I Don't Get It: Diet Food Ads Featuring Already Skinny People

Special K cereal may well help you lose weight if you eat it twice a day then eat a sensible dinner. I'm not bored enough to try to find out. But these ladies they feature in their ads that can't do up the buttons on their shirts or are horrified when they look at the scale (um, try removing your giant 3XL robe before weighing yourself), I'm pretty sure are somewhere between regular skinny and bone scary skinny when they set foot in the real world. They look scrawny on tv. That's skinny. If you're going to show a "before" or someone who desperately needs your weight-reducing cereal or yogurt, show someone who actually has some excess fat to lose.

This is when I hate television. In their freak show world, tv and film folks are out of touch with real people, including those who are at and maintain a normal, healthy weight through normal, healthy means. And they're convincing the masses that what is on tv is real, and worse, right.

Back pre-kids when I was auditioning for tv and film stuff on a regular basis, I got a little bit sucked into the weight-obsessed vortex that is the entertainment industry. I, at the time, was hovering right around 100 lbs, which at 5 foot 1 is little but not skinny. My thighs still touched, and my Nordic ancestry still gave me some extra, uh, energy storage in the tummy area. But I'd go to auditions, about a size 4 or sometimes a 2, and be the biggest one there. I actually thought I was chubby. Now I find that both hilarious and a little bit sad. I was at a healthy weight for my height. I was not operating in the real world though, and I realize that, especially when I pay attention to what I'm seeing on tv now.

Don't tell me, lady with collar bones I could cut myself on, that you need any weight loss product. Give me a break, woman who's ribs I can count through her shirt, that the holidays caused you to pack on some extra weight. A little perspective and reality would go a long way with the people peddling diet foods. Skinny people don't need to lose weight. And I don't need to have my pants precariously perched on my jutting hip bones to be happy. I'm all for healthy weight loss, don't get me wrong. But can we shoot for health, wellness and peace of mind? I might actually watch the commercials selling that. Heck, I'd audition for 'em too.