Nutrition

In Defense of a Model’s Diet

Last week I posted a photo of Karlie Kloss at the Victoria Secret’s Fashion Show stating how it immediately eradicated my sugar craving. As a nutritionist, I was aware that the post was a little risky and was relieved (but surprised) it took two days for someone to castrate my post. A model’s body and her diet elicits polarizing views; principally from women. Some are inspired, others denigrate her thinness and purport that these images enslave women.

I find the latter view disturbing. It assumes that a woman can’t be beautiful, smart, graceful, intelligent, warm and feminine; all the things we are entitled to be. It also blames the beauty industry on our screwed up thoughts.  If you’re the type of woman that gets pleasure from restricting your food intake to a pea, you’re masking a deeper psychological void that needs to be addressed before true happiness and joy is found.  A thin body isn’t the answer. Be accountable for your thoughts.

Equally insidious, are articles on what a model eats pre-show. It implies that she subsists on powdered egg-whites her entire working life.  This is not the case.  If she did, she would have a very short career.  A model wants longevity. To do that, she needs to eat clean; vegetables with a small amount of protein and fat. Without these foods, she’ll look 35 when she is 25, have cellulite, won’t be able to think and will have no energy or presence on camera. Clean vibrant foods are her life-blood and she knows that.

Miranda Kerr shared her very healthy nutrition philosophy with Hapers Bazaar and her advice is somthing all women should aspire to: “I live by the philosophy that beauty starts from within and I make a conscious effort to fill my body with nutrients through the food I eat”

If you’re not a model, please don’t subscribe to being model thin.  Enjoy those extra 10 pounds and relish in the knowledge that you can eat chocolate and have a glass of wine without reflecting on why you didn’t get cast for a shoot.

If you’re a model, be inspired by the two most financially successful models, Gisele Bundchen and Kate Moss.  Both have curated a brand and personality that are much more than their looks. Kate Moss looks better and sexier at 38 than she did at 16 when her androgynous body sparked anorexia claims.

Advice to everyone: eat clean and supply your body with food and nutrients that are energizing and vibrant. Your body wants to be strong and beautiful.  Please give it the resources to be able to do so and release any toxic thoughts they are stopping you from doing so.

If you want to know what a model eat not pre-show, below is a sample menu:

Upon Waking: Hot water with lemon and cayenne pepper

Breakfast: Coconut chia seed pudding with raspberries and coconut flakes

Lunch: Kale salad with hemp seed, avocado, grated carrots, grated beets and trout

Snack: Carrot and Almond Mylk

Dinner: Seabass with sautéed broccoli rabe with lemon zest and blue potatoes

Snack: Pineapple slices

The menu is clean and packed with phytonutrients for vitality and radiant skin.