Contact: Wanda Sanchez, 209-430-4688

MEDIA ADVISORY, Mar. 11 /Christian Newswire/ -- Health & Fitness Expert CHANTEL HOBBS has a lot to say about all the hoopla surrounding the 50th birthday celebration of cultural icon & Mattel bestseller, BARBIE:

"Believe me, I have nothing against Barbie! I, like almost all girls who grew up in the last 50 years, had a Barbie. I had a lot of Barbies! But I was also the one that compared myself non-stop to the little beauty. And as a fat kid, it was torture knowing that this might be what people expected a blonde haired, green-eyed little girl to look like!"

It was that pressure, coupled with out of control eating and bad food choices that contributed to her tremendous weight gain. By her early 20's, Chantel weighed over 300 pounds. By 2001, she weighed over 350 pounds and knew that she couldn't go on like that for one more day. In the following 17 months, she lost 200 pounds without surgery, pills or a diet plan.

Now, as the mother of 2 teenage daughters, she is concerned about the perpetuation of that unattainable 'Barbie' goal.

"I believe the determination of what is appropriately thin for any girl or woman is relative to her frame. I am also convinced that all individuals can achieve their own level of thinness.

"However, the level shown in the media is not realistic. And Hollywood knows it. Think about the number of times we have read about a familiar face getting help with an eating disorder. Then eventually she writes a book about it and re-launches a career.

"I'm afraid for our daughters, for the baby girls being born as we speak. There needs to be a major shift. I have faced the fact, I will never be Twiggy. We must keep drilling this into the minds of women and the impressionable youth all around us. Stop trying to be someone else's best and be your own!"