Category — Pop Culture

I am not a big fan of Jenny Craig or most weight loss programs and their spokesmodels, but I love JC’s new one: Queen Latifah. At first I was a little upset that she was doing it because she has always been such a great role model as a heavier person. Who else has been a Cover Girl that wasn’t stick thin?

After reading a few interviews about the reasoning behind her choice think it is a great decision. Here are some quotes from the interviews:

“I saw a blip that said if you lose 5 to 10 percent of your body weight, you can cut your diabetes in half,” said Latifah, who wants to drop 15 to 20 pounds. “I enlisted everybody. As soon as they heard I might be doing Jenny Craig, they all called and said I want to do it with you. My sister is doing it. Two aunts are doing it. My partner Shakim is doing it. My dad is going to do it. My mom wants to lose 15 pounds.”

Latifah said she believes doing this publicly will keep her motivated and said her biggest problem isn’t eating incorrectly.

“It’s probably portion size. I eat a really varied diet. I don’t each a bunch of fried foods. I eat too much of everything I really love, and occasionally I like to have a nice cocktail,” quipped the Grammy and Tony winner.

The Hairspray star is the latest celebrity to sign up as the face of Jenny Craig’s diet programme. “I felt just like I can set an example for confidence,” she told US entertainment show The Insider.

But although she wants to shed a few pounds, Latifah said she was still proud of her curves. “I’m one of those people that believes beauty starts on the inside,” she told The Insider. “I’m a person who loves her body and loves her curves.”

“Being a big woman I can also set an example for confidence being healthier - having healthier curves.”

Speaking about the Jenny Craig program, she added: “It’s about helping people to become healthy, about losing five to 10 per cent of their body weight.

I am not sure if I agree with her last statement about Jenny Craig. I am pretty sure all previous ads and spokesmodels (oh Kirstie Alley) have been about losing massive amounts of weight. Not that losing 75 pounds is a bad thing, but it seems that focus is more on looking good and appearing thin and sexy than being healthy. I am really happy to see Queen Latifah, who knows she already looks good, focusing on her health and the benefits losing weight - like lowering the risk of diabetes

Not that it is a complete surprise, but Oprah Winfrey will now have her own cable network.

The Discovery Health Network will become OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network. This will be a joint venture between Discovery and Oprah’s Harpo Productions with Oprah as the chairman with editorial control even if she doesn’t run the day to day business of the network.

Basically that means it will still be all about Oprah. Its hard not to think of Oprah as an egomaniac, but as Discovery Communications Chief Executive David Zaslav said, “There’s no stronger brand in media than the Oprah brand.”

Then again, I look at O Magazine and wonder why every cover has to have Oprah’s face on it. I can’t deny that Oprah has a strong vision and helps many people have better lives, but if her vision requires a big serving of Oprah every time I can only imagine what her network will be like.

According to Ms. Oprah Winfrey, “This network isn’t just about me. It’s using the voice and the brand and the vision, but it really is about creating possibilities for any number of people … to extend the vision in a way that obviously I cannot 24 hours a day.”

Sure it is Oprah! I can’t wait until your syndication deal ends so you can run episode after episode of your show on your network. I will grab one of your magazines and numb out in front of the tv. I can’t wait for that day Oprah, I honestly just can’t wait.