Posted on September 28, 2009 by Glen Johnson

Hundreds of plus-size fashion stores and more Ultimate Plus-Size Shopping List!

A few hours ago I finished reading Crystal Renn’s book Hungry: A Young Model’s Story of Appetite, Ambition and the Ultimate Embrace of Curves.  As I stated before Crystal does a great job of telling her story of her fight from being an anorexic straight model to a plus supermodel. From a male perspective the most interesting feature of the book is how Crystal tell her story and states that she does not want to be “the” fat girl but just one of many in the world of fashion that is short on diversity in both size and color.

From a bloggers point of view I loved how there were several blogs mentioned that I am aware of such as my friend Marie from the Curvy Fashionista as well as several books to let you know that not only is she a beautiful model but an extremely intelligent young lady.  I feel so old talking like that but Crystal is the same age as my oldest son.  I must stand up and applaud her for going through the struggles with anorexia and mental abuse from a biological mother to being raised by a very loving grandmother and great grandmother to reaching the top of the modeling world and doing it on her terms.

For those looking for a guide to skinny bashing you will be disappointed reading Hungry. If you are looking for a better understanding on how to listen to your body and be happy no matter what your size is then not only will you view the book as a triumph for ladies everywhere but as a reference tool filled with helpful tips and recommended reading to help you on your journey to self acceptance.

One of my favorite passages in the book reads: “Stop obsessing about being looked at.  Do stuff.  Don’t wait to be thin to start living.” Which should be a wake up call to everyone that reads this book that life is to short to think about what others think about your waist size and wearing clothes should be more about what you like instead of what you think others will like on you.

As a person that is not only male but has zero experience in the world of high fashion I appreciated that tone of the book for us non-initiated individuals.  The voice throughout the book is warm and inviting and painted a very vivid picture of how Crystal overcame the problems related to being anorexic to loving herself as she gained weight and became reacquainted with food.

I am purposefully not getting in to deeper details regarding the book because if you want to know you need to read it for yourself which I highly recommend that you do whether you are an aspiring model or not.  For this reason I have committed to giving away two copies of the book to Full Figure Plus reader in a contest I have titled “Embrace your Curves.”  By the way if any of those that represent the publishing company want to send me more copies to give away I will be more than happy to accept them.

The contest well run til the end of September and there are two ways to enter. First, everyone that follows me on twitter and tweets “I just entered the Full Figure Plus “Embrace your Curves” contest for a chance to win a copy of Crystal Renn’s new book!” will be entered in the drawing for a chance to win. For those that are not on Twitter yet leave your comments for a chance to win as well. Only one entry per person and if you do not have a valid email address for me to contact you then I will select another winner. The contest will run until September 30, 2009 at 11:59 p.m cst with the winners being announced on October 1, 2009. Winners will have 24hours to respond. If no response occurs another winner will be chosen.