American Normal?

I'm hesitant to write this post as I am afraid I will articulate it not quite the way it is intended.  This is not meant to offend anyone or target a specific group.  That said, I write this out of frustration for what I see as bias, prejudice, and/or misunderstanding.  I'm blasting this out and will clean it up and amended as I go along, but it is what it is.  Here goes.

I'm not much of a country music fan, but then again, I am a fan of music that I like.  Some of it happens to be considered country.  I'd never really paid much attention to Tim McGraw's stuff, and knew of him by name more than by his music.  I still don't pay much attention to his music, but I began to admire him a bit for his role as Sean Tuohy in The Blind Side, the 2009 movie about football player, Michael Oher.

Recently, Mrs had mentioned seeing images of him on Facebook (I think she follows his page) and commented about how he has lost weight and really undertaken a massive overhaul of his health and well-being which included giving up alcohol, completely changing his diet and working out.  McGraw is 46 years old and his transformation is nothing short of amazing.  And we all know the older one gets, the more difficult it can be to get it back.

What Mrs also saw on Facebook were many nasty and negative comments about him getting "too skinny" and other more negative and degrading comments about his weight.  This seems to be so typical now, especially in the US.

Some time ago I posted about how I was hesitant to use photos off of the WWW because of copyright issues, but I will in this case and have also provided the link to the People article associated with it.  Mr. McGraw has done himself a world of good undertaking his new lifestyle.  Granted, it's a different approach than I have taken, and he does have more time and money to dedicate to the working out and muscle building part of his transformation, but he is NOT skinny as so many of his "fans" have said.  Have we become so accustomed to the western diet of meat protein, processed garbage and very few plants (that are usually drowned in oil or high fat sauces) and the results that we get from it that we are blind to what a truly healthy and in-shape human looks like?

I'm not saying that everyone needs to or even can look like McGraw (as I said, he does have a little more time and money to spend), but even simple dietary changes can make a lot of difference to overall health.  Add even some minimal exercise (**disclaimer** check with your doctor on both fronts, first) and the results are amazing.  I guess my point is that calling someone 'skinny' is equally offensive as referring to someone as fat.  Some of us take it to heart.  We do not need to "eat a cheeseburger" as I have too often heard people say about fit, healthy people.  That's the last thing we need.  But, McGraw admits he still enjoys one now and then.  His physique comes from a LOT of hard work that I admit would be great to be able to commit the time and money to, but even a busy person like me can make time for something.

I just perused Tim's Facebook photos and it seems as though the ladies are now, for the most part keyed into the fact that he is in shape and not skinny based on some of the comments I read.  That's good.  Personally, I think he should go plant strong to help keep his cardiovascular system in tip top shape, but that's a whole other animal.

Anyway, this is not an anti-fat people post, so don't take it as that.  It's more about some of us on the not so hefty side do take it to heart and equally as offensive to be called skinny.  I saw the road I was going down after decades of horrible eating and the way my body was starting to respond, so I decided to make some changes.  It seems some people got used to the chunkier me and, even though it wasn't much of a weight loss and my BMI is now very good and not in the overweight category, it still bother them.  Oh, well.