Why should i care what a celebrity eats for breakfast
If you haven’t figured it out yet from reading my blog posts, I am a fat activist. I believe (based on research), that diets are unsuccessful. In addition (based on more research), I don’t believe that low-fat diets help reverse heart disease or make one more “healthy.” I’m all for the healthy habits of not smoking, eating 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day (along with other things that I want to eat), exercising 3-4 times a week (or more), and minimal alcohol intake. But dieting? Nope, that’s not my thing. Not anymore. So living in this world of diet centric culture, I find myself challenged by all the messages of diet, all of the fat shaming, and all of the fat phobia. This time of year, diet advertisements are in full swing. The New Year’s resolution of making your body perfect is all the rage. Spoiler alert: your body is already perfect.
A couple of months ago I left the Facebook world, leaving behind many messages I found toxic, including diet culture. I am still connected to the social media world through Instagram. I find for me, Instagram is a kinder, gentler space. I can more easily choose what content that I see there, and I have chosen to follow a lot of weight neutral, body acceptance, and fat activist influencers. The space has become more healing for me.
I am not a big follower of celebrities. I enjoy movies, tv series, and music, but I don’t worship any performers or follow them on social media, in magazines or news articles. I usually have to look up actors when I’m watching something or Shazam songs on my phone when I hear them in stores. That said, I do have an affinity for good performers in larger bodies. When I see Aidy Bryant performing successfully on “Saturday Night Live” or “Shrill”, I say, “You go girl! You show them that you don’t have to conform to the tiny world.” When I watch Lizzo belt out, “Feeling Good as Hell,” I say, “Hell yeah! You go for it girl! You’re beautiful, powerful, amazing, and fat! You’ve got it all!” I perceive these women as role models. Models for the rest of the world saying that size does not matter. A smaller size does not determine the value of a woman, despite what our society deems valuable.
So what is the role of these celebrities in larger bodies? Are they there to promote fat activism? Do they have a responsibility to the world to normalize bodies that are outside the “standard BMI” numbers? A word or two on BMI: it’s a scam. BMI is a bell curve, not a tiny standard of 21-25. In a normal world, there are supposed to be people above and below this range. What sort of world are we trying to create?
I notice that when I hear that Adele or Rebel Wilson have lost weight I feel disappointed. I think, “Where are you going? Are you going to leave this community of larger bodies? You were a beacon, proof that fat girls can do great things. Now you are leaving the fold. How dare you!”
I feel like I am trying to steer a ship away from choppy waters. I know that fat phobia has been around for a long time. History points out that fat phobia started as a way to distinguish the white woman from the slave. White women worked to be thinner so they could look even more different than their black counterparts, whose genetic makeup predisposed them toward heavier bodies. Thinness was a way to fit into society - quite literally! Dieting was way to separate “us” from “them.” During WWII, people were encouraged to ration to eat less because that would provide more food for the troops. It was “patriotic” to eat less. Then the diet industry came along and it was cool to be thin and lose weight. Even though diets eventually fail (95% of dieters gain their weight back in the 2-5 years after dieting, as noted in many medical journal including UCLA Newsroom in 2007), people continue to diet so that they can appear normal in a society that values thinness.
So what happens when famous fat people become thin? I feel frustrated and discouraged. I see this change as a choice of defeat. A choice that the formerly fat person made to appear more normal and be accepted. But really, what do I know? Perhaps that person has an illness that is causing them to lose weight? It’s doubtful. Once the celebrity becomes thin, their diet and exercise plans are published all over the internet. Many thin wannabes are clinging to the articles, hopeful that if they practiced the same regimen, then they too would become thin. And they just might - for now. As I said earlier, weight loss doesn’t last forever. Yes, there is that 2% of people that diets work for, but 2%? That’s a super small number. I’m not a betting woman, but those odds don’t seem worthwhile. Would I go to college knowing that only 2% of us would graduate? Probably not.
Anyway, I guess I’m frustrated because these celebrities are role models for their followers. So, when a larger girl feels an alliance with Lizzo because she is big and proud, what does the girl think when Lizzo starts drinking smoothies in an attempt to detox herself? Lizzo’ s smoothies were the media buzz a few weeks ago. Some folks who believe Lizzo needs to get healthy (have they seen her medical stats? Do they know if she’s not drinking a lot of alcohol or moving her body?), and that health comes from a smaller body were very impressed to see Lizzo drinking smoothies. Others, who believe good health is possible without regard to size were very angry with Lizzo for drinking detox smoothies and sharing her methods on social media. So which follower is right here?
Honestly, I think that Lizzo (and anyone else for that matter) has a right to do whatever they want to their own body as long as their behavior isn’t harming anyone else. If Lizzo wants to drink detox smoothies, she should drink away! Did she choose for any of us to follow her lifestyle? Does she have a responsibility to her followers to be a fat activist? I don’t know.
I know that I believe Lizzo, Adele, Aidy Bryant, Oprah, Shelly Winters, and other larger celebrities are and were good performers because of their talents and not their size. Thin or fat, I believe their skills will remain the same. That said, there is an extra, “you go girl!” in me when I see them perform in their larger bodies. It’s a bit of a, “If you can do it, so can I and so can other women in bodies that aren’t considered acceptable in society.” So when they start to shrink themselves, I think they are abandoning the rest of us. I notice my thoughts become competitive. It’s an “us vs. them” mentality. That’s really unhealthy too. We aren’t going to get anywhere as women in the Health at Every Size (HAES) world if we are battling each other. We would do better to accept each other where we stand. But for me to say, “I don’t care if Lizzo drinks smoothies or not,” does that mean she has to stop drinking them on social media? I did a little Lizzo Googling for this post and I discovered some interesting facts. Lizzo likes French Fries with gravy. Lizzo loves to cook and wanted to be a food critic. She eats Cheetos and enjoys plantains. If I’m okay with her sharing these food details from her life, what the hell is wrong with her drinking a detox smoothie? Shame is such a dangerous place to go with people, so why do I want to shame this woman for just being a regular person?
Will Adele sell more music now that she’s thinner? I mean who didn’t know about Adele in her larger days yet now knows about Adele now because she is smaller? If she does gain more followers, will that make it okay for her to be in a thinner body? Really, either way, it shouldn’t matter. I think the problem with celebrity weight loss is just that it is a thing. The problem isn’t so much what celebrities do with their bodies as much as it is how we as a society respond to it. Starting with the media writing stories about it and interviewing for the details on their diets and exercise regimes. Then there’s the rest of us gobbling up the information like it’s the holy grail of how we can be better people. For me, I will remember that I think Lizzo is an amazing, inspiring, powerful performer. What she eats for breakfast isn’t what makes her special, so I won’t be watching what she eats unless she plans to come to my house for dinner. If that happens I’ll be frying up some tasty plantains. She says she loves those.
