The Destruction of American Women

On our September 3rd show, we talked with Janet Hull, the author of Sweet Poison, about the dangers of artificial sweetners, particulary aspartame. During the show, I noticed that many of our calls and e-mails came from dieters, mostly women, who were trying to lose weight by drinking diet sodas.

It seems possible that aspartame could be behind many of the mysterious disorders that affect women today, such as fibromyalgia, migraine headaches, PMS and MS. The evidence is mostly anecdotal, but there is a lot of it and it appears to be compelling.

We women drink loads of diet soda. This is because women in America today are under assault by articles and images in the media that tell them they should weigh less than they do. We feel we have no choice but to diet if we want to be healthy and attractive.

We have seen models and actresses becoming thinner and thinner until their arms and legs resemble those of young boys. The more weight we lose, the skinnier they become, until it seems like a no-win situation. The answer: drink more diet soda! We have to stave off those hunger pangs somehow, since we’re not allowed to eat real food.

But we’re coming at this problem from the wrong direction. Women are confronted by racks of skimpy clothes and insurance charts that tell us what we should weigh. But it should be the other way around: if you eat a normal, sensible diet and exercise moderately and your weight stays about the same, then whatever you weigh is the correct weight for your body. How could it be otherwise?

I’m considered fat by today’s standards. I know the assumptions that this brings: that you eat too much, that you’re lazy, that you’re maybe not too bright. You become invisible to certain groups of people. Whitley and I have even used this to our advantage at times. Once, at a Hollywood meeting, he was wondering what the group of men surrounding us really thought about him. “Excuse yourself for a few minutes and I’ll stay here and listen,” I told him, “They’ve already forgotten I’m here.” Sure enough, it worked: they began to talk about him as soon as he left the room and I was able to report back to him later.

This thinness mania is dangerous to our health. It could lead to the destruction of American women, if we don’t wake up to the dangers soon.

NOTE: This Diary entry, previously published on our old site, will have any links removed.