The previous posting established that too many messages urge you to be incredibly, unhealthily thin. Is there anyone out there who does not want you to constantly deprive yourself of necessary calories? Does anyone actually think you should feel good with your body and have enough energy to conduct your activities? Does anyone believe you should not think you are fat, because, at a BMI of a mere 20.5 (18.5 is the lowest limit, beyond which one is morbidly underweight) you wear a size Medium, which means you cannot squeeze into Small and Extra Small?

Yes, apparently there is. Two of them actually. One of them is Alice. The other one is - or should be - you. Go Ask Alice http://www.goaskalice.columbia.edu/ is Columbia University's outstanding health website. I fell in love with Alice when I read the answer to a question a girl posed, who used to be bulimic and now wanted to maintain a healthy body weight. What would that be? She asked, and how do you get there? Alice (or whoever writes the answers) did not reply with charts, magic diets, or an ideal figure description. Rather, she told the young woman to add new foods gradually, and, more importantly, she told her to trust herself. The right weight, Alice said, was weight you could sustain over a long period of time, while eating enough to be healthy and not be constantly bothered with food. Now isn't this better than giving a gold standard weight, so you can fret if the weight that is naturally right for you happens to be a pound over it?