Sue’s Morning Stretch: What Adam Richman’s rant really shows us

Here’s something else we saw when Adam Richman’s online weight rant went viral and prompted the Travel Channel to postpone the start Wednesday of his new show, “Man Finds Food”: that TV personalities may act like idiots around calorie-crazy foods while on camera, but they work like mad in their personal lives to have a TV-acceptable body.

If you haven’t heard, Richman posted a photo on Instagram with the hashtag #thinspiration. That word, often used by those with anorexia, started a firestorm, and Richman got ugly in his responses. That prompted a sea of negativity on social media.

https://twitter.com/calabasass/status/484346036475801602

This all is the result of all the fake food celebrations on TV. You know what I am talking about. Watch any TV talk show, particularly the morning shows, and anytime food is brought on – food that almost always is something rich and beyond decadent – the hosts rave and act like this is how they eat all the time. They moan and groan in ecstasy when they take a bite. Sometimes before they are offered whatever sugary delight is spotlighted, they sneak a piece, as if they can’t hold themselves back. They walk around nibbling at whatever is in sight.

When I see those segments, I usually yell, “Liar, liar, pants on fire.” (Not very mature, but heartfelt.) Because there is no way TV folks eat like that in real life. This is all faked for the camera. No matter their height, the women on these shows are a size 0 or 2, maybe a 4. They wear fabrics that cling and show every indentation of their bodies. The men are equally tiny. There is no way the majority of TV hosts and personalities aren’t on very restricted diets and don’t work out like fiends.

These segments really bug me. Because they sends the false message that people who are this tiny eat these calorie-heavy dishes and desserts and still maintain the bodies we see. (And why is it we have to get our news from stick figures, anyway? But I digress.)

I always wonder, why can’t they admit that because of TV’s view of what humans need to look like on-camera, they take great pains to eat a particular diet and work out religiously? And why can’t they spend more time promoting healthy eats?

Like it or not, people take their cues from what’s on TV. What they see right now is tiny people promoting big food. The result is many viewers are disappointed and frustrated when they realize that when they eat the food that’s pushed, their own bodies balloon up.

In a statement released after the controversy blew up, Richman was upfront about his own weight. “I’ve long struggled with my body image and have worked hard to achieve a healthy weight,” he told ABC News. And not everyone on social media has written Richman off or are happy with the Travel Channel’s decision.

I only wish other TV hosts and personalities were forced to be as honest. But without the ugliness Richman resorted to, of course.

– Sue Ontiveros