In part 1, I talked about the real reason women want the thigh gap and the lengths some women, particularly young girls, will go to. I do not pass judgement on women for wanting leaner legs – there’s nothing wrong with wanting that if it’s a genuine goal of yours, especially if you’re wanting to go about it the healthy way so you can feel fit, confident and sexy from within.

If there are any women reading this, young girls especially, who are obsessing over their own thigh gap, I truly encourage you to please let go of it. Instead, focus on overall health & well-being. Sure, fat-loss and leaner legs can be part of that, but not if it means weighing and measuring yourself daily (I am not a fan of this), starving yourself, tweeting about how many inches you’ve got to go, following ridiculous pages on attaining a thigh gap, and painful procedures such as liposuction which only works for so long.

Not. Necessary.

As I mentioned in part 1, the size of your pelvis also plays a role in attaining the thigh gap.

Being a holistic health enthusiast and coach, I am FAR more in favour of adopting a healthy body and mind by including wholefood nutrition and supplementation, exercise and daily positive affirmations 🙂

Hormones & Toxicity…

The reason a lot of women struggle to get lean legs, is due to toxicity and hormonal issues. When you eat foods high is sugars, including grains, your body has a hormonal response to it by secreting insulin which is a fat-storing hormone. It’s job is to shuttle excess sugar into your liver and muscle cells to be used later as energy, but what happens when the cells start to run out of room? It then gets stored in your FAT CELLS making them larger! And once you have a fat cell, you can shrink the little bugger, but you can never get rid of it.

Toxicity comes from the vast array of chemicals we’re exposed to on a daily basis, and this also has a hormonal effect. Estrogen dominance is a problem and is greatly due to all the xenoestrogens (foreign estrogens which cause your body to overproduce this hormone) found in our environment. They can be found in plastics (BPA), pesticides, cleaning products, conventional make-up & skin care, tap water, car exhaust, smog, the contraceptive pill, antibiotics and non-organic meat and dairy. These endocrine disruptors wreak havoc with our hormonal system, leading to disease, infertility and fat storage….particularly around the thighs.

My Nutritional & Environmental Tips For Getting Leaner Legs:

• Stick to a wholefood based diet, eating as many plant foods as possible. I am a massive advocate of the green smoothie! Greens are fantastic for detoxifying estrogen, helping you to get leaner legs! Greens also contain fiber, which aids in elimination, assisting your body to detoxify.
• Eat organic protein and good fats. Protein and fats optimise your hormonal response by stablising your blood sugar levels, keeping you fuller for longer.
• Ditch the synthetic vitamins! I started taking Juice Plus 8 months ago and haven’t looked back! Juice Plus is a wholefood based supplement, containing 17 varieties of chemical free fruits and veggies in a vegan capsule, giving you a massive hit of live, raw nutrients. It has no added calories or sugar, contains load of fiber (hello number 2!) and may assist in weight-loss and maintenance. Wanna know more? You might like to read this post I wrote on it 🙂
• Replace your conventional makeup and skin care with mineral, toxic free makeup. I wrote a post on this subject, here.
• Eat half a grapefruit or drink it’s fresh juice daily if you have cellulite. Grapefruit is low in sugar and contains the anti-inflammatory and skin cleansing enzyme, bromelain, which helps break down cellulite and excess fat.
• Throw out all your toxic household cleaning products and replace them with natural, plant based products such as Earth or Eco Store brands. Or make your own DIY products.
• Find a natural deodorant that doesn’t contain aluminium.
• Drink from a glass bottle or BPA free plastic bottle.
• Minimise the amount of perfume you wear, or find a natural essential oil based one.

I hope I’m not confusing anyone with the message I’m trying to get across here. What I’m aiming to make clear is, I am against instilling negative body image in women – particularly young impressionable girls. I don’t think it is healthy to be obsessing over something pretty insignificant (in the grand scheme of things) such as the ‘thigh gap’. I do however, believe and practice myself, in adopting healthy lifestyle choices to attain a great physique and mind.

Instead of focusing on the thigh gap, I encourage you to focus on overall health and well-being. Having the goal of getting leaner in your legs is totally fine, but don’t let it become your focal point in an unhealthy way.

In part 3, I will share with you my top exercises for getting leaner legs plus a couple of powerful affirmations!

Have some insight you’d like to share on this topic? I’d love to hear from you! Leave a comment below. 🙂