LOUISA SIMMONDS

What celebrities do with their own bodies is their choice unless they are role models to young people

It’s not girl code to criticise other women or their bodies but I can no longer ignore the fake “healthy eating” narrative celebrities like Victoria Beckham promote on their socials. Each time I see Victoria in her gym, enthusing about her love of steamed vegetables and fish, or posting provocatively in her range of figure-hugging outfits, it worries me.

Her eating is “disciplined” for one reason only

I like the Beckhams. I like the “real” relationship they portray on social media, their banter, jibes, and the window they provide into their various f**k-off properties. Hell, I would kill for a VB jersey dress if I had the money or the body. But what I’m noticing more about Victoria than her exquisite style is her diminishing frame.

Let me be clear, what she does with her body is her choice and she’s not the first to take extreme measures to meet the expectations placed on women in the public eye. My problem is that she is selling her extreme diet as healthy eating. And, in reality, that’s what her disciplined eating habits are – a strict, calorie-controlled diet that helps her maintain her tiny frame.

I’m no dietician, but I don’t see the body of the former Spice Girl as the best advertisement for good health. Especially when she is a role model for vulnerable young people. Look, I admit I may have lost touch with women’s sizing, but the woman doesn’t look bigger than a size zero – the dangerous size her fashion range aspires to dress.

For reference, the average woman in Australia is a size 16.

What people do with their bodies is their choice, BUT…

Body positivity is a movement to accept bodies of all sizes and types, rather than those that conform to societal ideals of beauty. It emphasizes self-acceptance, inner worth, and appreciation for a body’s abilities. Body Positivity | Psychology Today

The Beckhams are role models to an impressionable demographic of kids and young adults – both boys and girls – not to mention parents to a young daughter who has already been (appallingly) targeted by the press about her weight.

The couple’s decision to constantly celebrate Victoria’s strict regime, lack of body fat, and “discipline” around food, seems misguided.

Recently, I counted the calories to get rid of some unwanted kilos I put on during menopause and I know that a diet of steamed veggies and fish wouldn’t keep my small dog alive.

Victoria doesn’t eat dairy either, although she does have a weakness for avocados, apparently, so at least she is putting some healthy fat into her body. And no one would deny that her body is beautifully toned – an hour of yoga a day will do that – but women deserve more honesty than that. Middle-aged women need some weight to support their skeletons and the hour Victoria spends in the gym each day burns off even more calories.

When dieting is disguised as healthy eating it is a disorder

Losing weight isn’t rocket science. When you put too little into the body, it burns fat to compensate. I worry that what we are truly witnessing here is the progression of a disorder.

The diets of the rich and famous are hardly news but the problem I have with Victoria is what she is selling – and it’s not healthy eating.

Oprah Winfrey, for example, is also very vocal about her different diets/medications to lose weight, but she has a different audience and she has always struggled with the risks of obesity. There’s a difference.

The weight demanded of the wafer-thin supermodels that Victoria dresses is also a dangerous expectation of the out-of-date industry in which they work. One could argue, I suppose, that they are not role models to young people – not many young girls can afford designer couture, after all – and there has been a welcome increase in diversity in terms of shape and size in high-street fashion models in recent years.

However, there is a massive responsibility with a platform as large as the Beckhams. Even though Victoria told the press a short while ago that “being really thin is old-fashioned”, she doesn’t appear to uphold that belief and her continuous pursuit of a size that risks her health sends the wrong message.

Perhaps, there is some biological or medical reason for her diet. However, the evidence suggests that it is her calorie intake that determines her body shape, a questionable choice that perpetuates the myth that size and beauty remain the currency of women.