I knew there was a reason I don't watch TV

We (hubby and I) went to my son's house this weekend to pick up my washer and while we were there, the TV was on. Now, I don't usually watch TV unless it's CSI or Law and Order or Trick My Truck. My son was watching Dirty Jobs, then that Spaceballs movie. During the movie, a commercial for Subway came on. You know the one, where the customers (average-sized) are ordering a beer belly (extra large) and cheese curd thighs, then they show the Subway subs and fruit and low-fat yogurt and say that's a healthier way of eating, and imply that it will either keep you from getting fat, or help you get thin if you're already fat. Reminds me of the commercial with the couple at the drive-thru, ordering the thunder thighs and badonkadonk butt, etc.
These commercials are assuming that fast food places are the only places people eat, they always order the most fattening, calorie-laden items on the menu, and they order a ton of it. Now, I would assume that if fast food is all you eat, even if you stay within a healthy amount of calories, you could possibly gain weight. But how many people actually live that way? And whose business is it if they do? I was not put on this earth to meet anyone's expectations but my own. I, and only I, have the right to decide what is right for me. If that is eating a healthy variety of foods and exercising, fine. If it's pigging out on chocolate cake and ice cream and cheeseburgers and fries, that's fine too. The size, or lack of size, of my ass does not determine my worth, and I resent the hell out of commercials that try to tell me I must be thin, and in order to be thin, I have to eat a certain way.
No one has figured out all the things that make a person the size they are, let alone how to lose weight and keep it off forever (or gain weight, for that matter, for people who are thin). And I do not want to live in a world where all the people are the same size, look the same, act the same, and think the same. That would be so boring. Yes, I'm somewhat of a non-conformist. After all, I'm a woman who knows how to run power tools, work on cars, do basic carpentry and plumbing, and never thought I had to have a man in my life in order to be a 'real woman'. I've never been big on dresses or make-up or having my hair and nails done. I also don't read what I've been told most women read (and how stereotypical is that). I like science fiction/fantasy, horror, true crime, historical novels, and anything to do with the supernatural (I admit a fondness for the were animal/vampire romances, tho). Musically, my tastes range from Alice Cooper to Jimmy Buffett to Rob Zombie to Native American to Celtic and everything in-between. I have never thought that a woman should be bound by what they are supposed to want to do, so why would I think that a woman should look like whatever the ideal happens to be at that time?
The ideal for women used to be fat. Fat women could survive a famine, being fat showed that you could afford to eat when food was scarce for the common people. Now that we have a surfeit of food (and goods) and no need for fat to show how prosperous we are, thin is the ideal. We are shown, on a daily basis in print and on television, all the goods we have and are told to consume, consume, consume, but don't get fat. Love that chocolate cake, the fudge brownie sundae, but don't get fat. Fat is going to kill you, you must be thin at any cost, and never mind the studies that have shown that carrying a few extra pounds can help you survive the after-affects of a heart attack or stroke, especially as you age. Never mind that it is a natural thing for people to gain a few pounds as they age, we are supposed to be thin at any cost. Never mind that eating disorders are killing young women who want to reach that unattainably thin ideal, never mind that weight loss surgery is causing untold complications for people who would have been perfectly fine at their current weight, never mind that pharmaceutical companies are creating drugs (and pushing them rabidly) that they have no fucking clue what the side effects are or what the long-term consequences of their use will be. You must be thin at any cost, and if they can't convince you with all their studies (and we have seen how they have been debunked on Junkfood Science), then they will try brainwashing you through commercials designed to tell you what and how to eat.
Sorry, I'm not buying into it any more. I have had a healthy dose of cynicism where weight loss is concerned for the last 9 years (ever since my WLS failed), and everything I read just reinforces that cynicism.