‘The best make up a woman can wear is confidence’

‘The best make up a woman can wear is confidence’

Says Simon Henry  Bestselling author of “The Little Black Dress”

We are all born supremely confident. As we grow both physically and emotionally we allow that confidence to be chipped away at.  So who is to blame for us feeling the way we do?? Is it the bully that made our lives miserable at school? ,  is it the sibling or the over baring parent who put us down at every available opportunity ?  is it the images of stick thin models in magazines and on TV or  is it the  monster that is the fashion industry as a whole that doesn’t make any of those latest ‘things’ in our size??

Actually, it’s none of these things that saps our confidence and makes us feel less than we are .  It’s us that’s at fault here. Who are these people that tell us that we’re not tall, pretty, thin, clever, good enough???  They’re nobody, nothing! Unless of course we allow them to.

Who do we want to look pretty, sexy, thin for? Is it for men? , is it for other women?  I think it’s actually for ourselves. Its ok to try and look a little better. The feeling of looking nice gives us confidence, but when we think we don’t look good enough, no matter how hard we try, we are sapping our own confidence. Don’t do it!!

Ask any man to describe the perfect female. Very few will say that they like stick thin women with no boobs and no bum. Men love curves. Men love ample women with a little something to grab hold of. A woman with perfectly smooth  blemish free skin with not an ounce of spare fat or skin anywhere would only intimidate most men. Where as a Junoesque , curvy goddess would delight any red blooded  male… I know, I am one ………. ok, a gay one , but hey, that gives me the perspective  from both sides.  Trust me, you’re gorgeous !

You can find the amazing Simon Henry at:

www.simonhenry.com

His book is available for download and purchase from http://www.amazon.co.uk/Little-Black-Dress-Make-Perfect/dp/1861086237

 

Eve Ensler: Suddenly, my body

Love your curves girls

Be You (Tiful) – A revolution long overdue

Posted on August 17, 2012by elmtreecollective

There is no way that any person can say, with confidence and honesty, that the fashion industry is not largely to blame for the despicable popular eating disorder culture. If Gucci or Top shop fronts a campaign with an emaciated model, they are saying ‘this looks good, this is fashionable.’ ‘If you are this thin, you will look good in our clothes.’ Not one designer that I know of today, sends out curvy, beautiful women onto the catwalk to model their clothes, and unfortunately, that is exactly what we need. The anorexic models with bulging eyes and dangerously jutting shoulder bones and elbows do not represent healthy, beautiful woman! They do not justify fashion. All they do is set a completely unjustified standard for the common woman, because that is the image they see everyday in magazines and on television representing the fashion monsters of here and now.
It is of course known that anorexia can also be a result of psychological problems and issues, such as trauma and insecurity, triggering the need to be in control, but we don’t need the worldwide media to promote this as being beautiful and bring everybody else into it too! Beauty comes from within and it is difficult to shine your light when you haven’t the energy to walk and all you are thinking about is food, and not eating it.
Let us build a new fashion world of beautiful, sexy, curvy, confident women. Healthy, happy women! Not women who want to be thin because that is what has been ingrained into their brains, but women who want to look good for themselves. When you are healthy you can achieve so many things in this life that you cannot if you are lacking in energy, spirit and enthusiasm.

Isabelle Carro was a French model, who suffered from anorexia from the age of thirteen. Not one modelling agency asked Isabelle Carro to put on weight, in fact only a year before she posed for Toscani’s campaign against anorexia, for which he found her when searching the hospitals for a model, a Parisian model scout told her she need to lose 10lbs to get work! Agencies used her to model their clothing ranges, which is undeniably fuelling and encouraging this terrible obsession. It is completely unfathomable that a company selling fashion to women could put this poor girl out on a catwalk! Sadly Isabelle Carro died in November 2010 of respiratory problems at the tender age of twenty-eight years old, undoubtedly caused by her long-term eating disorder. Many young girls and women die from anorexia each year, and yet it is still not seen as a desperate issue. Will the fashion industry EVER begin to take some responsibility for this widespread issue? Well, it is a matter of necessity that they do, and only then can we begin to tackle the problem.
My suggestion for the every day woman is that we start a dancing revolution! Gyms and exercise classes are all well and work fantastically for somebody who is very focussed, but you are there purely to lose weight or get fit. We should all go out and find a dance class that suits us, where we can begin to feel good about ourselves, use our bodies to express ourselves and in that we will become healthy and fit, and the focus will no longer be on the little niggly body problems we think shouldn’t be there. It will no longer be such a bother because you are having fun and feeling great. The emphasis is not on what the body looks like but how you use it, and that really is up to you. There are plenty to choose from. Salsa, ceroc, ballroom dancing, zumba, ballet, tap, belly dancing, and perhaps you might find even more if you live in the city! If dancing is not the answer for you, go to the park! Have a go on the monkey bars run up the steps and down the slide, let yourself go. It’s amazing exercise and great fun. Make yourself a challenge to think of the most fun ways to exercise and you will be laughing…literally….

Women need to know that being thin is not the answer to happiness. When you have lost two stone in two months, do you suddenly feel happier? Of course if you were overweight to begin with, then the answer could be yes, but that is because you are healthier and more able to enjoy life! If you are underweight and malnourished, do you suddenly become attractive to your perfect man? Will your mood swings make your relationships with friends, family or partners more fulfilling? Will you have more fun? Definitely not!
All women are capable of being goddesses, if they just believe in themselves. Embrace yourself as you are and be gorgeous and happy. If you want to find love and enjoy life, you are going to need a sexy bum to hold onto and something to shake!

Also see these websites:
www.beyou-tiful.com
www.operationbeautiful.com

About elmtreecollective

I am the literary embodiment of the collective thought-cloud, hanging ominously above the Kitchen Sofa.

Original article can be found at
http://elmtreecollective.wordpress.com/2012/08/17/be-you-tiful-a-revolution-long-overdue/

Weight loss and breastfeeding

HELP! I’ve had the baby, why am I still fat?

August 15, 2012 

 

So you’ve had the baby, got through the first few months of new baby craziness and now it’s time to salvage something of your former glory. But the belly fat won’t shift, none of your clothes fit, you’re stuck in clippy bras and easy access tops, you’re suffering from super human sleep deprivation, and you just want to eat cakes and biscuits.
Sound familiar? Whilst the occasional high profile celeb is flaunting her pre pregnancy svelteness, the majority of womankind is in the same, post natal, flabtastic space as you.
It’s a subject that comes up so often in my post natal classes. So by way of a follow up to my previous blog about pregnancy and fat http://alittlefitter.com/2012/07/13/why-do-we-get-fat-when-we-get-pregnant/ and by way of offering the best advice possible to those women in need, here are the three most frequently asked questions and my advice.

WHY DO I WANT TO EAT CHOCOLATE/BISCUITS/CAKE?
Your body is very clever. Pregnancy/breast feeding causes the body to want to store extra, easily accessible fat. Your body becomes more sensitive to sugar and will store fat from excess sugar around your tummy (this is more easily accessible energy for your body than say fat on the hips). Because you are more sensitive to sugars you’ll also crave it more. The more you eat, the more you want.
You are also sleep deprived. When you sleep, your body balances out the ‘I’m hungry’ hormone ghrelin and the ‘I’m full’ hormone leptin. When sleep is scarce you crave sweet, fatty things because your ghrelin hormone is on overdrive.
And finally, when you are hungry, you very often crave quick, high calorie foods. If you’re conscious of your weight and have been trying to cut back you’ve probably ended up bingeing on the high calorie stuff (because of the above hormone changes). Instead of reaching for a biscuit, try to have a sandwich, a boiled egg or a small meal instead. It will regulate your appetite and satisfy your cravings.

I’M BREASTFEEDING. SO WHY AM I NOT LOSING WEIGHT?
As well as sleep deprivation and hormonal changes that encourage your body to store fat, the whole breastfeeding makes you lose weight is, in my opinion and anecdotal experience, something of a red herring. Breast feeding creates calorie deficit but that doesn’t necessarily make you lose fat. Mainly because it makes you blooming starving!
I do however notice that post breast feeding, most women will lose seven to ten pounds of fat that your body has been holding on to. More research needs to be done into how and why but in my experience, making the right choices about exercise and food whilst your breast feeding will pay dividends when you stop.

SO WHAT CAN I DO TO LOSE FAT?

1. Do not cut calories, you’ll only wind up binge eating. Instead, plan and prepare healthier choices for your meals and snack.
2. When you crave sweet or high calorie snack, reach for a small meal instead. Boiled eggs, humous, a piece of fruit with a handful of nuts are all great, energy boosting snacks that won’t send your insulin levels through the roof.
3. Minimize the chocolate/cake fix. Sweet natural foods like coconut are a great sugar alternative and a cup of peppermint tea can often take away the craving.
4. Make sure you’re eating plenty of dark green vegetables, like broccoli.
5. Eat plenty of fibrous veggies like sweet potatoes, which will help keep you full and satisfy a sweet tooth.
6. Have protein with every meal and every snack if you can. This will satisfy your appetite and provide thick, protein rich milk if you are breastfeeding.
7. Have lots of happy fats. Avocados, walnuts, oily fish and olive oil are great for satisfying that hunger hormone ghrelin and great for baby’s developing brain and immune system too.
8. Accept that a temporarily larger you is a necessary blip in the wonder that is your beautiful new baby.

Author Karen Laing

http://alittlefitter.com/category/pilates/

Embracing the mother figure

Pressure on women to return to their pre – pregnancy figure is enormous. Nappy companies and baby magazines are screaming the fastest and easiest ways to achieve that ultimate goal of the perfect figure. Yet in reality do we ever achieve that perfection? How many women are striving and pushing themselves too early to attain that elusive size and creating issues to haunt them in later life by pushing their body too soon, too fast.

Pelvic floor and abdominal exercises are important post-birth but in a progressive and graded exercise programme that realistically helps the client top achieve her goals safely and without risk to her body. I also strongly believe that our role as postnatal exercise teachers is to support women in the changes their body has gone through helping them identify what is realistic and embracing their new role and power as a mother. 

Embracing their curves, their womanly figure and celebrating the changes that have produced the new and wondrous life that is their child.