What is this starving movement women have joined?

There is a new craze in town and it has swept all women off their feet except me. Apparently, all women in my social circles are starving themselves silly in the name of losing weight.

I don’t know whether it’s a fashion trend or a deliberate healthy living but women my age (under 40) have stopped eating food because somebody has told them that they look like baby rhinos and they need to go back to their pre-birth figures. I am saddened that all my friends have joined in this madness to acquire that Kourtney Kardashian’s beyond fab ‘after-baby-three body’.

One lazy Saturday afternoon, I dropped at my friend Mama Briana’s house unannounced for lunch and what she put on the table shocked me. The dining table was coloured with all manner of raw vegetables; it was like an orchard in a living room. This was an insult to the African community that is big on starch and meats.

“I don’t do carbs and proteins after 11am. I just do greens and ‘usiku’ I take green tea,” she ranted on sensing my disappointment.

“So if she wants to starve why should she also starve her guests? And I hope this is not the nonsense she is serving Baba Briana,” I wondered quietly as I munched the bland mbogas.

“How long have you been fasting like this...,” I asked her sarcastically.

“There is this group I joined on Facebook where we encourage one another with health tips on how to lose weight fast. I get a lot of green diets from there,” Mama Briana filled me in on this starving movement she had joined.

And it is not just Mama Briana who has stopped eating food. And by food I mean ugali, beef and chicken. My well-endowed friend Sue’s diet nowadays comprise warm water and a slice of lemon, an assortment of raw mbogas and half-cooked heaven knows what.

And I am writing about it today because this wave of madness has manifested itself in our ‘real-food-made-real-good’ chama and now we are getting a raw deal in the name of catering for the needs of weight watchers.

Slowly, the foods we are being served are starting to border on the vegan side instead of the succulent meats we crave for. Now we have more lettuce and capsicum because three quarter of the women are on a diet. Shindwe!

Ladies ladies ladies, let’s stop fooling ourselves. If you are naturally a size 18, there’s no way you can shrink and be a size 8. I am not saying we need to throw caution to the wind and stuff ourselves with unhealthy fats. My message is let’s accept that we are endowed and celebrate our curves.

Which reminds me, have you watched the movie 'Thick Madame'? When Jazmin (Monique) accepted the reality that she was a plus size woman, that is the day she found her mojo and started living her life to the full.

So ladies stop this madness and start eating REAL food.