Love your Body in Africa!

So apparently if you want acceptance for your curves and faults, all you need to do is move to northwest Africa! I happened to be up late and caught the end of Oprah's show on "Beauty Around the World" where they interviewed Houda, a woman who grew up in Mauritania. Her father is a doctor who sees the negative effects of the country's big idea of beauty.

"My father deals every day with women with serious, serious health issues such as high blood pressure," she says. Even though the problems associated with obesity, like high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes are prevalent, Houda says that doesn't deter women from wanting a big body. "When you're skinny, you're even considered as sick or there's something wrong with you," she says. "Women that are fat, they're really happy."

Thick ankles, plump arms and a big butt are considered the most beautiful parts of a woman, Houda says. And don't worry if you have a few stretch marks—the men in Mauritania love 'em!

Not only are extra pounds considered sexy—Houda says being divorced will win you extra points with the men too! "In Mauritania, you just get divorced and there's a feast, a party—and the more you get divorced, the more you're seductive," Houda says. "That means that a lot of men want to be with you."

"So if you are divorced with stretch marks and a big butt, Mauritania is calling your name!" Oprah jokes. Not only that, at the very end of the show -- a man from that country stood up and said he was losing weight before he returned to the country because the women are supposed to be thick, and men are supposed to be "skinny."

Hmmm. Weird.

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And just cause I know Mer reads this - there was a bit on the French ... though no surprise to most of us Americans, they are very rigid on their view of Beauty:

Paris, the City of Lovers, knows a thing or two about sexiness. And for Parisians, slender is sexy. Stephanie grew up in St. Pierre and Miquelon, a French island off the coast of Canada and now lives in Paris. "I've fortunately lost a bit of weight recently, but I used to have a hard time finding clothing in Paris stores because they go up to size 12," she says.

Stephanie says the goal of most Parisian women is to look effortlessly chic. "For French women, being beautiful is all about being elegant but in a natural, very subtle way." But how do French women get this je nais se quoi? "French women don't like to admit it, but, in fact, they spend a lot of time and money on beauty products for every part of their body," Stephanie says.

Once the body is perfectly moisturized and the complexion is flawless, Stephanie says the next step to sexiness is lingerie. "It's all about feeling good from the inside," she says.

In France, Stephanie says women look forward to getting older—turning 60 is sexy! At the same time, Stephanie says women keep up appearances and stay slim, trim and well groomed as they age. "French women feel entitled to be sexy and desirable all along their lives," she says. "It's a lot of work, but they feel entitled to it."