The infamous Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show aired this week, millions viewed, and the idealization of the Victoria’s Secret Angels has been escalated. Both men and women are going to believe that the ideal body of a women is that of a Victoria’s Secret Angel, but I am here to tell you that that is one hundred percent not true, and the skinny=beauty body image is flawed thinking.

Last year alone the one-hour telecast of the fashion show drew 9.71 million viewers, with 18 to 49 year old women being they key viewers. With that, what concerns me the most is that women of all ages are looking up to the Angels, wishing they could have their bodies, and thinking that the Angels are the definition of healthy.

The Victoria’s Secret Angels are perfectly skinny, which begs the question of how they got that way. Well, Angel Adriana Lima revealed to the public, the reality of what an Angel consumes before a fashion show. For nine days before the show, the models only consume a “no solids” diet consisting of protein shakes, and two days before the show, they drink an entire gallon of water. Finally, 12 hours before the show, the models stop drinking entirely, therefore ensuring that they will stay skinny or even lose weight before the show. “No liquids at all so you dry out, sometimes you can lose up to eight pounds just from that,” says Lima when interviewed with Melissa Whitworth of Telegraph. Not eating is not healthy, overhydration is not healthy, and adding a workout to lack of nutrients, is not healthy. I believe that the Angels are beautiful, but I don’t believe the way they obtain their body is healthy nor how they think they need to be so skinny, is a healthy thinking process.

There are other beautiful women in this world who are extremely healthy, but are not stick figures like the Victoria’s Secret Angels––athletes. I know that becoming an Olympic athlete is absolutely not possible for anyone not extremely gifted, but I believe that looking up to their body types is a lot healthier than looking up to the Angels. Obtaining an athletic body, takes a lot of hard work, but it actually takes eating solid foods, can you believe it? “It’s really like being an Olympian—you have to be in peak condition,” says says Sophia Neophitou-Apostolou, who has been creative director of the fashion show for the last three years. Totally, because all Olympians train by eating nothing but high-protein baby food for nine days preceding their event. Being an athletes entails eating and gaining fat and muscle. By gaining muscle, and eating more veggies, one will be healthier. I would take toned, strong muscles over stick and bone any day.

Again, I think that the Angels are beautiful, and I especially love Angel Karlie Kloss, but I don’t look to them for body image, and I believe that others should do the same. By looking to athletes and other fit, strong women who obtain their weight and muscle in a healthy way, I believe they will thrive, and learn to love their body…even if it isn’t like the Angels.