Fat Girls Sure Do Love Their Donuts!

Last night I caught up on Drop Dead Diva, Lifetime’s new comedy about an aspiring Price Is Right model, Deb, who dies and returns to Earth in the body of an accomplished, but fat, trial lawyer, Jane. I agree, June, that credit for the show’s greatness goes wholly to Brooke Elliott, who plays Jane. Her walk alone is enough to bring me back for Episode 4. It’s also fun to watch the cameos unfold. You can just picture Rosie O’Donnell getting the script and calling her agent right then to say “A show starring a fat woman that’s not making fun of her? I’m in.” I wonder if a legal battle with Camryn Manheim is in Jane’s future.

Still, for all its fat acceptance, including a rather out-of-place courtroom sermon on the use of the word “fat”—an adjective that Kate Harding and members of the fat-o-sphere advocate reclaiming—Drop Dead Diva does have one irksome piece of character development: Jane’s weakness for donuts.

Admittedly, the whole soul vs. brain vs. body concept in the show is a little confusing: Jane has the voice, walk, and memories of her former bimbo self, but the appearance, life, and accumulated knowledge (without memory of gaining it) of Jane. We’re led to believe that Jane’s weight is in part a reflection of her lifestyle; even with the soul of a former workout queen, she just doesn’t have the energy to go for a run after a day at the office—much to the disappointment of her roommate, who seems intent on restoring her to Deb’s pre-body-swap weight.

But what about the donuts? What accounts for Jane’s longing stares at an out-of-reach plate of pastries, her need to indulge in morning sweets? The implication, I fear, is that her new, bigger body comes with a smaller dose of willpower—a disappointing step toward the stereotype that fat people are that way because they’re lazy or lack self control. (Just search for “lazy” in about any unmoderated comments section in an article on obesity and you’ll see this sentiment in its ugly glory.)

Perhaps I’m not giving the show’s writers enough credit: Maybe this is a deliberate statement that food cravings come from your brain (or, Jane’s brain), rather than your experiences or your soul (in this case, both Deb’s)—there are, in fact, studies to back that up. And that certainly was the message of my childhood favorite, The Man With Two Brains, in which Steve Martin falls in love with a disembodied brain, finds a sexy woman’s body to put it in (after killing her, of course), only to have the brain, which it turns out came from a fat woman, drive this new body to fatness. It’s OK—he loves her anyway!

Or maybe it’s not Jane’s brain responsible for the donut binges; maybe it’s Deb’s soul. Does this new body, and the revised expectations from the outside world it brings, finally allow Deb to eat the donuts she always wanted, but never allowed herself? Maybe, but that can't be all there is to it, since the pilot offers a few shots of Jane devouring donuts before the body swap.

The whole thing is tough for me to make sense of though, for the simple fact that I hate donuts. I just can’t see them as a worthy indulgence, no matter your weight. Hot fudge brownie sundaes though—that I get.

Photograph of a donut by Getty Images.

Tags: drop dead diva, fat acceptance, fat-o-sphere, food

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Samantha Henig is the associate editor of Double X, and can be reached at samantha.henig@doublex.com.

Comments

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Again around the same old topic

By: P Starling | Sun, 08/02/2009 - 12:04

Yeah, doughnuts make people fat. So do certain medications. So do pregnancy hormones. So do knee injuries. So do killer schedules. The problem isn't that we don't blame doughnuts (we do) but that we go further and blame the doughnut-eaters for lack of self-control.

About three years ago, I was put on some medication for a month or two. Now, I'd read the newspaper articles about research into appetite triggers and so forth, but in my heart of hearts, I didn't really believe them. Was I ever surprised, then, when the medication had the weird side effect of making me constantly, obsessively hungry. Not finding something to eat took huge willpower. Despite my best efforts, I gained about thirty pounds in about three months (don't try this at home, kids.) The second I went off the medication, poof! No more appetite issues. It was the strangest thing, and I think it's hard to understand unless it happens to you. What I'm trying to say is that there are genuine physical settings that contribute to these doughnut issues. If weight loss were easy, your doctor would be skinny. Hell, Oprah would be skinny!

To consider the obese lazy or undisciplined is to willfully ignore people like Oprah and Bill Clinton and a host of other driven, successful people who still struggle with their weight. If it were a simple matter of good diet and the occasional trot around the block, they'd be thin. So cut the chubby a break and understand that it's not that simple for many people, even if it's that simple for you.

Been fat, been skinny, been fat again

By: misslkodell | Fri, 07/31/2009 - 11:28

There are many components to weight gain. The most common factor is that people live or work in an area or atmosphere where exercise is not required and they have to eat on the run. Now I am desperately trying to lose weight but its really hard when you have to say "No, I have to go to bed at 10:00pm to be up at 5:00am to exercise." Especially if you live with people who do not have to exercise or eat right to lose weight. Its also agonizing when you want to spend time with loved ones but all they care to do is sit and watch TV while you would like to go for a bike ride, then they look at you like you have 3 heads when you say "Well I'm going to go for a bike ride." Or you are coming home after working 8am to 7pm and say "What would you like to have for dinner?" and they say "TacoBell" and ask why you don't feel like TacoBell/Wendy's/McDonalds/Pizza for yet the 3rd day in a row. Or why do you want to have a salad when you've clearly expressed your goal to lose weight for real this year for the 3rd year in a row. Sorry, I'm trying to get to a healthy weight and not rely on my inhaler when I exercise but really some familial support would be great. Thankfully they are listening a little bit I was able to get the "My Healthy Cooking Coach" as a birthday present and the looks are not as funny when I braid my hair and hop on the bike for a 40min bike ride, its only been 2 months of trying. Still working on that 5 am wake up, but hey bootcamp starts again Monday so we'll see. So Willow, its nice that you can stick to your foods and exercise but do you have loved ones and family who can eat what they want, not exercise and not gain? If you did then you might see others frustration, when the support they need to be successful is lacking.

Food, glorious food

By: PinkTigress | Fri, 07/31/2009 - 11:26

I kind of have to take exception to Willow's comment.

I've been thin all my life and I DO eat just what I want.

I just don't eat a lot of it. Fortunately my mother never got us initiated into the clean plate society. I have no qualms about not finishing a restaurant portion.

I'm also not a fan of doughnuts. Most of them give me indigestion and thus are not worth it. Chocolate cake, now that's a different story.

I also hate mayonnaise and creamy salad dressings. But I do eat toast and butter almost daily. I just keep it to one slice.

I also eat slowly. I get teased about how slow I eat.

People are different.

Eat real food.

By: JJL | Fri, 07/31/2009 - 11:21

Eat lots of fruit and vegetables.
Figure out which ones you like and how you like to prepare them. They are delicious! Get most of your calories from them. Add in some whole grains and a little fish or poultry. Use fresh ingredients and simple, healthy preparations. This sort of food is *delicious*. It tastes so much better than greasy, chemically fast food. Why is eating real food considered a sacrifice or a hardship?

Who cares if some people stay thin while eating junk food? (Probably they don't as much of it as other people, but that's beside the point.) The question is, how many fat people eat the sort of diet described above? Differences in metabolic rates aren't dramatic enough for people to get fat from eating fresh vegetables. If they were, there would be obese hunter-gatherers.

I don't know why people insist on making this issue more complicated than it needs to be. Articles like the one above and the one cited in Slate are not helpful. Let's get serious about the state of the American diet and have a discussion about what we can do to fundamentally alter it (e.g. let's have a discussion about why some foods but not others receive heavy government subsides). Let's not pretend that obesity has more to do with unalterable genetic facts than it does with the choice to eat a twinkie instead of an apple.

Donuts, sundaes, and striving to be thin

By: meggordon.ny.1984 | Fri, 07/31/2009 - 10:40

I'm thin-ish, a size 6, and wish I were thinner, but I love junk food. I kind of like donuts (Boston Creme donuts are the best hands down), love hot fudge brownie sundaes, and eat mac and cheese regularly. I maintain my weight by exercising and not eating too much junk food all the time. Willow is wrong; some people can get away with eating more junk than others. Most girls I know who eat the way I do are a size 14. I feel very lucky. I use to be fat because I ate way too much junk food all the time and I had to work out and develop at least a minimum level of self control to lose the weight. It's possible for most people to lose excess weight by dieting and exercising. It's not pleasant, but it's possible. At the same time, cutting out all junk food and living on steamed vegetables is no way to live. I'll keep my unwanted 10 pounds because it comes with a side of fries and a dessert.

Fat Girls...

By: Jane Dough | Fri, 07/31/2009 - 01:54

Willow nailed it in her response to Henig's article! Well said.

Fat girls and donuts

By: Willow Wilson | Thu, 07/30/2009 - 22:24

Well it's nice that you're being all PC towards fat people, but I have to take issue with your issue with fat girls and donuts.

I am thin but I have been fat. I have lived and worked with obese people and thin people and average sized people. Their diets were radically different. When I was fat I ate and drank way differently from how I eat and drink now. And when I exercised every day I was lighter than I am now.

Believe me, if my fat friends and former room-mates and colleagues ate what I eat, they would be pretty much the same size as me. They ate (and probably still eat) pizza and deep fried crap and donuts and ice-cream and toast with butter and other bakery goods at least a few times a week, if not daily. You think I don't want to eat that stuff? Of course I do. But I don't kid myself that it won't change my body.

A lot of fat people say things to me like, well it's easy for you, you have a fast metabolism. Yeah, it's fast NOW because I have made it fast from what I eat and the kind of exercise I do (but mostly from what I don't eat and don't drink). When I was eating and drinking crap all the time, my metabolism was slow.

I don't know a single thin person who just eats what they want. Or if they do eat what they want, it's because they've trained themselves to only want fruit and veg and wholegrains and lean protein. It's a daily decision and a daily commitment.

Look, I'm not saying that thin people or better or happier or sexier than fat people (my fat friends are in couples, I am not, but that's another story) but let's not kid ourselves that most fat people are fat because of some mysterious reason totally unrelated to food.

I have lived in a fat country (Australia) and a thin country (Japan). The people eat differently. They also do more incidental exercise in Japan. And when I was growing up in Australia, people were not fat. Now they are. Breath-takingly far. But the genetics haven't changed. People are just eating crappier food and moving less. Mostly it's about the food.

Yes Virginia, donuts do make you fat.