Princess Mette Marit-A Life Turned Around

There has been much discussion lately on girls gone wild. I think it's time to take a look at a young woman who managed to turn her life around for the better.

Mette Marit Tjessem Hoiby though well educated by her parents and a great lover of sports lived a relatively normal life, despite the divorce of her parents.

It was in her youth that Mette like many young girls her age experimented with drugs and openly lived with her boyfriends one of whom would be convicted on drug charges.

Mette also became pregnant outside of marriage and unlike many others this young woman kept her child. During her tumultuous youth Mette did behave as a wild child attending rave parties where drugs were easily available.

What makes Mette Marit different is that she turned her life around, when she found a man she could truly love and who loved her.

Mette Marit truly did meet her Prince, quite literally in Prince Haakon of Norway. These two people fell deeply inlove with one another, and it is to Prince Haakon's credit that he didnt abandon Mette once the press discovered her wild past.

In an interview Mette Marit apologised to the people of Norway about her rebelious youth and asked for their understanding and forgiveness. The people of Norway did open their hearts to this young woman and her young son.

Prince Haakon and Mette Marit were married in 2001 at the Oslo Cathedral. Proving that love can conquer all.

Noone should condemn another because of the mistakes of youth and I am so glad that here is a woman who turned her life around and is now a respected member of the Norwegian Royal family.

This proves that no matter what you do, you can choose to do better and live a life of dignity and grace.

Crown Princess Mette Marit turned her life around, I hope others will follow her lead. The mistakes of youth does not mean you have to make it a lifestyle.

Written by Marie

Women & Fashion Through The Ages

Why is it that women through the generations have allowed society to dictate what we should wear and how we should look?

We often think that only now through the avenue of magazines and TV's are we being dictated too by various editors in a war to make women feel less than who they are.

Yet when we look back at history women have always allowed others to impose their view on how they should look.

Centuries ago women turned their hair almost into an ornament as they wore wigs or twisted their own hair into huge monuments. This craze probably began with Marie Antoinette, but I wonder what health problems accompanied such a look? Surely by carrying such a weight on their heads it would have impacted on their fragile necks? Yet women preferred to neglect their health for vanity.

In the days of the crinoline and no matter what the weather women would strap themselves into these large voluminous dresses with hoops. Can you imagine wearing such clothes in searing heat?

In the Victorian and Edwardian Era's women allowed their waists to be so cinched in that it was a wonder how they could breathe, let alone eat. Which leaves me to wonder if they had digestive problems later in life?

Why hundreds of years later are we still allowing ourselves to be dictated too? Who are these arbiters of fashion who give out the message that if you are not a size 2 then you are not deemed worthy to exist.

No wonder young girls are growing up confused about how they should look. It is time that Mothers help their daughters find a look that suits them and not follow these fashion nazi's who totally demoralize your children.

Let's not follow history. Instead lets learn from it and dress to suit ourselves and not an industry which relies on making women feel awful about themselves.

What do YOU think?

Yesterday VS Today's Stars-Some Fun

George Clooney or Cary Grant?

I did this with female stars from the golden years of Hollywood versus todays stars. Who do YOU choose when it comes to movie stars? Yesterday or Today's stars?

Leonardo di Caprio or Gary Cooper?

Henry Fonda or Mark Wahlberg?

Marlon Brando or Russell Crowe?

What are YOUR choices?

The Size Zero Cult?

Who would have thought that zero would have such a powerful impact on the world today, especially women. What is the allure, almost cult like obsession to become a size zero? I only just found out that there is a double zero?!?!

Zero is the ideal status symbol, fueled by a world in which skinny celebrities and models fit right in, where coffee, cigarettes and drugs replace food and you can order a plate of “skinny” sushi – sans rice.

Size Zero is a women’s clothing size in the US system equivalent to a UK size 4, with a waist measurement of a tiny 23 inches, the average girth of an 8 year old girl! If you have thighs that come in more than 34 inches and you have a bust greater than 32 inches you are fat according to their standards.

I have watched America’s Next Top Model and seen girls who are already stick thin be reduced to tears when being lambasted for having the audacity to have a whopping 36-inch hip measurement and told to go on a diet and get into shape. These girls are willing to do anything to squeeze into a pair of jeans with the magic number ‘0’ on the label, no matter the side effects. Experts say that being this thin can lead to loss of periods, hair falling out, dry skin and even thinning bones. Anything to walk the catwalk!

This size zero obsession is not only prevalent in the US but it is a worldwide epidemic. Stores are stocking more size zero clothing because zero is seen as the ideal and only acceptable size today. And if that’s not enough some blink-and-you’ll-miss-them women, some have become so thin that they can squish into the new double zero category, including Desperate Housewives’ minx Eva Longoria.

As the media industry idolizes ever tinier starlets, health experts warn that the super-skeletal trend is an eating disorder time bomb. The numerous ‘diets’, diet pills and miracle products that promise to make you into a stick thin model are empty promises. Not only don’t they work but it more often times than not leads to some sort of eating disorder.

More than 60 per cent of teenage girls use some sort of unhealthy method of weight control. These numbers are frightening and they tell us that we need to help our girls. We need to make them feel better about themselves, not to buy into the lie that the media is feeding to them. We need to teach them to eat healthy and avoid unhealthy weight control behavior. Ultimately, people with eating disorders look to skinny role-models for inspiration, and they have never had so many images to motivate them.

So what do we do? We start by making a stand against the lies bombarding us. We stop buying and looking at magazines and shows that promote the size zero mentality, the ‘you have to do anything to be a zero.’ We teach them beauty starts on the inside and shines through to the outside. Beauty does not have a predetermined size, beauty comes in all shapes and sizes. From the petite to the plus size, we are all beautiful and don’t have to fit into a mould that tells us what size every part of our anatomy should be. We teach them to eat healthy and exercise. we teach them that they can and do look good no matter their size. And most importantly we teach them to love themselves and be… women.

Skinny Issues

Why do we think that only plus size women have body issues? Naturually thin women also have body image problems but because they are not carrying extra pounds around different parts of their anatomy we take little note of their own body loathing.

Nicole Kidman while growing up hated her body. Because she was so thin, tall and gangly many boys made fun of her flat chest and her boyish figure. Nicole longed for a more voluptuous body she especially hated the fact that her bust size was almost non existant.

When we look at Nicole it is hard for plus size women to imagine that she would have a problem and yet Nicole did.

Another woman who had body image problems was the lovely Jackie Kennedy. Yet we look at her and see a beautiful woman of extraordinary grace. But the truth is Jackie disliked many parts of her body, she felt her shoulders were too wide and hated the fact that she was also flat chested. It also hurt her deeply that her husband the late President Kennedy seemed to find well endowed women attractive. The late Jackie Kennedy was a woman full of insecurities about her body image she also longed for a more voluptuous figure.

Once again in Princess Diana we see another woman who hated her figure. Diana didnt like the fact that she seemed to have no waist. For a woman of 5 ft 10" her body was actually in proportion but to Diana's eyes, she didnt have that cinched in waist that she longed for. Over the years the late Princess learned how to dress to hide what she felt was the worst part about her figure.

Why do we assume that because a woman is thin, she has no image problems?

Let us hope oneday that all women, plus size and petite sized women can get past the media madness and accept themselves as they are, beautiful, vibrant, giving and talented.

Weight And Discrimination

Seasons come and go, but unfortunately certain things are harder to change. Fashions evolve and trends race on, but an underlying aesthetic of body image, beauty and size continues to prevail. We have grown so accustomed to associating a woman's beauty with the slenderness of her waistline and the length of her thin legs that we hardly even realize... We have fallen victim to a terrible form of discrimination: SIZISM.

For at least the past four decades a culmination of factors and events have whetted our visual taste buds towards a decisively thin beauty aesthetic. Society has drilled into our heads for decades we need to be thin, thin, thin! Do you remember seeing many itty bitty pioneer women? And the nudes in the paintings and sculptures years ago? No way!

Through the 70's, silhouettes began loosing their curvy lusciousness and were literally stripped down to a bare minimum of skin and bones. The 'objects of desire' being portrayed in the images ceased to be the clothes or accessories but became the models themselves. Since then, it is needless to describe the media's role in infiltrating, shaping and molding our visual aesthetic. Our poor little eyes are now constantly being bombarded with image upon image of stick-thin, airbrushed glossy super-models. Our eyes are constantly being fed the same generic image of beauty and glamour over and over again and we have normalized it and accepted it as natural.

Technological developments have certainly aided this trend, images of supermodels are airbrushed to perfection, as well as aiding supermodels themselves to botox away any signs of ageing. Liposuction, plastic surgery, elaborate dieting, severe eating disorders and body dysmorphia have all been the nasty by-products of society's unquenched desire to conform to a certain SIZIST image of the beautiful.

It is quite obvious that the fashion industry and the media that surrounds it have participated hugely in cultivating our existing aesthetic stereotypes. But perhaps we must stop and question whether we as consumers are not at least partly to blame.

Have we been so blinded by the glitz and glamour surrounding the essence of super-model chic, that we have forgotten the importance of embracing beauty diversity? Have we ourselves become stubbornly addicted to accepting a limited and sizist aesthetic? Are we so insecure with our own looks and appearances that we seek guidance and approval from images on catwalks and pages of magazines? And above all, is it not perhaps time to challenge the aesthetic which prevails, in the sake of health and well-being?

Next time you look in the mirror, embrace what you see. Be glad for every aspect of your feminine physique. You are beautiful and worthy just the way you are.

Lose Weight the Right Way-Lifestyle Change

My dear friend Sharon over at her blog 'Violet Cottage' has finally 'got it'. Where most women are still struggling and even more dangerously they are still buying into the 'diet wars' Sharon has realised that diets do not work. Let me say that again, DIETS DO NOT WORK.

Stop dieting NOW!

Instead change your lifestyle. It is not about what you eat but how much you are eating. Remember you are feeding your stomach NOT your entire body content. It is also a good point to make that your body needs fuel in order to give you energy too many 'fats' will make you sluggish and tired, not enough good fats will do the same thing. What is required is balance.

Another good point that Sharon raised is excercise. Now like my dear friend I hate and LOATHE excercise. The only gym we have here in my home town is a Uni-sex one and I'm sorry but there are some excercise positions that men do NOT want to see.

In order to get moving it is absolutely essential that you choose an excercise regime that suits your lifestyle and that you know you can persevere with. The excercise regime I chose was to dance. Not as in ballroom dancing but to simply put in a CD and dance in the privacy of my room. I love it because I can let myself go, noone is watching or laughing at me. I play two fast songs and then put a slow song such as Enya in order to simply sway and stretch and also catch my breath. It works for me. I find it fun therefore it is not a chore.

Do what works for you. Yes the key to successful weight loss is just that. Stop loathing yourself because you will sabotage your efforts to follow the latest 'diet trends'. How many times have you started diets only to fall away and go on an eating bender within a week or so? Many of us. Remember diets dont work.

Be realistic and plan on losing your weight over a year. Dont think you can go from a size 22 to a size 10 in 2 months. You will defeat yourself before you even begin. Throw out your weight scales. Yes ladies, throw them out. Sometimes we dont lose pounds we lose inches but the scales wont tell you that and from that comes disappointment and then an eating binge.

Instead lose weight by clothing sizes, so if your a size 20 plan to go down two dress sizes to a size 16. Dont think in pounds or once again you will lose heart. When you embark on your lifestyle change choose an outfit that is a little too tight and every month try that outfit on and see if it gets looser. That works much better than jumping on the scales only to find out after ALL your efforts you have lost ZERO pounds in 2 weeks. How many of us have fallen off the bandwagon when the crashing dissappointment hits us. You have starved yourself for a month and you have lost nothing? Once again out comes the cookies and icecream.

In finishing I'd like to thank my good friend Sharon who inspired me to write this. You go girl!

Let me know your thoughts on fad diets and have they worked for you?

This Girl Is Plus Size? What The Heck?

If this girl is plus size then the modeling world is truly crazy. Lucy is normal. Did you HEAR that Anna Wintour?

This is a short video so please DO watch it and let me know is Lucy plus size or normal. What do YOU think?

Nigella YouTube

For those who have not seen Nigella I thought I would share a snippet from one of her shows. I know you will all be drooling at what she is cooking.

I love the way Nigella makes NO apologies for enjoying her food. Why would she? Can anyone say that because she is not a perfect size 6 or 8 or 10 that this woman is ugly? Of course not! Then don't think it about yourself.

The Barefoot Contessa-YouTube

Ina Garten is one of my favourite cooks. I love her shows where she does easy recipes that look absolutely delicious. I also love the fact that she makes NO apologies for the ingredients she uses.

It is time to stop the guilt and enjoy eating the food you prepare. When the guilt stops we tend to eat less anyway. This is an interview she gave while at a book signing.

Who else enjoys watching her cooking show on TV? What do you think of it?

Diets Be Banned

The biggest myth for plus size ladies is to be told they need to diet. Upon hearing this many then rush out and buy the latest diet books and DVD's, thereby feeding a billion dollar industry.

Stop it!

It is not another fad diet one needs. It is a lifestyle change. When you decide that the weight that you are now carrying is unhealthy for you personally, then it is time to take a hard look at your lifestyle.

First consult your doctor for a general check-up if you find that your BP and cholosterol levels are too high then change is not only needed it is crucial. You owe it to yourself and to your family to maintain your health, but how do you do that?

A lifestyle change means exactly that. So be sure you choose to eat the foods that are not only healthy but what you enjoy eating. Remember this is not a diet. This is the way you will be eating for the majority of your life.

This is not an occasion to be glum as if the joy of eating has been denied you. Be excited about your choices, revel at the excitement of reading healthy recipe books. Enjoy experimenting with nutritious ingredients and making whole new dishes for yourself and your family.

It is all about positive thinking and motivation and enjoying the process. Do not chain yourself to your weight scales. There is no need to be obsessive about the numbers on a scale. Rather turn it around and simply aim to go down a dress size or two. That sounds much better than being forced to lose 14-28 pounds or stones or kilo's, you will feel overwhelmed before you even begin.

Remember why you are doing this. You are doing it for YOU. Make sure you are not aiming for a dress size that would best suit an anorexic. Be realistic about your goals and then maintain your weight at a size where YOU feel comfortable and happy.

How To Look Good Naked-YouTube

The presenter of this reality show is Gok Wan and he has done more for women in the past few years than all the diet magazines and books combined. Gok, has a real compassion for women irrespective of their size and he teaches that we are all beautiful. The women on his show really do learn how to look gorgeous!

'How To Look Good Naked' is tastefully done, in that there is no full frontal nudity just an appreciation for the 'real' female form. It is not pornography. It is about making a woman look and feel beautiful and he succeeds.

Below is a snippet of 'How To Look Good Naked'.

The second series of his show will be shown in Australia on Foxtel or Austar in September. Check your channel book for details.

Size Doesn't Matter

Are you as tired of the media war against women as we are? If so then this is the place for you. We will be discussing issues integral to our Faith and also social issues which affect us and our families.

You dont have to be a size 6 in order to be found worthy. This site is about supporting and validating one another irrespective of a woman's dress size be you a size 6 or 26.