Feeding Frenzy

It sometimes feels, watching the ads pop up on my computer or in other media, like I'm swimming in the midst of weight loss sharks. The images of emaciated or overly buff bodies is more frightening than reassuring. And there are the ones with the sneak attacks (like Slim Fast) who pepper their adds with beautiful smiling full-figured women.

These images, and the words that accompany them, eat away at my will. Because there are days, even though I know that such activities suck the soul out of me and make me unhappy, that I give in the seductive idea that this time I will be the one to beat the odds, lose the weight, and keep it off forever.

But mostly, this constant bombardment eats away at my patience. I want to hurl these little models into a vat of donuts, and close them away until they are a healthy weight. I want to screech at the woman with the washboard abs that she really needs to get a life outside the gym. And I want to shake someone, somewhere, and make them understand that all this money spent on ads would be better used to feed children healthy foods - we don't even have to look to Africa to find malnourished children...they live here in this country, too.