» The right diet
Sandra Omo points out that there’s more to dieting than simply shedding pounds
I, like every other model, have become a victim of the word ‘diet’. It has become a word we dare not use outside our clique, otherwise the stare we get is the type that can cause the ground to open and swallow us.
Why? Because this word has become such a misunderstood cliché, so that when a model, especially a slim person, says he/she is on a diet, the first thought that runs through people’s minds is usually cynical. Then they begin to ask questions like: “What’s wrong with you?”, “Are you serious or joking?”, “What on earth do you need to diet for?”, “Can’t you see you are skinny already?”, etc. Yeah all these may be true but has it ever occurred to anyone that they are exactly the reasons why that person should be on a diet?
“As long as you eat food, you are on a diet. The question is, are you on a good or bad diet?”
Firstly, I would like to point out that a diet is a good thing and something that everyone needs, including models. The truth is that we are all on a diet whether we like it or not. If you disagree, it is because you do not know what ‘diet’ means. In fact, the majority of us do not know. We think that a diet is a range of food, which a person limits his/herself to in order to lose weight.
You are wrong because although the definition of the word ‘diet’ includes the above, it is not limited to it. This is like saying that the United Kingdom is England – see how wrong you are? To be complete, the word diet means a range of food habitually eaten by a person, or that which a person is limited to, in order to affect one’s weight and/or health. This effect can be a positive or negative one. So you see, as long as you eat food, you are on a diet. The question now is, are you on a good or bad diet?
I say a good diet is the balance between not eating enough and eating too much, and we – models – need this because we are usually at risk of not eating enough. The competition in the modelling industry makes it very easy for us to concentrate on our physical appearance so much that we sometimes, if not all the time, forget about being healthy. We must always remember that modelling is not all about the way one looks today; rather it takes maintaining that look or quality for one to be a success, and eating a good diet is the best way to keep a healthy and glowing physical appearance. Thus, the popular saying that: “You are what you eat” can never be over emphasised.
Funnily enough, I have been told so many times that I am lucky that I do not need to diet in gatherings where dieting is talked about. Each time I hear this, I wonder what the criteria for these people’s assumption is. If it is based on the fact that I am a model and a size eight, then I dare say that this is the reason I need to live on a diet all my life, because the industry that I work in demands that I maintain this standard, if not improve it.
Therefore, it is funny when people assume that models do not need to go on a diet when we are actually the ones who should not go through a day without being conscious of a good diet. So when we say we are on a diet, it is, more often than not, to maintain or improve, not necessarily to lose weight.
