Keira Knightley Eats to Keep Weight On

You've done all the necessary research, came up with a healthy eating plan and have finally managed to work out a pretty reasonable fitness routine to go along. You're all set to follow a healthy diet that in time could actually become part of your lifestyle - however, one thing still manages to get you (well, all of us in fact) slightly frustrated: hearing an incredibly skinny actress such as the beautiful Keira Knightley state, over and over again, that her tiny frame is not the result of hard dieting and certainly cannot be put down to an eating disorder such as anorexia.

Keira, along with her friends and family, insists that her slim physique is a result of good genes and a speedy metabolism, all inherited from her father, theater actor Will Knightley. The actress' mother has apparently grown tired of people claiming that her daughter's weight is the result of a "starve yourself to death" diet and has revealed that not only has her daughter never had to diet, but she actually had to follow a special eating plan, high in protein and carbohydrates, to keep the weight on. Keira has often been criticized for her extreme weight and even now she is still often accused of "glamorizing" an unrealistic ideal weight - however, maybe the time has come for all of us to accept that some people are simply naturally skinny - and the vast majority of others are not.

In fact, so frustrated was Keira with the public's "anorexic chic" perception on her, that she revealed she even asked a doctor for advice on how to gain weight. "I went to the doctor to be checked out and asked him what I could do to put on weight. He told me that, for someone of my body type to get to a size 12, I would have to eat a lot of junk food, stop exercising and drink loads". Which, believe it or not, is not healthy at all.

Which means that we should all stop believing - once and for all - that starving ourselves will get us Keira's rail-thin frame. Beauty is an individual notion and not a case of "one size fits all". It is much more important to focus our efforts on finding the best combination of regular exercise and healthy eating to suit our lifestyle, body size and shape and accept that like some people who are born rich, others are simply born skinny.