Rocco’s View

If you follow celebrity new and gossip, or read any online news site, you may have heard that Whoopi Goldberg and Rosie O’Donnell have lost some weight. In fact, you may have heard little else about them this week. Their show, The View, introduced two new hosts, garnered their best season premiere ratings in eight years, and covered a number of topics including federal politics, the death of American journalist James Foley, and the issue of sports and violence. Plus, of course, they talked with a slew of celebrity guests. But, if you’ve seen any headlines about The View this week, they were most likely centered around weight loss.

Credit: ABC / Fred Lee.
Whoopi, Nicolle, Rosie, Rosie. Credit: ABC / Fred Lee.

On the season premiere, Rosie O’Donnell was re-introduced to viewers after leaving the show in 2007. Did they focus on the fact that she’s gotten married since then? Nope. Did she get the biggest applause when she mentioned her son? Of course not. Her biggest news, at least according to the press, audience applause and her co-hosts, was her 50-something pound weight loss.

The already thin and lovely Nicolle Wallace spent her two minutes running down her biggest accomplishments, as well, though those included political work, novel writing, and her family. No mention of diet, exercise or weight management. The same went for Rosie Perez.

Then the cameras turned to the one returning host, Whoopi Goldberg. Her news? Weight loss. Her reward? More applause, followed by compliments on her clothes and her body from the other hosts.

Because, let’s face it, it’s not what a woman does that matters, it’s how she looks doing it—especially if she’s not appropriately thin.

Whoopi told ABC News that she saw Sherri Shepherd, former View host, and was struck by the fact that she was “skinny,” so she asked her what she did to make it happen. The super easy, quick fix answer to all of her and YOUR problems? Rocco DiSpirito’s The Pound a Day Diet…of which Sherri Shepherd and now Whoopi are spokeswomen.

The Pound A Day Diet
This book is going to make everything in your life perfect.

I was curious about The Pound a Day Diet. Curious in the way one is curious when driving by an accident. I know I shouldn’t look. I know it’s not going to be good, but I have to glance over to see what awful mess has everyone’s attention.

First, in case you’re not familiar with the name, Rocco DiSpirito is a celebrity chef. Second, he’s written a book, and he wants you to buy it. Third, he’s lost weight, which leads him and everyone in the press to believe he has a right to tell you what you’re doing wrong.

Rocco's before and after (so far).  Coppola, Bedder/Getty Images.
Rocco’s before and after (so far).
Coppola, Bedder/Getty Images.

The Pound a Day Diet offers quick, easy results, which is great, because there is nothing we like better than instant gratification with no work. And we all know how sustaining quick weight loss is. DiSpirito explains that he will turn our bodies into “fat burning machines,” and teach us how to lose five pounds every five days.

Now, I could talk about how you’re expected to eat no more than 850 calories a day, and how completely and horribly unhealthy that is, not to mention unsustainable. I could also talk about how most of those calories are consumed via protein shakes, and how depriving ourselves of all carbs can be extremely damaging to our bodies. But, you’re here, reading Big Fit Deal, so you already know that.

Instead, let’s talk about how completely insulting and off-base the assumptions are that this diet is built around.

First, you are instructed to drink half your body weight in water, a day. So, apparently, the first couple of pounds are going to be peed out, and we’ll feel like the diet is working. Great, but that assumes that no fat person drinks water. After all, if you’re fat, you must spend your day guzzling down sugary drinks, right? Well, I already drink about double his recommended water intake and no sugary drinks, so that kind of blows that assumption out the window.

Mmm, water.  Greg Riegler / Flickr
Mmm, water.
Greg Riegler / Flickr

Second, DiSpirito has explained the “science” behind his diet, and yes, I’m using the term “science” very loosely, here. 3500 calories equals a pound of fat. So, according to DiSpirito, if we eat 850 calories a day, we create a deficit of 3500 calories and lose a pound a day. This means that he assumes that if you are fat you must consume at least 4350 calories a day. Otherwise, you would be thin, right? But what about those of us who just naturally don’t consume even half of that in a day? Or, someone like me, who burns around 900 calories in a two hour workout at the gym, but somehow still isn’t skinny? For this diet to “work” we’d all have to, as he assumes, be stuffing ourselves with extremely high caloric and unhealthy food, and all the thin people of the world must be cooking healthy, whole foods at home, at all times. Do some overweight people eat unhealthy food? Sure, but so do some thin people, just like some overweight people eat very healthy meals.

Yep, he's been on The Biggest Loser. Dave Bjerke  / NBC
Yep, he’s been on The Biggest Loser.
Dave Bjerke / NBC

Rocco DiSpirito suggests that all we have to do is put down the sugary drinks, stop eating fast, processed food, and start cooking healthy, tiny meals for ourselves, and we will all magically and miraculously be cured of our overweight epidemic. (The website actually uses the word “miraculous”.) In an article on U.S. News & World Report, DiSpirito stated that the country is struggling economically because of diminished productivity brought on by an overweight workforce, and our society is suffering from it. He states, “There are very few things we’re personally empowered to change with our everyday choices, and the one thing we can change is how our personal health affects our economy.”

So there you have it. Your “choice” to be fat is affecting our economy, and you should be ashamed of yourself…After all, Rocco DiSpirito knows exactly what you’re putting in your body, what you’re doing with your body, and how your body works, right? If we follow his logic, all fat people eat too much of the wrong thing, which means all thin people must be eating all the right things, and those who haven’t lost weight yet simply haven’t wanted to. And don’t we all owe it to our economy and our society to be thin?

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