While there are tons of super-skinny fashion models out there, Romanian model Ioana Spangenberg—aka The Human Hourglass—insists her 20-inch waist comes naturally, even with 3 square meals a day! Recently profiled in the UK Sun, 30-year-old Spangenberg, who is 5’6″, insists she’s been desperate to gain weight since she was a teen.

She said, “No one seems to believe it, but every day I eat three big meals and I snack on chocolate and crisps all the time. I just have a small stomach. It’s a bit like having a natural gastric band — if I eat too much, I feel sick.”

She went on to explain, “In Romania it is better to be overweight, because that means you are from a wealthy family…So while my friends were going out and dating, I was sitting at home with Mars bars wishing I could fatten up.”

However, she says her husband Jan, whom she met in 2006, was “the first person who saw me as beautiful and encouraged me to celebrate my body.”

Wow. While I’m happy to hear a woman say she’s comfortable in her own skin, a 20-inch waist is, well, tiny! Several publications have pointed out that’s only a few inches more than a CD…Yikes!

It brings up some interesting questions about the modeling industry and whether showing glamorous photos of Spangenberg is an example of promoting unhealthily skinny body types. What do you think?