Heidi Diaz AKA “Kimmer” Could Learn From These Ladies and Gents

In a earlier post here I wrote how Heidi has an affinity for targeting teens. Not only does she prey on the insecurities of todays teens, the need to conform to media standards of beauty, she COUNTS ON IT to line her pockets. As well as those same thoughts from adults too.

Remember how Heidi responded to a 14 year old girl on her forum? This young girl was participating in the boot camp program at Kimkins, consuming only 500 cals/day and exercising for 30 minutes.

Mo Pie, one of the many “Health at Any Size” bloggers out there, received a letter from a 14 year old girl. Here is a small portion of that letter:

“The Beautiful People Are The Skinny People”

Is this just a “fourteen year old phase”?
What’ll it take for me to love my reflection?
‘Cause everytime I say to myself “You’re beautiful” it feels like a lie…

How do you do it? How can you just totally accept yourself exactly the way you are! What your secret? Will you share it with me?

So far there have been 67 replies to this post. Here are just a few of the responses:

occhiblu:

Your body is how your mind accomplishes its work in the world; it’s what lets you do and be and act. We tell women that their bodies need to look a certain way, but if we all looked the same, we’d all be do-ing and be-ing and act-ing the same, and that’s not what this world needs. It needs all our individual bodies, and all our individual talents, and all our individual limitations in order to create the diversity of experiences that exist. If everyone were the same, even if everyone were perfect, the world would, frankly, suck.

Look at your body and love your body not for what it looks like to others, but for what it does for you. Find the parts of it you like, the parts of it that are strong or flexible or hard or soft in just the right ways, and concentrate on those for a while. Maybe you can’t hear “You are beautiful” yet (though you are), but try “I am strong” or “I am fearless” or “I am flexible” or “I am solid” or “I am energetic.”

Say good things about yourself long enough, and even you will come to believe them. (Remember that it works the other way, too, and stop yourself from saying negative things about your body, even in your head.)

JoGeek:

All the tips and tricks and affirmations in the world won’t force a change in an unwilling mind, but you have to find whatever it is inside you that makes it true for you. A lot of that comes through doing whatever it is that you are uniquely good at, because the satisfaction of creating or performing something great drowns out a helluva lot of self-loathing cynicism. It can be anything; art, sports, music, theater, writing, gardening, martial arts, photography, crafts, etc. etc. etc.

Do something physical. I agree about the Yoga since it challenges you, you can work up to it gradually at your own pace, it helps your balance and posture, and it makes you really aware of your body and what it can accomplish.

Then, surround yourself with good people. Friends are not really friends if they tear you down or make you feel ashamed of any part of yourself, physical or personal. A friend is someone you should be able to trust. A couple of true friends is worth more than a houseful of “associates” that stress you out.

Skinny people hate their bodies too. The “beautiful people” often see just as much to hate about their bodies as everyone else. That doesn’t help or comfort much, but it’s a perspective to hold onto so that you’re not placing anyone on a pedestal. Choose your heros by what they do and who they are, not by what they look like.

BigLiberty:

Sweetie, you ARE beautiful.

Is it your fault that our culture worships at the altar of “thin”? No.

Many other cultures have different ideas of beauty, and even our own culture has had, historically, different ideas of beauty.

But I don’t really think you believe that weight loss equals automatic beauty. I bet you know a lot of girls who are skinny but aren’t very beautiful inside, right? They might fool people with the outside for a while, but it’s funny: usually what someone is on the inside pushes out through her, and shines on the outside.

I bet you’re nice, and even if some people are mean to you they know, deep down, you’re nice, and talented. High school is hard. People are finding themselves, creating the adults they will soon be. Some people need to feel like they’re superior to other people, so they read magazines, watch TV, and get an idea of what our culture thinks is superior. Right now the culture says that skinny is superior to fat.

But is it true? Fat doesn’t make you bad. Fat doesn’t make you lazy, or ugly, or stupid, or untalented, or undisciplined. It’s just biological tissue, it can’t make you BE anything!

Sweetie, you have to understand that although a majority of people believes a thing, that doesn’t make it true. At one point in history, the majority of people thought the Earth was flat and the Sun orbited the Earth. Well, science was discovered that told them that wasn’t true. And science has been discovered, and more is being found out every day, that shows that fat doesn’t make you unhealthy, or stupid, or lazy, or ugly.

It will take some time for the culture to catch up, but they will. What can you do in the meantime? Stand up for yourself. Don’t let the haters treat you like you’re worthless, because they’re ignorant. Don’t let yourself be discriminated against without a fight. If the boy you like doesn’t like you because he thinks fat is ugly, then you know what? HE’s the ugly one. Keep your dignity in the face of adversity, like the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. did.

Keep that dignity, knowing that you’re right, and believe you’re beautiful, and attractive, and never, ever let anyone tell you otherwise.

Shapely Prose even posted about it.

There is a happy ending to this story, the 14 year old girl responds back.

Heidi, since I know you read here, this is how you respond to a 14 year old girl struggling with her body image issues. NOT encourage her to keep starving herself.

I wonder what these wonderful people would have to say to Heidi Diaz…….hmmmmm