If you could erase one trend from history, what would it be?

I honestly would like to get rid of health advice that is not from your own doctor. There are two major problems with people who try to encourage people to change their daily habits. One is that it not only reinforces an unhealthy weight for most people, but it also shames people who are actually taking really good care of their bodies.

Most people who workout and eat well are not going to be super skinny. Exercise and good nutrition is going to lead to muscle growth and toning. You are not going to be all skin and bones. Being healthy for most adult women is not being a size 0. I always tried to frame it to my girls that it is not about the number on the scale, but about how healthy your body is. If your body is able to do the things you want it to do, and your doctor agrees that you are healthy then that is all you need. My girls were very active and did very intense extracurricular activities that required strong muscles, dance and cheer.

Encouraging thigh gaps or ridiculous amounts of fasting for still developing young people is absolutely disgusting. They are still growing. Your body needs the energy to continue its development. All it does is encourage lifelong unhealthy habits and relationships with food and exercise.

I am so happy every time I hear of a company, model, or actress that refuses to use filtering or photo editing. They let these beautiful women show their real faces and bodies to the world. And you know what? They are still beautiful. This weird need to shove everyone into this cookie cutter of self loathing is another tactic used to keep women down. Collectively, we need to fight back. Everyone’s body is different. Some women have incredibly high metabolisms and some do not. We should not be reinforcing expectations beyond our control onto other people.

If your doctor says you are a healthy weight and are living a healthy lifestyle, that is all that should matter. We have nothing to prove to anyone else. We should not take health advice from anyone other than our doctors. Our doctors know our medical history. They know what to do if there is a problem. Let them make the recommendations, not some random person on social media. Also, fact check the ones claiming to have medical degrees. Most of them do not. Anyone claiming to be and giving out advice, should be held accountable for the irreparable harm they are going to do to someone out there. There need to be better safeguards out there to protect people from those that would exploit their insecurities.