Thursday 24 July 2008

Hail the almighty Gok – a new super hero in our midst!

Apologies for this blog, biased towards the ladies today ;-)

You know how names go through spells of popularity? I.e. there are now a huge amount of teenagers just about to hit their twenties called Kylie & Jason?
Well I forecast the name Gok entering the top ten most popular names for boys list very soon.
Gok Wan - he of the wonderfully titled ‘How to look good Naked’ & more recent ‘Gok’s fashion fix’ programmes on C4, has been voted by women in a recent survey “The man I’d be most likely to leave my husband for.”
It’s not surprising when you watch ‘How to look good Naked,’ Gok possesses a rare something; a power so strong, no super hero has ever been able to carry it upon his being before – the ability to make women feel good when they look at themselves in a mirror.
Not just the quick glance we all do before we go out, thinking ‘well that bit looks ok I guess, but I wish my bum/ stomach/ thighs/ looked a bit smaller, then everything would be ok.’
When Gok’s finished with his women, not only do they all look wonderful, but they actually believe it too – which as we all know is half the battle.
Think back to the number of times you’ve received a compliment about your appearance. Do you ever actually believe what that person has just told you – or do you think they’re just being nice? Why is that? Why can’t you accept that they genuinely think you do look good?
Is it because you still don’t conform to the media’s ideal of what’s beautiful – an ideal that we’ve been promised has been about to change from unattainable into realistic for years?
But I think the tide is now slowly beginning to change, and people are becoming happier to accept that if it’s not natural for you to be a size 6, then no amount of dieting is going to get you there if your body says you should naturally be a size 14. Ok yes you can starve/smoke/drug yourself there – as many models/actresses/singers/and media folk do to attain that ‘perfect’ beauty, but if you want to live a normal, healthy, happy, life – the two just don’t mix.
I’m not talking people that are classed as obese (hated that word when I worked in the fitness industry & still do) and need to lose weight for medical reasons – that’s a whole different issue. I’m talking cosmetic reasons here. So if women can be persuaded that they do look fantastic with curves (men seem to think so anyway!) and just because their clothes size isn’t a size zero, doesn’t mean that their sex appeal has to be the same… Then I say all hail to Mr Gok Wan, because he is a huge part in starting to make the women of Great Britain feel good about themselves again!


This post was inspired by three things:
1.Someone telling me I looked like one of the members of the girl band -Hope my immediate reaction was ‘well I can’t be, they’ll all be anorexically thin if they’re in a girl band. And on finding photos of said band, I found out they were not – so my apologies to you girls for that. However, I’m still at a loss as to which one I look like…




2.Seeing some photos of a genuine overlly thin girl group - Girls Aloud on the Internet – I’m sorry, but that can not be natural. They were not that thin when they started out I’m sure of it.




3.Mr super hero himself! Although my daughter and I are not so keen on your new show, Gok – sorry, although we do tune in every week, & your outfits are always better, so I guess we’re still adding to your viewing figures ;-)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I totally agree with everything you've said there Ali.
I know that I will never be a size 12, I was 1year BC (Before Children!, but I shalln't ever be again. I don't think I would want to be, I really wouldn't be able to live & enjoy life to the full.
I'd be happy at a size 16 to be honest & after reading your blog I'm going to think this way & think about being healtier rather than slimmer.

Anonymous said...

* Healthier not healtier sorry!

Ali McNamara said...

I don’t think people realise what some of these celebs actually go through to firstly get themselves, and then remain at these ‘perfect’ sizes. It’s a hell of a regime/ordeal to go through day in day out to keep yourself that way if it’s not your natural way to be.
I’m no stick insect, never have been, never will be. But I’m fit, healthy (just now - touch wood)& happy - & that’s what matters to me the most.
Thanks for you comments btw Mandie – always appreciated.

Anonymous said...

You're welcome hun.

You really talk sense & to the point, which is what I like & need.