An Open Letter to Muscle Milk

"If you enjoy feeling dull, overweight and lethargic put this bottle down, pick up that donut and prepare to cry yourself to sleep on the couch, again..."

To whom this may concern,

Seriously? What marketing genius came up with this? I have been that person that has cried because they ate a donut. Or has just cried because they ate ANYTHING and were "feeling overweight", even eating nothing at all can still trigger me to "cry myself to sleep on the couch, again". Granted, the fact that I suffer from anorexia makes a lot of things surrounding food very hard.

Eating a donut should not cause that much shame, a healthy person knows that indulging in the occasional donut should not make them feel that way. Even though I struggle when it comes to things like donuts I know that as long as I don't eat them everyday it's a perfectly acceptable morning companion to fresh fruit and coffee. Not that I eat donuts anyway, but I digress.

My therapist has instructed me to have something protein packed at every meal, but especially in the morning to help jump start my somewhat messed up metabolism. Thankfully, my therapist understands there are times when I just can't handle solid food. Where the act of chewing can cause me more anxiety than the food itself. Because she understands this, she told me that protein drinks are an acceptable replacement and she's just happy that I'm getting nutrients.

Muscle Milk was the answer, half of one in the morning and half of one at some other point in the day or even as breakfast the following day. Then I found Muscle Milk Light and I was ecstatic because it had fewer calories so my anxiety went down even further. I did experiment with a competitor whose shake was a whole ten calories less but the taste was awful and even I can rationalize ten calories for better taste. That was until I saw the back of your bottle.

We live in a day and age where eating disorders are more rampant than ever. It seems each year the age keeps dropping for those being diagnosed with eating disorders, and your product bemoaning someone for eating a donut is not going to change that. Why not put something useful on the bottle? Why not mention that it's a great choice when you're running late and need that boost because it's better than not eating at all? Because eating ONE donut should not make you feel that way but not eating at all will.

I hope this opens your eyes and prompts you to find a new way to market your truly delicious drinks, however, until then I will be unable to continue to support your product or company.

Sincerely,

Miranda Poletti