a>It seems like lately I have come across too many products being described as “skinny.”  There’s Bethenny Frankel’s ” skinny girl margarita,” “skinny soup,” and believe it or not there’s even “skinny water.” Why in a time of so much quality, research-backed information are we leading women to believe that a cocktail is healthy if it is low in calories? And how did our obsession to be thin become a quest that forgoes health all together?

The word “skinny” is defined in Webster’s Dictionary as “very lean or thin; emaciated.”  Searching the word “skinny” on Google Images can also give you some insight into what “skinny” looks like.  As a Clinical Nutritionist, I was especially disturbed by bloggers (actually people who suffer from anorexia) keeping online food and workout journals which portrayed their vicious battles with eating disorders.  Does the word “skinny” embody health, or is it simply doing whatever it takes to fit into a size 2?

It’s time to realize that a truly beautiful woman cares more about the effects of alcohol on her health than how many calories a margarita contains.  Researchers studied more than 1.2 million middle-aged women for an average of seven years and found that even low-to-moderate drinking raises the risk of cancer among women. Those who drink on average only one alcoholic beverage a day are at an increased risk of cancer. Researcher and cancer epidemiologist, Naomi Allen says, “There were no minimum level of alcohol consumption that could be considered to be without risk.”  New research published last month in the Journal of Pediatrics has also correlated alcohol consumption in younger women aged 18 – 27 predisposed them to benign breast disease (2).

The study also shows that the risk of cancer was the same among women who drank wine, beer, spirits or a combination of alcoholic beverages.

So amidst the flurry of the “skinny” craze, we must realize that the harmful effects of alcohol consumption should be our primary concern, not the number of calories we are consuming. And truly beautiful women are characterized by their health, not their dress size.

Yours in Helth,

Stella Metsovas B.S., CCN

Staff Writer: Michele Wolff

2) http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/125/5/e1081

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