Size 2 Model Hadn't Eaten Solid Food in 10 Days, Gives Up Extreme Diet To Pursue Healthy Living
Most of us are aware that the fashion industry isn’t exactly peddling healthy lifestyles and clean living.
We understand that looking like the models in magazines requires incredible sacrifice — but I bet we don’t know just how terrible those sacrifices can be.
Take Mia Kang. The half-British, half-South Korean model has enjoyed a successful career.
She has appeared in Vogue, Elle, and Bazaar Fashion, as well as print ads for Max Factor, Baskin Robins, Guess, and Guiseppe Zanotti. No one would argue that the 28-year-old hasn’t enjoyed success.
However, she realized in 2015 that the cost of staying slim enough to fit into a size two was too high. Kang was about to shoot a series for Sports Illustrated’s famous annual swimsuit edition.
“I was obsessed with my collarbones, ribs, and hip bones showing,” she wrote on her Instagram account. “I was obsessed with having a thigh gap.
“I was … trying to look like a VS [Victoria’s Secret] angel. I was told by the industry I never looked better but still had a little more weight to lose.”
The steps she took to achieve that goal were truly horrific. Prior to the shoot, she hadn’t consumed a speck of solid food for 10 days.
Even worse, she’d taken to puffing through a pack of cigarettes to keep the weight off. Something had to change.
That something turned out to be Muay Thai, an Asian martial art, and Kang loved the way practicing it made her feel.
The increased power that came with her weight gain made her feel more attractive, not less.
“I feel like I finally became a woman,” Kang said. “I still have insecurities as I adjust into my new body, just like everyone else. But I know my body, respect it, and love it.”
The model hopes that her example will encourage women all over the world. She says, “We have one body and one life, don’t let your insecurities hold you back from happiness.”
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