"Bikini Body"

Today I saw an ad in a "health" magazine that made me feel completely enraged. In the ad was a beautiful woman, smiling and holding a glass of cloudy liquid. Next to her was a list with "My Bikini  Plan" written at the top. Would you like to know her plan? For the first week, she is going to replace all of her meals with a supplement powder that is stirred into water. She also gets to add one teaspoon of oil to each drink, and as a bonus, she can drink as much vegetable broth as she likes! Wow! For the "Second Week and Beyond", she will do a slightly modified version of this plan that allows her to add a little low-fat milk and some spices to her drinks and eat some vegetables and lean meat once a day. Can you imagine trying to be an active person if you were actually following this plan? I can't. I think this type of advertising plays a huge role in why many women are insecure about their bodies and turn to fad diets like this one to fit into a particular idea of what advertisers tell us a beautiful body looks like. The concept of eating a certain way (or not really eating at all in this case) so that you can look a certain way in a bikini is repulsive to me. Sadly, it is also a type of cultural conditioning that I have struggled with myself many times over the course of my life.  You know how I want my body to be? Strong, muscular, fit, and healthy. In order to achieve that end, I try to eat a balanced, whole foods diet (which includes actual food, and plenty of it!) so that I will have enough energy to work-out and be active. As something I saw recently said: "If you want a bikini body then put a bikini on your body". I say amen to that.