Ah, exactly what we needed to hear right after lunch! Comparing our bodies to those of thin models (the majority of which are adolescent girls, many of whom grapple with terrible eating disorders to maintain their unadvisably low BMIs) is actually good for us because it encourages us not to get fat, according to Dr. Davide Dragone and Dr. Luca Savorelli from the University of Bologna, Italy. Moreover, they believe that diversifying runways to include women of different (i.e., larger) sizes might actually make obese folks believe that their weight is okay — or even (gasp!) beautiful — and encourage them to toss their celery sticks out the window and dive into the nearest bag of M&Ms.
Dr. Savorelli and Dr. Dragone presented their research at the Royal Economic Society’s annual conference in London this week, where they stated:
If being overweight is the average condition and the ideal body weight is thin, increasing the ideal body weight may increase welfare by reducing social pressure.
Forget chubby, keep it slim! Says a new controversial report supporting size zero [Daily Mail UK]
