Day One Hundred and Sixty!!!!!!!!!!!!

Valerie Bertinelli
When I was younger, I envied my thin friends. I would think to myself, “I am going to struggle with my weight for the rest of my life because I am overweight now, but they will never have to! They will never understand what it is like to struggle with food.” As little children say to one another ‘I can always gain a few pounds but you will still be fat.’


And it never crossed my mind that someone who was thin on TV when they were young and appears to stay thin for most of their life could ever develop an issue with food; until I researched Valerie Bertinelli. She peaked my interest when I was watching TV one day and I saw one of her cooking shows just the other day.


Valerie Bertinelli was a sex icon in the 1980’s. She was thin, she had perfect skin, voluptuous hair, she was in everything under the sun, magazines and TV shows alike. She was originally known from the TV show ‘One Day at a Time’. In this show she was a teen, very young and very thin. I personally remember her and as such, know her from the hit TV show Hot in Cleveland with Betty White. Valerie was the youngest one, and she much have been in her 40’s.


Apparently, now she is now known for her culinary credentials. Valerie Bertinelli has gone from supermodel on TV to ‘chef’ (?) on the food network, judging shows such as ‘Kids Baking Championship’ and ‘Family Food Showdown’ to even having her own home cooking show.


She used to be the spokesperson of WeightWatchers and lost her excess weight, then Jenny Craig and lost 50 something pounds, but has been fluctuating ever since. Now she is an advocate for weight loss in the sense of body positivity and acceptance. 


Instead of taking the approach of maintaining her weight loss journey or even continuing her weight loss journey, she has now taken the stance that fluctuating weight is a part of life. Sometimes she states that she is a is normal weight and sometimes she believes she is overweight, but bottom lining it she has accepted this yo yo way of being and regardless of either weight, she is healthy and happy.


So this is what I don’t get, I don’t understand how after being a spokesperson for two giant weightless programs, how is it possible that she has gained so much weight? 


Was it the stress of TV? No, because she was involved in the business of acting and ‘in the business’ ever since she was a preteen. 


Was it the opportunity to eat the food and cook the food that she loves as an Italian and as such eventually host a cooking show? No, because she started to gain weight before she was ever apart of any cooking and food show. So what was it?


Is she using body positivity as an excuse for her emotional eating behaviour? I am wondering ‘Why can’t she keep the weight off?’ And why is she an advocate for weight loss when she can’t keep the weight lost!? (This is another question for Oprah but I will get to her later.)


I watched her several shows and my conclusion is that she is ‘carbing' up each and every time she cooks. This is why she continued to gain weight and keep it on until the point where she is obese. The truth is that Valerie has decided to be at one with her size, her carb intake and her body. I wonder though, as an advocate of food, what about eating healthy and staying healthy for those who watch the show. What about them?
 

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