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Between your witty banter and revolving door of cute boyfriends on The Mindy Project, my devotion to Mindy Lahiri, the upbeat ob-gyn created and played by Mindy Kaling around the Fox sitcom, hasn't faltered. But it's the show's honest take a look at how women really see their zi xiu tang reviews bodies that stays beside me far beyond the credits. Greater than any other character, Mindy gets inside my head (and not just because we're both a size 8). She says things we've all thought but would not imagine uttering aloud. Lahiri "projects almost delusional self-confidence," Kaling explained recently, "but we didn't are thinking about creating a wholly unrelatable character who has no insecurities."

Whenever you think "body confidence on television," you might think of Lena Dunham on Girls; after all, the girl played Ping-Pong topless. But I connect with Mindy more. She might not show us her boobs, but she invites us into her unfiltered brain. Here are the ways Kaling's alter ego revolutionizes the body conversation:

She deals with criticism like a superhero. Lahiri's unsubtle body confidence (see season two: "I am a warm, smart woman with an ass that doesn't quit") comes with a fair dose of digs from men on the show--digs Kaling isn't afraid to write into the script. When an ex calls and says, "You sound pretty, as if you dropped a few pounds," she responds, "OK, do not flatter me--or insult me, anything you're doing. Goodbye." No Ben & Jerry's sobfests here; Lahiri moves on. "I wanted to write a lady character who's strong enough that the man's criticizing her weight or looks can sting although not devastate her," explains Kaling. "Too a lot of women give others too much power over their self-worth."

Mindy likes to eat. Many of the show's jokes originate from Lahiri's bond with food ("Over the holidays I'd, like, five hams along with a goose. I am a wolf in a children's story"). Snacks are like her fifth limb, but unlike most female characters on TV, she's guilt-free, even while marathon-eating pastries. "I've always were built with a big appetite, and thus does every writer on the staff," Kaling says. "It's crazy it's considered refreshing to see women who like to eat around men. Everyone has that side that would eat an entire pizza if there have been no repercussions."

Like us, she's a piece happening. The majority of us have a problem with self-image in certain small way, and Lahiri isn't safe from body hang-ups either. While at a body boot camp last season, her soon-to-be love interest called her out for sucking in her own stomach. "You're a woman, and that is good; seem like a lady," he said. (Women viewers loved it: "That would be a great lesson.--Mindy is my hero," said one commenter on our recap.) Kaling says she's intentionally trying to capture the love-hate relationship women have with weight. "I wanted [my character] to become preoccupied together with her body like the majority of women are," she explains. "It's vital that you her to shed weight because she's this idea of an ideal body that will help her achieve happiness, but she hates when society tells her she can't do or have something because she isn't skinny." Hear, hear.

She's optimistic. I've found comfort in zi xiu tang bee pollen Lahiri's real body talk, but Kaling wishes that one day we will never need these discussions at all. And I really hope she's right. "Thinking about body image is such a small sector of what I personally use my brain for," she says, "and I would like other women to follow along with suit."