Diet and Weight Control

As seen in my favorite magazine The Week, I was particularly interested in this because I'm a curvy woman ;-) It said... When asked to choose the most attractive female physique, men around the world are drawn to an hourglass figure, with a waist-to-hip ratio of about 0.7. But hourglass figures are quite unusual--far more prevalent on the pages of magazines than among real women. Why is it that the sexual ideal and the average body aren't the same? A new University of Utah study of women's figures in dozens of countries has concluded that what men want and what's best for women are not necessarily the same. Women with hourglass measurements--with large breasts, wide hips, and small waists--tend to be more fertile studies have found. That's probably why men have come to prefer them. But the high estrogen levels indicated by a tiny waist and big hips have a downside: They do not lend themselves to muscular strength or endurance. Women with more straight up-and-down figures have more male hormones such as testosterone, which are invaluable in stressful situations, when food is scarce and survival is tenuous. "Waist-to-hip ratio may indeed be a useful signal to men," explained study author Elizabeth Cashdan. but to survive, women also need "to be strong, tough, economically successful, and politically competitive." In the evolution of the female body, Cashdan said, "men's preferences are not the only thing that matters."