Bring on the big thighs!

I just read an article in Psychology Today (I will post it as soon as they have a link on their site) and I am so excited. I have never read and article that made me feel so good about myself. Unfortunately it's in the guise of what men find attractive but here's the gist of it...

The fat in your hips and thighs that you can't rid of is there to make your baby's brain grow.

Seriously. I have never loved my thighs so much, though I've hated them most of my life. If I had ever been asked what my least favourite body part is I would have definitely said my thighs. They're not huge by any standard but I once, very briefly, considered what it would cost to liposuction them and get those skinny thighs that would look good in short shorts. If only I had known what I just learned. This article should be required reading for all teenage girls. 

So here it is: The fat that is stored in your thighs is fat that you can't get rid of, except during the last few months of pregnancy and through breastfeeding. That's because we store DHA (an omega-3 fat) in our thighs, a very important fat for growing baby brains. It's a fat that we can't make, and we can't get enough in our daily diet to give what our little bundles need, so we store it up over the years as we get ready for the day we become moms. So embrace those thighs, stock up on omega-3 fats and get those babies growing!

Other interesting excerpts: The total amount of fat that a normal, healthy, trim young woman carries is seven times that of other animals. Only bears ready to hibernate, penguins facing a sunless winter without food, or whales swimming in arctic waters have fat percentages that approach ours.

One reason American women may have bigger thighs and bottoms than 40 years ago is that the food we eat is no longer as rich in omega-3 and DHA, requiring more fat to store as much as we need for future babies. The loss comes from beef and other animals that we eat, or eat by-products of, being force-fed corn and grains rather than their natural diet of grass. Because there's aren't as many omega-3 fats, we're less satisfied and eat more food.

And for those who are interested, the model that men are most attracted to has bigger thighs and hips with a small waist as opposed to the skinny-model figure that so many women strive for.