The runaway blockbuster cultural phenomenon "American Idol" debuted for Season 6 last Tuesday night with another record-breaking two-hour television performance that attracted 37.3 million Americans to watch the best and the worst singers from Minneapolis, Minnesota. This show has become synonymous with our culture because it is people living the American dream and having the opportunity to realize that dream come true.

That's one of the reasons why I LOVE it so much. So, yes, count me among those who tuned in to watch. But as I sat their watching getting up only to check my e-mails a time or two during the commercials, there was something that struck me about this competition as only my twisted mind could concoct.

Here it is: What if "American Idol" judged weight loss?

After last year's public relations nightmare following the media frenzy that ensued when the E. coli virus contaminated bagged spinach products in California killing over 100 and making thousands more sick all across the United States, the nation's top manufacturer of ready-to-eat salads has stepped forward to take the lead in trying to prevent something like this from happening again.

I recently highlighted a weight loss program called "Shrinkdown" and is sponsored by the local YMCA chapters all across the state of South Carolina. In fact, I decided to join this year to see what it was all about.

After the intial weigh-in and a check of the key health statistics a couple of weeks back, participants in the "Shrinkdown" program were given a "Healthy Living Guide" three-ring binder to bring with them to their weekly Friday weigh-ins. Additional materials have been distributed each week and will continue to for the remaining weeks in the program.

Many of my new readers who have discovered my blog in the past few weeks here at DietDetective.com have e-mailed me asking about whether I have loose skin after my 190-pound weight loss and want to know what I am doing to handle it. In fact, here's one of those e-mails:

Dear Jimmy,

I thought I would send you an email regarding weight loss and the dreaded loose skin afterwards. After skin removal surgery, people seem to be very happy with the results. Have you had this surgery? Is loose skin really inevitable when you are very overweight? How do you limit loose skin? Does losing too fast encourage loose skin?

I'd love to know if you have ever written a blog about it. It's very discouraging losing all that weight only to be left with a whole lot of skin and where you have to stay covered up.