(R7) Food Matters
Q: What Do Models Eat?
A: They don’t :-)
I often get asked this question, not by models of course, but by the general public who see my images and say “Wow, how do you stay so thin and look so good at your age, and after three kids too? What’s your secret?” Well, let’s leave aside the fact that this makes me feel like a geriatric (having children and being over forty does NOT mean you’re about to die of old age) and instead let’s look at the subject of food.
Now this discussion shouldn’t be about size, or weight, which are IMO both irrelevant. It should be about health and nourishment. Unfortunately it’s not as simple as that. O.K. So here we go again:
With all the modern rumpus about size zero models and the media’s obsession with skinny A-list stars like Victoria Beckham, there is an unnatural preoccupation nowadays with exactly what models shove in their gob. You can’t open a newspaper or magazine without reading about the latest top 10 diet tips, lose 20 lbs in two weeks, look like an A-lister, be a size zero for ultimate happiness, lose fifty pounds on the lemonade diet, lose a hundred pounds on the cardboard diet, get thin with the sex diet (this one actually works incidentally, if you do it enough), you name it and it’s been shoved in women’s faces on a daily basis for the last fifteen years or so. The situation is getting worse. Bulimia and anorexia are on the increase. Women in the UK have even taken to having stomach stapling operations, in a desperate effort to look skinny like their fave celeb. Aargh!!!
I could write extensively about this for magazines. I’ve come across practically every diet and nutrition programme on the planet over the years, so it’s a fair bet I could make a very (financially) healthy living writing articles about how to lose weight, telling women how to get thin by feeding their Western weight obsessions. It’s trivial to write about this sort of thing. Any of you could do it. All you need is imagination. It’s easy to make loadsa money from other people’s insecurities and miseries. (I used to be a lawyer. Trust me on this – I know.)
So why don’t I? Well, I don’t have many principles, but I WILL NOT knowingly contribute to someone else’s eating disorder. I’m happy to talk about photography until the cows come home, I will gladly encourage you to model (regardless of your body size or shape) but teaching people how to look like a skinny supermodel? Pah, count me out!
On the other hand, if you want to know how to extend your life by eating the right foods, if you are interested in mood food, preventing cancer or heart disease, feeling better about yourself, being the best woman (and model) you can ever be, regardless of how much you weigh, then I’m happy to discuss. I am passionate and evangelistic about your health. I am a life-extending zealot. By all means talk to me about how you can use food to extend your lifespan (yes, even by eating chocolate cake), but trust me, you won’t improve it one bit by trying to look like a supermodel. Wanting to be like anyone else does not equal happiness. In fact, it will make you miserable. As I have often said before, the only way you are EVER going to be happy is to accept yourself for who you are, and love your body as well as your personality.
Now if you’re still patiently reading this, let’s go back to the original practical question. What do models eat? Well whereas many models do actually eat proper food because they believe in nourishing their bodies, in my experience there are far too many professional models who either yo-yo diet, where their weight fluctuates wildly over time, or often they don’t eat at all. They should but they don’t. Many will nibble at a little gak (garbage and crap) now and again, but many of the ones I have known simply adopt the nil-by-mouth philosophy if a shoot is coming up, and then binge at McDonalds afterwards. (No I’m not exaggerating – this is based on specific examples.) Unfortunately this practice of starve, shoot ‘n’ binge just feeds the problem (pun intended!)
So maybe women should be asking different questions: How do we improve our physical and mental health? How do we cease our female obsession with size? How do we stop hating and being afraid of food? (Especially those of us who are models, because we act as examples for others to follow.) How do we stop this madness of emotional dependency on what we shove in our mouths?
As for what I eat? Well, let me say that I am passionate about my food. I love to cook my body the proper fuel that it needs to sustain it. Mainly I follow Michael Pollan's advice: "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants." And I make a point to teach my kids that too. I’ll be damned if I’m ever going to let my daughter grow up with an eating disorder because she’s obsessed with looking like Kate Moss.
She’s worth more than that.
And so are you.
All images are of Lilmummy.
A: They don’t :-)
I often get asked this question, not by models of course, but by the general public who see my images and say “Wow, how do you stay so thin and look so good at your age, and after three kids too? What’s your secret?” Well, let’s leave aside the fact that this makes me feel like a geriatric (having children and being over forty does NOT mean you’re about to die of old age) and instead let’s look at the subject of food.
Now this discussion shouldn’t be about size, or weight, which are IMO both irrelevant. It should be about health and nourishment. Unfortunately it’s not as simple as that. O.K. So here we go again:
With all the modern rumpus about size zero models and the media’s obsession with skinny A-list stars like Victoria Beckham, there is an unnatural preoccupation nowadays with exactly what models shove in their gob. You can’t open a newspaper or magazine without reading about the latest top 10 diet tips, lose 20 lbs in two weeks, look like an A-lister, be a size zero for ultimate happiness, lose fifty pounds on the lemonade diet, lose a hundred pounds on the cardboard diet, get thin with the sex diet (this one actually works incidentally, if you do it enough), you name it and it’s been shoved in women’s faces on a daily basis for the last fifteen years or so. The situation is getting worse. Bulimia and anorexia are on the increase. Women in the UK have even taken to having stomach stapling operations, in a desperate effort to look skinny like their fave celeb. Aargh!!!
I could write extensively about this for magazines. I’ve come across practically every diet and nutrition programme on the planet over the years, so it’s a fair bet I could make a very (financially) healthy living writing articles about how to lose weight, telling women how to get thin by feeding their Western weight obsessions. It’s trivial to write about this sort of thing. Any of you could do it. All you need is imagination. It’s easy to make loadsa money from other people’s insecurities and miseries. (I used to be a lawyer. Trust me on this – I know.)
So why don’t I? Well, I don’t have many principles, but I WILL NOT knowingly contribute to someone else’s eating disorder. I’m happy to talk about photography until the cows come home, I will gladly encourage you to model (regardless of your body size or shape) but teaching people how to look like a skinny supermodel? Pah, count me out!
On the other hand, if you want to know how to extend your life by eating the right foods, if you are interested in mood food, preventing cancer or heart disease, feeling better about yourself, being the best woman (and model) you can ever be, regardless of how much you weigh, then I’m happy to discuss. I am passionate and evangelistic about your health. I am a life-extending zealot. By all means talk to me about how you can use food to extend your lifespan (yes, even by eating chocolate cake), but trust me, you won’t improve it one bit by trying to look like a supermodel. Wanting to be like anyone else does not equal happiness. In fact, it will make you miserable. As I have often said before, the only way you are EVER going to be happy is to accept yourself for who you are, and love your body as well as your personality.
Now if you’re still patiently reading this, let’s go back to the original practical question. What do models eat? Well whereas many models do actually eat proper food because they believe in nourishing their bodies, in my experience there are far too many professional models who either yo-yo diet, where their weight fluctuates wildly over time, or often they don’t eat at all. They should but they don’t. Many will nibble at a little gak (garbage and crap) now and again, but many of the ones I have known simply adopt the nil-by-mouth philosophy if a shoot is coming up, and then binge at McDonalds afterwards. (No I’m not exaggerating – this is based on specific examples.) Unfortunately this practice of starve, shoot ‘n’ binge just feeds the problem (pun intended!)
So maybe women should be asking different questions: How do we improve our physical and mental health? How do we cease our female obsession with size? How do we stop hating and being afraid of food? (Especially those of us who are models, because we act as examples for others to follow.) How do we stop this madness of emotional dependency on what we shove in our mouths?
As for what I eat? Well, let me say that I am passionate about my food. I love to cook my body the proper fuel that it needs to sustain it. Mainly I follow Michael Pollan's advice: "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants." And I make a point to teach my kids that too. I’ll be damned if I’m ever going to let my daughter grow up with an eating disorder because she’s obsessed with looking like Kate Moss.
She’s worth more than that.
And so are you.
All images are of Lilmummy.
posted by Lin at 11:29 AM
3 Comments:
You are absolutely spot on about our relationship with food. I think there's very few models who have a "normal" relationship with food (ie. eat when you are hungry to nourish your body). I think in this day and age, we don't eat to nourish our bodies anymore, we eat because the ads tell us we should eat this or that, and it all looks so tempting, and it all is so easily available. And then, at the same time, we need to be **really** skinny. No wonder so many of us do the yo-yo thing.
I try to focus on a healthy diet, but I find I'm failing miserably. Mostly because I live life on the run, it's so much easier to grab for ready-made, processed foods versus cooking something from scratch. This is my major goal for myself right now: finding a better balance in terms of what to eat - not just for myself, but also my family. Thanks for sharing your advice - I'm inspired by your attitude.
OK, Lin, here's this model's secret to staying thin: all by yourself, no cheating--no husband, buy a half acre of land and take care of it mostly by yourself (lawn service to apply chemicals allowed). Let your brother-in-law help you lay two and a half tons of sod, but mow your own lawn, pull your own weeds, shovel all the snow from the 90-foot driveway.
This is guaranteed to keep the pounds at bay and to keep up muscle mass. Not only that, this former wimp can now haul 40-lb. bags of mulch around the beautiful green lawn she herself created.
Then let your hunger be your guide.
I am serious about this, by the way.
Well one thing I've got going for me is that I already look kinda like Kate Moss, well at least on top. I do admit she does have better looking nipples than I do. But if she'd grow some nice gray hair we could be sisters. Well I do also admit her ass is way better than mine so maybe half sisters.
I gauge my age reality on Men's magazines.
When I started looking at them the centerfold was way older than me. The fantasy - I grow up and I'd have girl friend just like her.
When I was about the same age. The fantasy - I find one just like her and she'd want to fuck my brains out night after night.
When I was slightly older. The fantasy - Sure would be nice to be tappin that once in a while.
Now the reality - I have a daughter older than she is and if she found me naked in her bed with a hard on she'd call the police instead of joining me.
I can't respond from a womans viewpoint thank goodness. Luckily men are less under the social and media magnifying glass than you girls.
But from my own experiences.
Healthy eating. Why is it so hard? I think it goes hand in hand with why is it so hard to be positive. I'm not the expert you are but have read quite a bit. I do feel a lot of the medical field are out of whack in their advice and solutions. They are giving medical advice, sometimes outdated, instead of what I would call life advice & help. They just look for something to cut out or give you a pill for, not to change your life.
I'll give you an example. I had some heart problems a few years ago. Found after many thousands of dollars it was a slight electrical problem. The heart Doc says, no medicine needed, lose some weight, get some exercise, you have any questions, any problems give me a call, bye.
Well, the problem I still struggle with is that lose some weight and get some exercise concept. The problem is that we belong to a HMO. I thought they were supposed to want to keep me healthy. How come that doctor didn't say - I have set up appointments with a dietitian and an physical therapist. We have to change your outlook and attitude toward your body and your health. We have to get you trained from killing yourself to getting a healthy lifestyle? The problem is I go out the door with the same knowledge I've always had and that's how I got there in the first place. So where am I now. Oh I've lost a few pounds and I yoyo on the eating healthy. I come from a meat and potatoes way of life. It's so hard to change. It's not that I don't like or enjoy eating fruit and veggies, but 50 years of habit are damn hard to turn around.
Last year I came across the acid-alkaline connection, read a few books, checked the web (as dangerous as that is) and find it makes sense to me. Again, it’s just hard to maintain the lifestyle. Last fall I was walking 4-5 miles, 4 to 5 times a week and was down to 198 pounds. But winter came, I strayed and now this week I had trouble walking two miles and I weigh about 213. How come they don't have a "New Attitude with Will Power" pill? Have you come across that in your research? We could get really rich on that one.
I do look out for other people's health also. I'm hoping to get Unbearable Lightness to come and do my lawn work for me the summer.
Until Next Time.
D.L. Wood
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