In tomorrow's issue of Pink magazine, a woman recounts what it means when eating turns into a massive ordeal and she can only stare in tears at a meal she is craving.

She cannot swallow as she is suffering from achalasia, a rare disease that sees around one case per 100,000 Europeans a year, usually starting from the age of 25.

Afraid to drink a glass of water, she talks about the frustration of watching others eat and the embarrassment of going to a restaurant.

Embarrassment was also the order of the day for a slim woman, whose petite frame was scarred by stretch marks on her stomach, resembling that of "an 80-year-old, who had borne a dozen children". She was thin but she had to undergo a tummy tuck to avoid the mortification of looking like a "rotten prune".

Pink chronicles the physical and psychological aspects of her ordeal before, during and after the surgery, complete with images of how she was and what she turned into.

And a bullied teenager, a more likely candidate for a tummy tuck due to her obesity, used her determination to shed 30 kilos and gain a life. She too fought the embarrassment of an enormous body and recounts how she changed her whole lifestyle around in the July edition of Malta's only women's magazine, distributed with The Times tomorrow.

Its summer fashion pages showcase shoes, sunglasses and how to stay white in the sun, with a selection of dresses that blend into the neutral surroundings of a stylish beach, while horoscopes, humour, health, homes, history, books, cars, cookery and party time fill up the rest.

Published by Allied Newspapers Ltd and printed by Progress Press, Pink's executive editor is Fiona Galea Debono. It is produced by Mediamaker and designed by Helen Cassar Torreggiani and Joseph Schembri.