Like the nearly 2 million other people who watched the VMAs as pop-singer, Lizzo told us to toss our hair, check our nails, look in the mirror and “feel good as hell!”, I too felt the power of her statement and the spirit with which she empowers women who for too long have not felt their own beauty and swag.

As a nutrition and wellness coach, I spend countless working hours delivering the message of Empowerment and owning one’s own special kind of beauty to women who’s body images have wreaked havoc on their minds and self concepts. Watching Lizzo fully and rightfully stake her claim on her beautiful body and embolden other women to follow suit was refreshing to say the least. It gave me hope that the table has been flipped and Big-bodied women were finally getting the message that no matter what anyone else says, they deserve to own their worth as women and as vessels of beauty and intoxicating power.

LIZZO The Lecture – Now The Lab

But the next day, I ran into a beautiful woman at the grocery store, “Hey Girl, Hey!,” who told me that a previous relationship had messed up her head so badly that almost 10 years later (now) she still didn’t feel good about herself. She complained of carrying a few extra pounds following the birth of a baby boy two months earlier, but she looked totally healthy and of normal weight to me.

I listened as her darting, sad eyes found every way imaginable to say she had been broken by someone too unenlightened to honor her value. The stench of this “curse” still clung to her whole person which she now embodied.

I spoke to her soul when I shot straight through her faulty belief system and said simply, “You Are Worthy.” I asked, “Who told you that you weren’t?” It was there that the tears came rolling down her beautiful cheeks. Her eyes filled with water, found a place on the asphalt lot as she recounted daily humiliation, mental tricks, and emotional abuse from a former lover. Now she was married to a man who loved her with his whole heart and spent every waking moment telling and showing her as much, yet she couldn’t hear him through her previous lover’s opinion.

She still believed what someone had said about her was true. Women, especially take to heart the opinions of others about their bodies. Here again was a glaring example of the societal and communal collateral damage staring me in the face with those beautiful and sad eyes believing the lies of hurt people were true.

Geico, You Play Too Much–And We See You ?

After Lizzo’s dope, empowering performance on the VMAs I saw the Geico commercial. It sanctioned the fact that society needs a gut check when it comes to selling and buying the same old lies–that skinny women are somehow more worthy of love, affection, and attention than average-sized and Yes…big-bodied women. Hold up–wait a minute!

When Geico decided to put an averaged-sized, plump woman in a laundromat to sell insurance it was one thing. In that body, she like the rest of us, had lost socks to the dryer and life was hum-drum. [I mean do we really love doing laundry]? But when they switched that “same” woman to a slimmer version of herself, surrounded her with smiling, adoring men, who pawed and fawned all over her (honestly they couldn’t get enough), found all socks-–perfect pairs, and was Winning–I almost threw my shoe at the TV! The nerve! Shame on them for pushing this propaganda!

Let Me Bottom-line It For You, Geico

Our bodies–though they come in a myriad of shapes, sizes and forms–are each and all to be celebrated- but are not the full extent of our personage. And get this–our collective value and worth is greater than the sum total of every woman’s body you have ever or will ever see. #facts Got it?

I’m aware that selling insurance is a far cry from touching hearts, but seeing a person for her humanness is a great starter for this nutritionist and servant. Because I have observed from my clients and the community…people don’t care what you know until they know that you care.

Hey Lizzo! Keep being a beacon!

Dr. Ro is a veteran Nutritionist, Author of the book, Lose Your Final 15, media personality and Host of the Dr. Ro On Demand Podcast.