When a Queen Lets Down Her Subjects:  Queen Latifah Representing Diet Industry Giant Jenny Craig

by T. A. Politis, Managing Editor
Musings for the Editor’s Chair at Elegant Plus Magazine

I’d begun this week writing a column on the looming clash of plus-size apparel company giants for market share, but a surprise….. a disappointing surprise…… popped up on the radar screen.  Queen Latifah, a celebrity I had long admired for just plain being good at what she did and doing her thing while proving size really had very little to do with talent, is now publicly linked with diet industry giant Jenny Craig.  To say I’m let down and disappointed is an understatement.  So the other article will have to wait until later in the week while I pause to examine the issues this turn of affairs raises.

There are those who are applauding Queen Latifah’s move, asking why shouldn’t a woman clearly comfortable in her own skin not promote healthy lifestyle?  In fact, some believe she has a moral obligation to do so as a role model and a celebrity.  And, guess what, fundamentally I agree with the view that healthy lifestyles are worth promoting.

 But this is where it gets messy and opinion diverges.   Those applauding this particular business partnership between a curvy celebrity and a diet industry giant are accepting a fundamental  assumption pervasive in our culture.  That’s right an assumption, not a fact.  Thinner equals healthier.   Actually two assumptions.  The other is: dieting will make you thinner (and therefore healthier, right?).  There have been lots of advertising dollars, spin doctors, pharmaceutical industry paid “scientific” studies to prove this too.  And let’s not forget the sound bites and media blitz yelling hysterically about the rise of obesity.  The fact is, Queen Latifah herself probably believes in these assumptions.  So many of us do.

There is another school of thought altogether that promotes healthy lifestyle choices - eating right and getting enough exercise PERMANENTLY — not restricting calories to unhealthy levels temporarily to lose weight and then going back to poor eating patterns. (And healthy eating choices does not just mean only the number of calories that you consume, by the way. It takes into consideration food quality and overall nutritional value as well.) This alternative view, known as Health at Every Size,  also does not focus on the numbers on the scale as the marker of success, but rather how well a body is functioning.  Let me say that again. It is worth repeating:  Health at Every Size does not focus on the numbers on the scale as the markers of healthly lifestyle success. Diet companies do. It’s been proven many times that those that go on big name diets  gain the weight back at an alarmingly high rate within just a few years. And one thing we do know for sure is that yo-yo dieting wrecks metabolisms and leaves people far more susceptible to disease than if they never went on the diet in the first place.  We ran an article by fitness professional Jennifer Portnick awhile back that addresses many of these issues in greater detail that you might want to consult for more information.

Also, there is a lot of evidence out there that doesn’t get talked about much,  especially not from a business that makes its money selling diets to you or a media that loves sensational headlines and imagery:  weight gain may not be the causal factor of a lot of the diseases to which it is linked, but rather is one of the first symptoms of the disease as it takes hold. So losing weight isn’t the cure all it’s held up to be often, either.

So you think that perhaps your lifestyle choices could use improving and you want to better your health, right? You feel sluggish, not your best, and huff more than a little bit climbing stairs.  And you don’t like that.  You want to improve. Yay! That’s great news!  That’s truly the first step to loving yourself - staying in tune with how your body is functioning and taking care of it when all is not well. 

The solution, however, I would suggest is not in the bottom of pre-cooked, over-processed, tiny caloried food boxes of Jenny Craig.  Nor is it in the magic diet pill being sold at the supermarket.  If you are serious about creating a healthier you, educate yourself in what healthy food choices are.  Get yourself to a nutritionist if you need help understanding why not all yogurt is created equal and why whole foods are better than processed (even if the box reads “low calorie” or “diet”). Then work on gradually altering eating styles permanently — and no that doesn’t mean never eating chocolate cake, fried chicken or ice-cream ever again, just maybe not three times a week and always in moderation.  Find a fitness professional who can help you develop a sensible exercise plan you can stick to for life if you find yourself unable to do it alone, or find a walking buddy.  And if you need to, visit a psychologist to help you with any emotional issues you may be linking to food or eating. 

No quick fixes.  No short term solutions.  And very little standing on scales to measure goal success.  Some people, many people in fact (although not all and very rarely to the waifish sizes usually seen as “success” in diet driven literature), find that they lose weight when they normalize eating and exercise patterns.  But, and this is a big BUT,  when weight-loss and fitting into a size 6 (or 10 or 14) dress isn’t the end goal, this lower bodyweight set-point is a non-issue. Rather the reward and goal of changing lifestyle patterns is what it should be…..that an individual can keep up with their toddler better or they find they have fewer colds, their blood sugar evens out or lowers and therefore risk for developing Type 2 diabetes declines, or they just generally are more active and enjoying life more. That is how better health is measured.  So, for those that have bodies that fall on the heavier end of the human “normal” body weight bell-curve there is no failure when weight or size loss isn’t achieved.  Diet companies even when they use the words “health” and “healthy” still measure success by pounds or inches lost, and don’t care much what other parts of your health may have been wrecked in the process.

So yes, I’m hugely disappointed by the this big business partnership. She may not be their spokeperson, but rather is accepting advertising dollars as a sponsor for her “Trav’lin Light” album (three guesses why they wanted to be linked with that slogan) tour.  But most people won’t see the fine line of who is sponsor and who is sponsored.  The Queen has fallen far in my esteem and affections.  There are so many healthier causes she could have aligned with than the yo-yo diet industry.

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