I’ve heard rumors that South American beauty queens eat nothing but tuna. On MTV’s Real Life: I’m on a diet, one contestant ate only cottage cheese to drop the weight. I’m not about to do any such thing, since I also have to be a full time student, adhere to a workout schedule, intern, freelance, have a social life, sleep, and do a full slate of extracurriculars, but if I’m doing a beauty pageant “for the experience,” a diet is pretty much definitive.
My friends (bless their hearts) tell me I’m thin enough, but that leaves the question, how thin is beauty queen thin? I’d argue that no matter how thin I become, I’m chasing an ideal that’s more genetic than attainable through pure sweat and self-discipline. Despite my bone structure barriers, in this month leading up to the pageant, I’ll be trying out a lot more vegetables, cutting down on the carbs, and focusing on lean proteins like chicken breasts, scrambled egg whites, and fish, plus lots of water.
However, since I can’t eschew food altogether, I’m allowing myself to eat out twice a week or so. Some habits die hard. Unfortunately, I’ve been dealing with a knee injury so we’ll have to see how that affects my workout routine.
Beauty in the Miss USA sense, however, is daunting. This year’s winner, Kristen Dalton, is leggy, lithe, and has augmented breasts. (Her skin is also clearly airbrushed in this publicity shot.) She’s lovely, of course, but there still hasn’t been a full-blooded Asian who has won the entire thing which only makes the 8 year old in me more concerned that I’ll never really be American. I’m hoping that this experience – combined with being abroad – will combine to clarify my views on what beautiful, American, and the intersection of the two means.
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Why don’t you just ditch the workouts and not eat? That’s a lot more effective/less time consuming than eating + working out.
Posted by hello | October 28, 2009, 11:17 pm