Why is it that whenever the new year approaches, I feel a familiar tickle in the cozy spot I let fill with holiday goodness for months prior? Well... that cozy spot is also known as my tummy and that tickle, the sign that its time to start getting my fitness on again. I can hear the eyes roll at my petite frame but I doth protest that no matter what shape or size, we all know what our bodies can be when we treat them right. After many a diet-myth tried and failed, we all eventually learn there’s no easy way around it but a healthy diet and exercise regime. Isn’t it funny how as a teen I ate pizza and chocolate for every meal whilst remaining a waif and now that I’m a yogi who doesn’t have ‘pizza’ in my vocabulary, the scratching of denim between my thighs only intensifies with each year? I know, hysterical. In this physique-focused bubble, aka Hollywood, I’ve quickly had to learn how to hold on to my self-confidence and refrain from developing a skewed personal ‘ideal’. (**The first step is accepting that a gaping hole separating two toothpicks simply isn’t enough support for an adult anatomy.)

For each of us, this ideal varies. For all of us, it can be stimulated by any cocktail of private insecurities, and the media-driven “norm” accepted by the general public. This “norm” is what media outlets dub the underdeveloped bodies belonging to today’s latest teen celebrities; and moreover, just another intangible American dream created to churn curiosity into constant demand. I know, I know, I’m one of those teen celebrities! Well, technically... “was”... And, while still a self-proclaimed baby, I must stand by the fact that breaking twenty brought along a body evolution of sorts.

In my life, I’ve been fortunate enough to be surrounded by beautiful women varying all ages and hear their truths. I heard it doesn’t stop. The evolution that is. Along with life, the evolution of our bodies continues on triumphantly with age and so it better to learn the lesson sooner: STOP trying to fight it. No matter how many times we attempt fitting into our ‘favorite jeans from college’ with bouts of extreme...er, intolerable... discipline, longevity will laugh at our outrageous goals. At 4’6 or 6’4, we all feel it because most of us obsess over a similar ‘ideal’ for ourselves and often inaccurately believe that we judge each other the same way. I say screw the ‘ideal’ already!

Fortunately, an increasing number of women in influential positions are saying the same. Below are some empowering women in Hollywood who’ve encouraged this message despite public scrutiny of their personal body evolutions that have been documented during their lives in the limelight. These women, along with many others in media, have begun a new wave of “norm” that’s finally being acknowledged and appreciated but too many of us are still hung up. Mandy Moore was a bony, blonde, bubblegum dead-ringer for every other poptart emerging in the 90s when she made her debut. Now, with several great films under her belt and a more sophisticated, critically respected musical sound, she is confidently striking carpets with a more natural brunette do and fuller figure. Tyra Banks is someone who has gone out of her way to fight against today’s tragic standard of beauty depicted in media. Initially emerging as a teenage uber-long-and-lean supermodel, she soon realized she was meant to be more...in her physicality as well as her social impact. Kimora Lee Simmons was another super-slim teen model emerging around the same time as Tyra who rose to the top with her waify runway strut. Now, as CEO of one of the biggest urban fashion franchises, the self-proclaimed voluptuous diva knows what she wants and no longer denies herself any fruits of her labor. Brooke Shields is another icon who made her mark in Hollywood as a teen with unplucked eyebrows and pre-pubescent protruding ribs but gracefully embraced a more womanly figure with age. To believe the media's depiction of these teenage celebrity bodies as social “norm” for womankind is to inherit a rather false sense of reality that is literally unattainable... even for one of those teens herself. ;)

This new year, I resolve to not obsess over the universal diet resolution, welcome every milestone in age, take care of my health and body as to keep those milestones comin’, and embrace the extra me that I acquire along the way... don’t mind sharing that resolution either! :) xx Happy holidays to you and yours!

PS Incredibly inspiring personal story on this subject in novel “Hungry” by supermodel Crystal Renn.