So, I'm Annoyed...

...don't you just hate when someone who you think is promoting a healthy lifestyle turns out to be a sham? Like you, I have public personalities that I look up to for various reasons. For example, I think the fitness industry and general population has greatly benefitted from the show The Biggest Loser. Their stories are inspirational, their trainers are motivational and the participants are raw and real.

Jillian Michaels promotes her workout videos which are phenom, tough, challenging, innovative; I likey. She has also added a 14 Day cleanse to her line of merchandise; red flag. And now she has a miraculous little pill that you can make you burn and melt your fat away; are you kidding me?! This baffles me...Jillian is a huge name in the health and fitness industry and has earned her reputation by setting people on the right track to a healthy lifestyle. With this little "fat-burner" she is confusing all of these people and sending the industry back to the 80s diet pill era.

What the heck are people supposed to believe? If you are following the exercises and nutritioinal plan that she has been prescribing for the last few years then why would you need a "fat-burning" pill? You don't. Isn't exercise and proper nutrition enough to achieve a healthy lifestyle and fit body? Uh...YEAH. Wouldn't the ingestion of unknown pills be pushing the health envelope and at the very least be throwing money out the window? Definitely.

On a more selfish level, I am frustrated by this because of all the questions I am going to have to field from clients about yet another "magic pill". Lots of people regard The Biggest Loser trainers, Jillian and Bob, as professionals who have knowledge and level-headed approaches to weight loss. When these types of role models go and do something stupid, by definition, their followers will follow. And the sensible trainers and nutritionists around the world are going to have to play that broken old record about the "magic pill" one more time. Aren't you sick of hearing that record, cause I am sure tired of playing it. It seems like I just get through to people when someone like Jillian Michaels goes and reneges it all with one 30 second commercial. Sigh.

"Fat-burning" pills are not approved by the FDA. They can contain any number of crazy additives that make your heart race and your blood pressure climb. Just because you feel these effects doesn't mean that you are burning fat. It means you have put unnatural stresses on your body. Health and fitness is about cleansing the body and making your stronger and more efficient; "fat-burning" pills are the farthest thing away from this. Sure, she may say that her "fat-burners" are all natural, but right on the label, it says that no one under the age of 18 should consume these pills. Why not? If it is natural than it should be safe for my kid to take. Oh, it might do damage to a child's system? Then why wouldn't people think that it could do damage to an adult's system?

These pills promote a small body, they are saying that you should go to any means necessary in order to be a tiny size. Does this sound a little warped to you? It sounds obsessive to me. It's such a shame: Jillian Michaels started out leading people in the right direction and because of her success, she got a lot of exposure for it. This sensible, back-to-basics approach has put her on my admiration list. A little extra cash, though, has her feeding our country's frenetic obsession to be thin. She has gone from health promoter to frenzy promoter with the popping of one little pill. Ugh. (Picture me rolling my eyes.)