I second this, and was thinking of a response along the same lines as well.

The concept that a woman should be "toned" is quite recent, and frankly not a natural state for most women.

There are many different body shapes, sizes, etc. and in different cultures (different parts of the world, different time periods) different attributes are considered beautiful. What is most "beautiful" in a culture tends to be that which is most beneficial (signs of fertility, health, wealth, wisdom). Thinking about the stick-thin models and over-painted celebrities that are shoved at us as role models, and the implications for what this means society expects from us...well, it kind of makes me shudder.

Sorry for the mini-rant.

Actually I have noticed an improvement. When I booked the appointment about six weeks ago my stomach was definitely bigger, so that is great news!!

I had never thought of a meat 'fast' though. I guess that is like uber Atkins induction. Would that be to see if I am sensitive to eating any carbohydrate at all? What would you do about constipation in that case? Meat and flax seeds?

Raw vegan didn't make my tummy any bigger... it just stayed the same while the rest of me got smaller. The biggest, bloatiest stomach I ever had was when I was 12. I could not wear a dress to my mother's wedding because my tummy was so big I couldn't fit in them. Back then I didn't choose my own diet and my mum was a single mother on a cleaner's wage so we ate bread and biscuits as our staple diet. Interestingly my brother had severe candida that linked to his (also severe) autism and he wasn't allowed sugar. Mum splashed out on buying him nut butters and sugar-free crackers and he ended up really healthy with never a single incidence of tooth decay whereas my baby teeth were a wreck.

I do think I am noticing some small changes already though. I am house sitting so I have no measuring tape. I think next time I visit my parents I'll ask if I can borrow one.

Hi Love2Write, I missed your post before. I love your name, I didn't copy you promise! :-)

How do we know what was considered attractive in previous times though really? I guess it does come down to what is healthy, but I think tummy bloat is unhealthy.

I know there are plenty of pictures hanging up in art galleries of women with plenty of love handles, but then I wonder, are these women only the ones who could afford to hire the artist and/or were from a high enough pedigree that the painter wanted to paint her? If so, it is likely she was consuming white refined carbohydrates as that was a mark of nobility!

I'm just guessing as much as you, but if I was a historian I would would look for literature, where ideals of beauty were directly discussed, to get my information. Not the paintings, for as you mentioned, they are probably biased.

I'm not sure how historians gather their information. But (without the use of a time machine), I have to take their word for it.

But to see the different "versions" of what is attractive, we don't need to look into the past alone. We can see this cross-culturally in our present time as well. Gary Taubes writes a bit about this in Why We Get Fat. If you haven't read it yet, it's very interesting.

But of course I'm only speaking generally. I can't say anything specific about your situation since I don't know you personally.

Don't add anything unless you really need to. Take some magnesium if your bowels get sluggish. For me on meat only they kind of normalize. The meat fast is just a way to see what your belly is like if you get rid of everything that might be causing bloat. Usually meat doesn't... usually.

Sounds like you have a gluten intolerance too.

A measuring tape is a great idea.

I might try it for a few days, but I'm not sure if I'm ready for that much meat yet. I'm working my way up to it if you know what I mean... increasingly buying more meat.

Today at the supermarket my husband commented that I was eating so much meat and that he might have to go vegetarian because he'll be sick of all the meat! I got a bit snappy and defensive, and he said he didn't mean it, he said he likes my new cooking style. He's generally very accepting of whatever I do. He didn't complain when I ate only raw food, he just made himself pasta and bread and cheese every day.

Today I had omelet for breakfast, boiled meat for a snack, left over osso bucco (meat and tomato casserole) for lunch with salad and then fried veal stroganoff with salad for dinner. I am cooking with a lot of lard and butter and duck fat.

On the stove at the moment is a nettle soup made with fresh nettles I picked up from a big block of weeds (I am on a student budget, but also nettles are very healthy). I added the nettles to a home-made stock made with fatty lamb straps and left over bones... the stock is very potent so it is basically another meat meal. Once the boiled meat rescued from the stock has cooled I'll eat it as a snack tomorrow.

So I am working my way up... this is a lot of meat for me, it would have been a month's supply even years ago when I was not a vegetarian as I ate mostly vegetable meals as soon as I could cook for myself.

It will be interesting to see if my stomach does change shape at all. I found a measuring tape today and it was 2cm smaller than when I measured myself in January, but I have gained 2.5kg since then (5lb), so that is good news. I'd rather be a bit heavier but in proportion.

try ditching the veggies for a few weeks. see if that helps. don't only eat lean meat if you do this. Good luck. I would love to weigh 130, but even when I did, I wasn't happy!