A recent episode of the television show The Secret Lives of Women (seen on We TV @ www.wetv.com), highlighted women of different sizes. Some extremely tall or small and some extremely heavy.
The heavy women called themselves Big Beautiful Women or BBW's - a now common term used by women of size.
The women were gorgeous, smart, happy and successful, running a business devoted to the empowerment of large women.
Part of me really champions them. Why should they conform to the size society (or their doctor) tells them they should be if that's not what they want to do?
The other part worries about anyone who is 50, 100 lbs or more over-weight.
Neither women have any intention of watching their food intake (one refuses to eat any kind of fruit or vegetable) and in fact, celebrate their weight.
It's thought that a woman's waist size should be no bigger than 32 (according to some experts) or 34/35 (according to others) and that's pretty slim especially for tall women. Is this really realistic, I wonder, since the average women is a size 12-14?
Women are not a one-size-fits-all group. We are not all naturally a size 6 or 8 or 10. Some are a natural size 14 or 16.
The BBW movement is growing rapidly. They have online magazines, groups, meetings, social events and clubs. Most have absolutely no interest in losing weight. That is their right and their choice!
But is this really the right choice, or are they blind to the issues they will surely face? Obesity has been linked to cancer, heart disease, diabetes and a plethora of other health concerns and causes more avoidable death than anything else, including smoking.
So I champion all women of size who refuse to bow to the Size Zero craze. Simultaneously I worry they are heading down a potentially dangerous path. There must be a happy medium somewhere.
For more information about the BBW movement click
And for more information about the show The Secret Lives of Women click here-
www.wetv.com/secret-lives-of-women/index.html
And tell us
Should heavy women accept and celebrate their size rather than makes the changes that society and the medical community recommend? Are they right to embrace their weight? Or are they simply denying the fact that being fat is dangerous?