Valerie Bertinelli made a powerful statement while wearing an outfit that was once supposed to shame her.
“I found the clothes I was wearing in my first Jenny Craig photo before,” the Food Network star said in a video posted to her. Instagram Tuesday account.
In her video, Bertinelli wears a pink top and jeans She appeared in a 2009 commercial for the diet company. In the same year, Bertinelli also appeared in a bikini next to the photo during a cover shoot the people magazine.
However, according to Bertinelli’s Instagram video on Tuesday, the weight loss has not positively impacted her life.
“I’ve done a lot of emotional and mental work to recover from years of pretending everything was okay when it wasn’t,” Bertinelli says in the video. “Health is not the size of your body. Health is not the number you see on the scale. Your value as a human being is not determined by your body.”
In a 2009 Jenny Craig ad, Bertinelli was wearing a bathing suit with a towel wrapped around her waist. As she was speaking to the camera, a photo of her in the pink blouse and jeans appeared on her right. Underneath the photo is the phrase “I lost 40 pounds.” Below these words, in smaller, fainter text, the laughable line reads: “Results are not typical.”
“With the help of Jenny Craig Counselor Cathy, I lost 40 pounds and gained confidence!” Bertinelli says in the commercial as she removes her towel as her “before” image fades away.
In Bertinelli’s Instagram video, she appears frustrated with the mindset she was in when she filmed the Jenny Craig commercial.
“I thought I was fat the last time I wore these clothes,” she says with a sigh. Bertinelli then takes a long pause while looking at herself in the mirror.
“I have never felt more beautiful, more peaceful, more mentally and emotionally stable than I do today wearing my ‘thick clothes,’” she says, laughing.
Although Bertinelli’s message about body acceptance will likely resonate with many, her saying she thought she was fat the last time she wore the outfit still sends the message that being fat is bad.
Aubrey Gordon – activist, author, and podcaster Embracing the word “fat” To describe her body – suggest to NPR’s “All Things Considered.” In January, people who wear straight sizes (i.e. not plus sizes) used more specific language when they “feel” fat. This takes the negative connotation away from the word “fat” and helps people better understand how they really feel, she said.
“Fat isn’t actually an emotion, is it? Fat is a type of body. Fat people’s bodies aren’t metaphors for low self-esteem or bad body image days,” Gordon said. “It’s really frustrating that when people want to talk about how they feel at their worst in Their bodies, the description they arrive at is a description of my body. They say, “I feel terrible today,” which means “I feel like you,” which sounds terrible to me as a fat person, right? The more people can talk about the real thing, it actually gives you more accurate help and support from your friends.
And if, like Bertinelli, you’re still thinking about all the tough issues surrounding body image, Gordon shared what’s helping her.
“I will say for me, the things that are getting my relationship with my body back on track are actually kind of pulling back the curtain on where a bunch of our more reductive beliefs about body size come from. They mostly come from really unreliable sources,” Gordon said. Pointing to “companies that seek to capitalize on our poor body image” such as Jenny Craig.
“This kind of thing comes from people who don’t want what’s best for most of us…they want to make money,” Gordon said. “It’s really nice to realize that we’ve kind of been led down the garden path. Once you see where the garden path leads and where it came from, things become a lot easier for me on that front.”
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