teach them that looks are everything.
Blame the teen magazines obsessed with sex and perfection. Blame the retailers who make the trendiest clothes in Sizes 4-12.
Blame movies and TV for subliminally transmitting the message that only thin, beautiful women get the rich, gorgeous men.
Kate Moss - who incidentally doesn't look the vaguest bit anorexic - was stating the obvious. No bar of chocolate, no cream cake, no bag of crisps tastes as good as being able to slip into those jeans that make your bum look fantastic.
And instead of us obsessing about the kids who don't eat, we should be concentrating on those who eat too much.
Because that's our big problem.
And, hand on heart girls, who would you rather look like - Heidi Klum or Beth Ditto?
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This article has 12 comments
Great article!
Obesity is the real problem and , yet, people blame Kate when she said something sooo right! There's no food that tastes better than being health!
By Priscila.. Posted January 11 2010 at 4:38 PM.
Thin is definately better than fat but again it seems to be down to what people are taught. I once heard a woman threaten her screaming toddler that if he didn't shut up he wouldn't get his sausage roll! The silence was deafening! Not sure if the same effect would have been had if she'd threatened him with an apple!!
By Elizabeth.. Posted November 24 2009 at 7:07 PM.
This needs a logical comment . Women who have had several children long term child care and regular sex do not always look like kate at nearly fifty the difference is hard work child rearing which makes other women unavailable on vision to other men.Kate is like younger women and attract men because she is still in the field.Women who are family mothers and who are widowed or divorced have not got the same attraction because they are still attatched with the inlaws and the father.they should have no reason to need a future mate for survival. Subsiquent political female influences have made these womens life hell and women like kate are feeding of the male hate line of responsibility
By russell.. Posted November 23 2009 at 4:48 AM.
i have been anorexic over 10 yrs but did not
choose 2 b happened by way of stress but got
addicted 2 losin weight but thinner is deff fitter
i feel so much better i feel ive got more energy
and am able 2 do more
plus clothes r not a problem but sayin that i
dont advise any1 2 get as thin as i did b cos it also
has a really dark side ive got osteporosis panicc attacks breatlessness so not perfect but i can live wiv that
i think kate is perfect and not anorexic at all
ut anorexia develops from much deeper probs and not just a case of wantin 2 b thin x
By tracy smith.. Posted November 22 2009 at 10:19 AM.
ITS A GOOD LINE, NOT MEAN'T TO OFFEND AGREE. BUT IN PUBLIC EYE SHOULD THINK OF THE CONSEQUENCES OF WHAT YOU SAY, YOU MAY BE COPIED.
IS THAT THE PICTURE OF A SUPER MODEL THOUGH???
By millie.. Posted November 22 2009 at 10:12 AM.
I'm a typical Yorkshire bloke, and I can eat what I want, and not gain any weight. I eat four large meals a day, and drink lots of beer at night. I'm in my 40's and still slim and fit. The truth is, most of the obesity in Britain is a problem for Women and not Men! I get annoyed when the whole nation is slagged off and described as a country full of fatties, when the truth is, it's mostly a problem for women.
It's kinda simple ladies. Eat less, excercise more!
By Warren.. Posted November 22 2009 at 9:31 AM.
I used to be 5 stone heavier, and I honestly thought I was ok with it, until I lost 2 stone through stress with personal events at the time. I lked what I saw in the mirror and on the scales, and it motivated me to do more, albeit in a more healthier way. Now, I would never go back. It wasn't happiness, I think it was more resignation.
By Tess.. Posted November 22 2009 at 8:59 AM.
I only wish i could put weight on every diet is for losing weight why not one for putting it on I eat everything but still stay the same size
By susanah.. Posted November 22 2009 at 1:10 AM.
'anyone who says they're fat and happy is a liar'
This is the second time this week that I have read this comment in a newspaper, written by a journalist.
Please, if you really feel you are in the right about this, at least write 'anyone who says that they are happy TO BE fat is a liar'. I am fat but could probably agree with that. The same way I could agree with 'being thin does not always mean being happy'.
By lisa landells.. Posted November 22 2009 at 1:10 AM.
Excellent and well put. I am 5 9 and hover under 9 stone. I have been accused of being anorexic in the past and it is NOT nice. I dont feel i can say I`m happy to be my size because virtually everyone around me is on a diet and therefore not happy with their weight and are so quick to berate the NATURALLY slim for being happy with it. If i were fat and happy people would applaud my `acceptance` of who I am...??? Yet as a thin person is treat like their disgusting and disillusioned and there always has to be something `wrong` with us..........berated for apparently supporting the fashion worlds unnatural idealistic views of woman???? I dont think so....
By Jenni.. Posted November 21 2009 at 11:07 PM.
This is an excellent article.However,I would like to point out to the author that her quote 'Kate Moss - who incidentally doesn't look the vaguest bit anorexic ' is based on stereotypes.An anorexic doesn't have to be looking like a concentration camp victim to be very ill with Anorexia.As the author points out,the illness is a psychological one-with the highest fatality rate of any mental illness-and has very little to do with actual food.Some anorexics can look perfectly normal and healthy on the outside,but be in complete turmoil and struggling to deal with the terrible mental turmoil that this horrible illness brings.
Just because an Anorexic sufferer puts on a few pounds is not an indicator that she/he is all better.It can take years,and many sadly never fully recover.
By Jools.. Posted November 21 2009 at 10:20 PM.
skinney= great. you cannot hide it carole.
thin=fittter x
By alistair.. Posted November 21 2009 at 9:22 PM.