I like Mo'Nique. She's feisty, filthy, funny, and empowering for the large of size, and I respect her for it.
So when I came up on her book Skinny Women are Evil, I felt honor-bound to check it out. It's filled with countless examples of the frustration that fat people deal with, both from other people and from ourselves, as well as the deranged thinking that proliferates around body image in L.A. This is all good and effective.
Even better are the way Mo'Nique interweaves her own story of hammering out some success in spite of her womanly assets, and it's not hard for anyone, regardless of our own body circumstances, to get swept along in the vibe she carefully crafts. But some of the advice our girl Mo'Nique offers is just not healthy; and while I applaud any effort to give the plus-sized community some gumption, self-esteem, and motivation to keep in (plus-sized) shape, some of what she says just won't help, and may in fact hurt the reader.
The most egregious example of this is in her workout advice, when she says that to make sure to keep your energy levels up, don't drink water, drink Coke. And that's just wrong on a crapload of levels.
Again, much love for Mo'Nique- her jokes and her own personal stories are entertaining and inspiring. I'd love to meet and tackle some hot wing platters with her. But I wouldn't use her workout suggestions were I trying to get a serious workout program up and running.
Ha! I think that's brilliant.
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