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I found this article in the paper and I want to share it with everyone. I think it helps peeps out in feeling better about their weight and what to eat. I really love it. I carry it in my purse with me everywhere to feel better about myself. razz

"Beauty is Not by the Waistline, Rather by Personality"

By Stephanie Visschen

Any girl who walks into a mall ready to shop for the perfect swimsuit better be ready for a daunting task. Many store shelves are full of revealing bikini styles which, while very fashionable, only flatter a limited number of body types.


Yet young women are constantly bombarded with images of models supposedly "perfect bodies" modeling skimpy suits. Magazines give tips on how to work out and eat with the goal being achieving "your best body" or getting fit "just in time for spring break!"Such messages give teens the impression that they somehow fall below a certain beauty standard, an impression that is completly false.

Everyday it seems I receive some sort of new message to make me feel umcomfortable with my body. With every tabloid that celebrates a celeberty's remarkable weight loss into a sexy new figure comes the feeling of failure inside myself because I've yet to do the same. Have you ever had a time when every Monday was the start of your new diet? Been there, done that. I even once considered taping a picture of some celeberity whose body I wished to imitate on my pantry door.

When I get in those moods it seems as if every time I indulge myself, even as small as having a bag of fruit jammers, I have somehow let myself down. I'll start out on Monday with a promise to workout at least three times that week, and if I only make it to one, I feel gulity. The same gulit I feel if I chose to threat myself to tater tots on Wednesday, or if I have a slice of cake on Friday. But I've gotton sick of it.

Some people, mostly beauty editors, would label eating a slice of chocolate cake a "gulity pleasure." I'm sorry, but last time I check, there is nothing morally wrong with eating chocolate. We should no longer eat our favorite foods only when we've been "good," but just for the heck of it. We need to stop wasting time in gyms and start walking our dogs (and cats, if you're feeling brave). The most important thing to focus on when looking in the mirror is not your waist line, but your laugh lines. If you can make time for fifty sit ups a day but haven't found an occasion to smile, you've wasted you time.

I'm not saying we should stop exercising and replace fruits and vegetables with French fries and potato chips. But people should do it for the right reasons. Go running so you can take care of your heart, not so you can fit a new size of jeans. Eat oranges because you love its sweet flavor, not because it's low in carbs.

We need to change what we consider achievements, I may never be a size four, but I have made someone's life a little easier today, or someone smile, then I can look into the mirror at night and see someone beautiful.
~Stephanie Visschen~

I love this article. It makes me feel good about myself, for who I am, how I make peeps laugh, and add at least one hug to my collection. 4laugh biggrin heart