Put down that cocktail! In a dramatic move yesterday, Whole Foods pulled Bethenny Frankel’s Skinnygirl line of bottled cocktails from their shelves. The drinks claimed to be “all-natural,” but apparently, um, weren’t. The problem seems to have been the inclusion of a preservative, which, it turns out, didn’t sit well with Whole Foods once they found out about it. Whoops.

Should we have seen this one coming? Perhaps. A nutritionist talking to the Huffington Post noted that there are no ingredients listed on the bottles; in retrospect, maybe this should have been an indication that things were not what they seemed. Then again, even without considering what a lack of ingredients may or may not imply, maybe this should have been a no-duh point anyway. Consider: Is it possible for margaritas and sangria—both of which usually contain perishable ingredients, Skinny or not—to live indefinitely on a shelf? Of course not. So even if the drinks consist of as few ingredients as possible, something’s obviously got to go in that bottle to keep it shelf-friendly. Otherwise things could end up kind of messy after a while. Ick.

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Frankel herself acknowledged this in a statement to Access Hollywood: “I’m not making wheatgrass here,” she said. “If I could put an agave plant and some limes on a shelf I would. [The Skinnygirl Margarita] is as close to nature as possible, while still being a shelf stable product.” Even so, she doesn’t seem too worried about the shakeup; she sold the brand to Beam Global for $120 million in April, and she maintains that Skinnygirl is the fastest-growing spirits brand in the US. “We were bound to piss someone off and everyone loves to try to tear down a success,” she said. “This is a non-event. I haven’t lost even a wink of sleep.” Well, $120 million would be a nice lullaby to fall asleep to, wouldn’t it?

I’ll admit that I don’t always pay terribly close attention to what’s going on in the health world, but I am sometimes struck by the hazy line between “diet” food and “healthy” food—because often, it seems that diet food isn’t really all that healthy for you. I’m not sure where Skinnygirl falls on that spectrum; some people seem to love the line and others seem to hate it.

Tell us: What do you think readers? Are you pro- or anti-Skinnygirl? Why?

Lucia Peters is BettyConfidential's associate editor.

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