When she was a kid in Casper, Wyo., all Katie Halchishick asked of her body was that it take her out to play after school.
“I would eat when I was hungry and stop when I was full and play with my friends. I was happy. We lose that when people start telling us what’s wrong with us,” says the 26-year-old model, who appears nude in the November issue of O, The Oprah Magazine.
By the time she she made the high-school basketball and volleyball teams, the tall, athletic Halchishick, like most women, had endured cruel comments from boys and girls alike about her body. She calls those her character-building years, and credits her small-town childhood with keeping her grounded as she built a successful modeling career.
During college in New York, she put her curves to work within the peculiar economics of the fashion industry, and as a size 14, she was earning six figures as a plus-size model.
But she didn’t feel good. And she wasn’t happy, despite being part of those “love your curves” messages. “I did not take care of my body and I didn’t love it, but it was making money.”
She began to study nutrition, learned how to cook, starting working out and lost 50 pounds.
“And then I lost all my clients. I looked my best and was my healthiest but that was not valued at all.”
She was too big for regular fashion shoots and too small for plus-size assignments. “I had to choose between being healthy and doing this profession, where there’s no market at all for ‘normal.’ “
So she started her own agency in Los Angeles, Natural Model Management, hoping to change the industry from the inside out. And she created the “Healthy Is the New Skinny” campaign to change the minds of the girls on the receiving end of the fashion world’s “thin is in” messages.
But when the Oprah people called, she was just another model on a casting call.
“I’m not one to be like ‘let me get naked in the name of fashion’ ” says the Kohl’s bra model, who was a bit uncomfortable with the topless portion of the interview. “I was like, ‘I don’t know if I want my boobs out in Oprah Magazine.’ “
It wasn’t until she got the job that she learned what the shoot was really about. The picture, by well-known fashion photographer Matthew Rolston, illustrates a report on the magazine’s readers’ attitudes about their appearance.
Wearing nothing but dotted lines, Halchishick stands holding a Barbie on Page 182, facing the words “Better than Beautiful?” The photo illustrates where she would have to be “taken in” to approximate the plastic doll.
“I had to stand there basically naked for six hours so they could draw the lines on me. Nothing makes you evaluate where your boobs are until someone draws them on with a marker,” says Halchishick, who at 5 feet, 9 1/2 inches tall weighs between 155 and 160 pounds and wears a size 8-10.
Oddly, the magazine makes no mention of Halchishick’s projects. It doesn’t even give her name, but that’s common practice for fashion magazines. The eight-page spread does include an essay by novelist Amy Bloom that offers this advice:
“You cannot be a healthy person, let alone hope for healthy children, if you sigh and moan every time you encounter your own image, eat a cookie, or see an airbrushed model on a billboard. … So stop. Stop talking to the girls in your life about ‘healthy eating’ if what you actually mean is, ‘Your 11-year-old stomach isn’t flat and it freaks me out.’ … Stop criticizing other women’s bodies for sport or to soothe yourself.”
That’s timely advice as a like-minded campaign, “Fat Talk Free Week,” gets underway this week.
“When we engage in ‘fat talk’ and critique our own bodies or the bodies of others, we teach children to value thinness above all else,” said Dr. Ovidio Bermudez, medical director of child and adolescent services at Eating Recovery Center in Denver. “This excessive focus on body shape and size creates an unrealistic ideal in the minds of children upon which body image issues and eating disorders can develop.”
With the launch of her website, , Halchishick plans to take her message into schools and college campuses, and cut through the confusion about health and weight and beauty, to share what she and other “normal” models and athletes have found to be true.
“We found our happiness in our health. We can show you how to be beautiful and glamorous and healthy and this is what it looks like,” says Halchishick.
Enough with the “fat talk”
Banish “fat talk,” model healthy behaviors and promote positive body image in children and teens, says Dr. Ovidio Bermudez of Eating Recovery Center in Denver. Some tips:
Be aware of comments you make about your own body. Children and teenagers are far more astute than adults may give them credit for being, and they will often mirror observed behaviors. Offhand comments about having a “fat day” can have a bigger effect on a developing child or teen body image than you may think.
Parents, talk to your children about images in the media. Kids are bombarded on a daily basis with celebrity gossip, weight-loss advertisements and airbrushed photography. Discuss how these images make them feel and explain why the images are often unrealistic. Opening the lines of communication about body image can help children develop stronger self-esteem and healthier attitudes about their own bodies.
Encourage non-biased conversations about food and exercise. “Fat talk” related to food and exercise can be as simple as expressing shame over eating a brownie or emphasizing the need to go to the gym to work off excess weight. Do not label foods as “good” or “bad”; instead, promote moderation and balance. Elevate exercise as a fun activity that gives you energy and makes you feel good.
Focus on who people are, not what they look like. Rather than focusing on body shape and size, compliment people for personality traits and focus on good deeds they have done. Teach children to do the same.
Eating Recovery Center
