It’s day five of my diet. I’m mentally exhausted after a day of making healthy choices of things like turkey bacon and dressing-less lettuce, but feeling pretty good about the way I look. My love handles, although you can still get a handful, are shrinking. My arms are down to a four-second shake period when I reach for something. I plop down for a mindless TV session (since I’ve “earned it” from working so hard on cutting the carbs) and turn it on to discover yet another unavoidable diet commercial.
Without fail, they’re everywhere: television, magazines, billboards, even bookstores. I’m hypersensitive to them now that diet is on my brain, but deep down, I know there’s a huge problem with them. I don’t want to take a pill that makes me look like Arnold Schwarzenegger. I don’t believe that a nasty looking liquid can transform a woman who is over 300 pounds to a size four in only two weeks. I don’t even believe any of the “before and after” pictures are actually the same people. It’s a diet, not a miracle. And is it just me, or are some of the people in the commercials actually orange? Do they sleep in tanning beds?
These muscle-maniacs and supermodels have a lot of nerve, claiming they’re “real people.” This real person doesn’t want bulging muscles, and I gave up on being a supermodel a long time ago when I ran into a pole while waving at my seventh grade crush. There’s no room for softball-sized bruises on your face in the kingdom of supermodel perfection, and unless you have a face like Jennifer Lopez or a voice like Beyonce, the media doesn’t want to see anything “junky” or “thicky.” But, (speaking of butts) the media’s idea of the perfect body is not mine, and I’m guessing a lot of women feel the same way.
Who’s to say what your perfect body or perfect diet is? In reality, I would love to be able to cut carbs and sugar, but I’m an active girl who needs energy … and an oatmeal raisin cookie every now and again for sanity. And please don’t judge, but I’m not giving up a glass of wine at girls’ night or a beer at a sporting event. The hard part is having the ability to actually say no to Cheetos, and hotdogs, and french fries, and mint chocolate chip ice cream, and Chinese food and ... you get the point.
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