My friend Adam has mentioned to me, more than once, an Oprah show he saw at one point where she was talking about weight loss. Those of you who know Adam know that him quoting Oprah isn't exactly a regular or expected occurrence. Anyway, apparently on this particular show Oprah was talking about dieting aids- supplements, machines, pills etc- that people tend to pay a crap load of money for in the hopes that said aid will help them lose weight fast with minimal effort. Oprah, to her credit, pulled no punches and said something along the lines of, "I am one of the richest people in the country and I struggle with my weight. If there were something you could buy that would be a magical solution to being overweight, I would have bought it already. Don't waste your money."

While I take most of what Oprah says with a gigantic bag of salt, I was pretty impressed by that statement. Her influence on a certain segment of the population is undeniable, and it's impressive when she uses that influence for something down-to-earth and commendable.

So, I have to admit to being mildly intrigued when I read that she's just gone vegan for 21 days. Granted, she's mostly referring to it as a "cleanse" and there's a lot of talk of spirituality which I would rather just ignore, but veganism is already being discussed on the message boards on the Oprah website (including postings by someone who apparently missed the point and is desperate to know if she is allowed to drink caffeine free, sugar free Diet Coke while on the cleanse).

This whole vegan thing reminded me that Oprah got sued by cattle ranchers in 2000 when she declared, on screen, that mad cow disease had "stopped her cold" from eating burgers. According to the New York Times, cattle prices and futures fell "drastically" after the show aired. It's amazing to me that a talk show host has that much power.

As for me, I will be eating my non-professionally-prepared vegan meals at home again today, being still too sick to venture into buildings full of small children. It isn't as bad as yesterday, but I'm achy, and sniffley, and exhausted. And I really don't want it to get any worse.

J.

p.s. Spellcheck has no problem with "Oprah" but it doesn't like "veganism"!