Have Bod Like Jennifer Aniston, Or $1M

Given The Choice, Most Women Polled Say They'd Take The Money

(CBS)  Women may say they'd do anything to have a figure like their favorite celebrity. But would they really?

An online poll conducted by Women's Day magazine and AOL Body asked women if they'd rather have Jennifer Aniston's physique or be a millionaire. Some 6,900 responded.

Only 22 percent said they'd prefer to look like Aniston, while 78 percent said they'd rather have the money.

Although every woman has her own answer to the question and reasons for it, some health care professionals are concerned about the survey's results.

"This survey maybe does suggest that women may be choosing wealth over health," observes clinical psyhcologist Rene Zweig. "Jennifer Aniston is seen as having the ideal body: She's toned, she's muscular, and she's not particularly underweight."

Zweig says she'd hope women would value being fit more than they do being rich.

"It's already an uphill battle for medical professionals to get people to a healthy weight; 65 percent of Americans are overweight. And if their values are not to be attractive and healthy, that would be concerning."

The survey also asked, "How do you feel about your body." Only 11 percent said great. Fifty-nine percent said OK, with some trouble spots, and 30 percent said they felt uncomfortable and ashamed.

"That really doesn't make very much sense," points out dietician Keri Glassman. "People are saying, 'I don't like the way I feel, I'm ashamed of my body, I'm uncomfortable, yet I'd rather have money than look great and be healthy.' "

Glassman says Americans should rethink what's important: "I think this survey absolutely points to the fact that our values are a little off."

But a lot of American women say they'd still prefer hard currency to hard abs.

"That just sounds like typical women," remarked one young woman on a Manhattan street. "We're very materialistic, so money comes first, especially if you can buy the body with the million dollars!"

[skinnyminny2]

bfolts, give me a break. Healthy food isn''t always expensive--I know this having lived very cheaply as a vegetarian who actually lives on vegetables. As far as poverty, obesity and fresh produce, our local food pantries can''t even GIVE fresh greens away. No one wants them. Salad, broccoli, fresh spinach--all refused. They want the SPAM, bologna, white bread and hot dogs instead. They''re digging their own graves by refusing the very foods they complain they cannot afford. All you hear is excuses, excuses, excuses. Almost anyone can have Jennifer Aniston''s figure if they eat properly and work out, and it''s doesn''t cost a fortune to do it.

[bfolts-2009]

Buying fresh and healthy foods, finding time to work out....if I had Jennifer Aniston''s $$$$, I wouldn''t have to work, so would have the time to get back into shape and be able to afford fresh fruit, vegetables, leaner cuts of meat, and fresh seafood for my family. Have you done a study to see who''s more out of shape and obese? Is it the rich or the poor?

[augustfarm]

CBS, I believe you owe your viewers a more realistic look at the problems of obesity than this one. If I could have, I would have given Keri Glassman a bop on the nose as she mindlessly went on equating something about this survey to real life issues.

Men and women who are overweight or obese need to live within a tight balance of trying to become more healthy and having to live their everyday lives being able to face the daily ridicule from others who think they have the answers; not unlike Ms. Glassman. To maintain, overweight and obese people often have to develop a strong protective layer against what life has given them as a serious challenge and their ability to go forward.

A survey asking women if they would rather have a body like Jennifer Aniston or a million dollars is a stupid waste of time and money. To draw conclusions regarding the real lives of people in relationship to the study is, or should be, unallowable.

[bfolts-2009]

Buying fresh and healthy foods, finding time to work out....if I had Jennifer Aniston''s $$$$, I wouldn''t have to work, so would have the time to get back into shape and be able to afford fresh fruit, vegetables, leaner cuts of meat, and fresh seafood for my family. Have you done a study to see who''s more out of shape and obese? Is it the rich or the poor?

[ianarthist]

The segment misrepresented and almost deliberately misunderstood the attitudes towards wealth and health among American women. The question did not ask women if they would choose having a healthy body over money, but rather if they would choose %u201Chaving a body like%u201Da celebrity, who has that body partly because she is wealthy. Daily reports on the behavior of young celebrities such as super thin Paris Hilton,Britney Spears hardly makes looking like one of them more attractive than saving your home, not having to worry about credit card debt, an already present recession or Christmas presents, let alone never having to worry about having enough money to put ANY food on the table.Those results really show that American women are intelligent, well-informed,perhaps better than those conducting the survey, about the real world and the events swirling around them. Jennifer Aniston is beautiful, but without the explanation that her body is healthy a normal reaction with %u2018oh, have a body like a wealthy, too-thin looking blond over keeping my home, feeding my children, caring for their health and never having to worry about debt again? Thank you, I%u2019ll take the latter!%u2019 While children are starving our candidates argue like pre-adolescents and the media insists on representing Americans, particularly American women, as stupid, immature, irresponsible toddlers who know nothing of the real world. Please be more responsible and stop insulting your viewers.

[dgshiner]

I would definitely take the money cause she by no way is all of that! I wish I had her contacts though so I could get some better deals on exercise equipment!

[random_radar]

Given the fact that you probably aren''t going to get the money but you might get the body if you work at it, I would recommend trying for at least the best body you can get.

Everyone has some control over their diet, exercise, and health care even if it is hard. You can succeed in that.

But I suppose that taking the money is an admission that we really aren''t going to discipline ourselves to keep the body if we had it, right?

[sjw1253]

I have to say that Jennifer Aniston is not one that I would want to look like. I am not sure why she was used as an example.

I do not see anything healthy or vibrant about her at all. She seems to slump a bit and she is average in appearance. I would definitely take the $$$ as I like mine over hers any day.

I would take the money and buy a gym membership to help get my body healthier (get a personal trainer to help make me healthier as I am thin but not healthy and need to have my own issues addressed to make me stronger)...

This is the first time I do agree with someone saying that this example was a very poor one. Again - I am not sure I have ever heard anyone saying how great her body is???

I''m sure she is fit - but nothing above average that I have seen. I mean no disrespect to her whatsoever - she is an attractive woman but as far as having any striking beauty - I don''t see it...

I am a woman so it is not like the guy who said he wouldn''t want it.

The dietician who states her concerns about the results is not looking at the question... Many people may not be happy with the way they appear but to say I want to look like this person over taking the money to help make me healthier may be their thoughts (as this is the way I myself think)...

[johnstossel]

I''m a guy and I would like to have Jennifer Annisto''s body. Hee-hee-hee

[terribayless-2009]

A woman''s #1 concern is Security. Looks may be high up there as well, but not first. It could only have been men who thought it would be different.

[shanev137]

As she doesn''t have that great of a body, it''s not surprising that most would want the money.

[grammawhamma]

The 22% of women who would turn down the money are either lying, butt ugly and/or already wealthy.

[asabig]

I think these people are completely missing the point. Jennifer Anniston is skinny and short. I think the women who answered the poll were honest saying they did not want a body like Jennifer Anniston; she was their only choice. I, for one, would rather have a body like Beyonce or Angelina Jolie (I think they are curvier and sexier than Jennifer Anniston). So, if I were asked if I''d rather have a body like Jennifer Anniston or money, I''d take the money!

[buterflyjo]

Your medical "professionals" are completely out of line to state that your ridiculous study shows that women of today are not concerned with their health. That is absolutely false. My first question, is who nominated Jennifer Aniston to represent millions of women in terms of an ideal body? The bigger issue is why media is so comfortable perpetuating the sterotype of a skinny white women as ideal. Did you ever think to consider a celebrity of color who has actually obtained her physique with hard work and without any surgery, such as Angela Basset or Shakira? Or better yet, an average woman spotted on the street! If I did have millions of dollars like Jennifer Aniston, I''m more than sure that I would have the body I want because I would have the trainer and chef to help me attain my goals. But wanting to look like a skinny, surgery addidcted celebrity... no thanks.

[shafteriffic]

Money is the key ingredient, you can buy the body. DUH!

[mojocoop]

I think the results are misleading, it isn''t about vanity or greed, it''s about survival, security, and relief from the constant grinding anxiety about money. A lot of women are losing their homes, their jobs; they are watching the school system and the media raise their children. They don''t see Jennifer as fit and healthy, they see gorgeous & thin. They have a crushing credit card debt, an insecure, low paying job, and they''re scared. A million dollars can happen, it happens all the time although the odds are astronomical. Waking up with a new body is not likely to happen to anyone. These are tough times for women, for everyone. This survey is almost frivolous, there are so many really serious issues going on.

[oleander8]

It was a dumb poll and you are dumb to publish it with any seriousness.

[calsea]

I agree with the comments made -- of course I would choose economic independence over a "good bod"! It has absolutely nothing to do with my eating habits, my attitude about health, or my presumed desire for "things".

It has everything to due with wanting I have control over, and certainty, my life. What a concept!

[lomasullivan]

I am furious. You had doctors comment on their concern that women are not more worried about their health. First, we are in a recession. Over the past few years, gas, food, healthcare, utilities, insurance, and countless other items have doubled in cost. In some cases tripled. Our salaries, however, have not. How many studies have there been about the stress women are under today? We put ourselves last not because we are not concerned about our health, but there is so much pressure on us that we don''t have the time to make ourselves a priority. If we had a million dollars, we could work less, buy better food(yes it does cost more to buy healthy food), afford a gym membership & actually have the time to go to the gym; worry less about our retirement, or how to put our children thru college, or how our grown children are going to pay their bills. Your poll should have included a lot more questions before someone made the assumption that we do not care about our health. Example of the questions would have been; income status, marital status, breadwinner status, number of hours worked each week. I resent the fact that in this day and age that such a general statement can be made toward one ***! You need to step out in the real world with real salaries before you put people down for making a reasonable choice. We can change our bodies given the time and money. The chance that any of us would be handed a million dollars are non-existent!

[pisthoff]

Yea!!! I agree with all the above comments. Another point we are forgetting we have had children, Jennifer has none. The mom actors with the perfect bodies have had tummy tucks and other surgery to look perfect, along with their chefs (which keeps them out of the kithen)and personal trainers (who come to them at the actor''s beck and call). Furthermore, with the rising costs to live in today''s society, everybody needs the extra $$$$.