I know that some of you will read the articles in the paper and online today about the growing number of obese Americans with the horror that it is intended to engender.
I don't...as I'm sure you would guess. I do have some hope, as more people become fatter, that more will see as clearly as I do, the way in which the "obese" are discussed as other...a problem that must be dealt with.
This is subtle, but it is there. Civilized oppression at its finest. The creation of other makes it easy for those who are fat-phobic to have a greater voice. Just read the comments that follow the articles and I'm sure you'll get your fill of it.
I have all sorts of feelings about solutions that are proposed, but I'll leave them for another time.
Those of you just joining the fold of teh fats, welcome!
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Cogitating
I'm doing a lot of reading of studies on obesity and stigma. I hate the term obesity, and it makes me furious that people who are writing cannot understand that part of the stigmatizing of being fat is having my size relegated to an "illness."
I don't feel sick. I've been fat for a long time and most of that time I've felt perfectly healthy. Some things are more difficult for me than for thinner people, but I would challenge you to do the activities I do with a backpack with at least 50 lbs extra weight every day.
I am strong. Brian and I wrestle sometimes. He tries to hold me down and keep me from going to the bathroom or some such thing. One morning, I wriggled out from under him and got my feet on the ground. He held on tight and I dragged his full-body weight down the hallway to the bathroom.
Now that I'm not eating gluten, I have energy. In the past 6 months, I feel like I am back to most of the things that I used to be able to do before the Lyme and before the gluten issues. I have allergies, but somehow I think that if I weighed 150, I'd have allergies, too.
I do not have an illness. I was amazed at one of the grocery mags showing Kirsty Allie and her struggle with self (because she's not struggling with weight so much as with who she is). They reported that, at 250 lbs, she collapsed, as though her weight were so huge that she could no longer support herself. Well, reader's, at 260, I am no where near collapse. And I never think of myself as "disgusting" (maybe that's what caused a collapse).
I know the things that fat correlates to...but I am growing increasingly aware that fat also is severly stigmatized, and a constant threat to self causes stress. Stress is also correlated with all those same illnesses. So how much is the fat and how much is the stigma of being fat causing fatness.
Sometimes, I just want to put up a billboard with lot's of happy fat people (women and men) with this title: "We are not the enemy!" Because it feels like there is a war against me and my fat going on out there.
I don't feel sick. I've been fat for a long time and most of that time I've felt perfectly healthy. Some things are more difficult for me than for thinner people, but I would challenge you to do the activities I do with a backpack with at least 50 lbs extra weight every day.
I am strong. Brian and I wrestle sometimes. He tries to hold me down and keep me from going to the bathroom or some such thing. One morning, I wriggled out from under him and got my feet on the ground. He held on tight and I dragged his full-body weight down the hallway to the bathroom.
Now that I'm not eating gluten, I have energy. In the past 6 months, I feel like I am back to most of the things that I used to be able to do before the Lyme and before the gluten issues. I have allergies, but somehow I think that if I weighed 150, I'd have allergies, too.
I do not have an illness. I was amazed at one of the grocery mags showing Kirsty Allie and her struggle with self (because she's not struggling with weight so much as with who she is). They reported that, at 250 lbs, she collapsed, as though her weight were so huge that she could no longer support herself. Well, reader's, at 260, I am no where near collapse. And I never think of myself as "disgusting" (maybe that's what caused a collapse).
I know the things that fat correlates to...but I am growing increasingly aware that fat also is severly stigmatized, and a constant threat to self causes stress. Stress is also correlated with all those same illnesses. So how much is the fat and how much is the stigma of being fat causing fatness.
Sometimes, I just want to put up a billboard with lot's of happy fat people (women and men) with this title: "We are not the enemy!" Because it feels like there is a war against me and my fat going on out there.
Tuesday, June 09, 2009
Health crisis in America!
A friend of mine has recently begun a training program in "integrated nutrition." She sent out an e-mail to let everyone in the Bay Area know that the head of the training program was coming out to basically sell his training program in a "free seminar."
As a lead-in to one of the paragraphs she used the wording in the title of this post. And, seeing as I am mostly used to seeing this verbage in connection with the "obesity epidemic," it left me wondering if we really do have a crisis in health in the US.
I am well aware that we are spending more and more on healthcare in the US. But I'm also aware that we keep developing new medications and treatments which continue to extend the age of the average American. And we keep making more babies. And when people have 8 babies, we do everything in our power (even spending a disproportionate amount of money) on keeping all those babies alive.
Now I think that we should keep doing these things...I'm a tax and spend liberal, of course....but I think we need to recognize that this "crisis" that we face is also the "opportunities" we have developed for ourselves. We really like the idea of living for a long time. And we are healthier than we have ever been. We also like the idea of taking care of the young and vulnerable...that just makes us feel good.
I'm afraid that if we focus on "crisis" though that we are going to focus on the grey "areas." Indeed, I feel as though the pathologizing of obesity has become one of those areas.
It's frustrating because if we think instead of this as a time of "opportunity," perhaps we can come up with solutions that go beyond witholding or blaming others and figure out a system that serves us all well.
As a lead-in to one of the paragraphs she used the wording in the title of this post. And, seeing as I am mostly used to seeing this verbage in connection with the "obesity epidemic," it left me wondering if we really do have a crisis in health in the US.
I am well aware that we are spending more and more on healthcare in the US. But I'm also aware that we keep developing new medications and treatments which continue to extend the age of the average American. And we keep making more babies. And when people have 8 babies, we do everything in our power (even spending a disproportionate amount of money) on keeping all those babies alive.
Now I think that we should keep doing these things...I'm a tax and spend liberal, of course....but I think we need to recognize that this "crisis" that we face is also the "opportunities" we have developed for ourselves. We really like the idea of living for a long time. And we are healthier than we have ever been. We also like the idea of taking care of the young and vulnerable...that just makes us feel good.
I'm afraid that if we focus on "crisis" though that we are going to focus on the grey "areas." Indeed, I feel as though the pathologizing of obesity has become one of those areas.
It's frustrating because if we think instead of this as a time of "opportunity," perhaps we can come up with solutions that go beyond witholding or blaming others and figure out a system that serves us all well.
Monday, June 08, 2009
Gluten, gluten everywhere....
I went out with S & SS on Saturday to celebrate their return from their trip. In discussing whether there was wheat in some item on the appetizers menu, I learned that I had gotten glutened by the restaurant earlier in the week. It had caused me to take a day off, and now I'm having lovely stomach aches.
It wasn't the restaurants fault. I hadn't asked, but just made the assumption that everything was gluten free because it was Thai.
I have several conferences where they will be serving meals this summer. I've already let one of them know...the other I'm trying to figure out who to contact.
It just gets so tiresome. Maybe in a year or 2 it will be secondhand, but right now, it's just annoying.
It wasn't the restaurants fault. I hadn't asked, but just made the assumption that everything was gluten free because it was Thai.
I have several conferences where they will be serving meals this summer. I've already let one of them know...the other I'm trying to figure out who to contact.
It just gets so tiresome. Maybe in a year or 2 it will be secondhand, but right now, it's just annoying.
Monday, June 01, 2009
Geneology Mania
Since returning from my trip to the coast, I've been literally obsessed with my geneology. This obsession is being spurred on by Ancestry.com and the resources they have on their website.
It's amazing how easily I'm finding information on a particular generation of people. Almost ridiculously easy.
There've been a few interesting tidbits, like the fact that my father's great-grandfather's family came from a place called Hundrup in Denmark. The church there kept great records and their birth records are all searchable.
But I've been staying up too late and now it's Monday and I am tired!
It's amazing how easily I'm finding information on a particular generation of people. Almost ridiculously easy.
There've been a few interesting tidbits, like the fact that my father's great-grandfather's family came from a place called Hundrup in Denmark. The church there kept great records and their birth records are all searchable.
But I've been staying up too late and now it's Monday and I am tired!
Friday, May 22, 2009
Weekend Away
I'm heading out tomorrow for a much needed personal retreat. I've found a lovely inn in Inverness (do you like the aliteration?) to enjoy the outdoors, swim in the pool, relax in the whirlpool, do some uninterupted reading and watch some gratuitous cable.
Wow! I'm going to be busy.
Any memorial day plans for my peeps in blogland?
Wow! I'm going to be busy.
Any memorial day plans for my peeps in blogland?
Thursday, May 14, 2009
What Not To Wear
I don't often buy new clothes. I often shop and buy clothes, but rare are the times I buy new.
This past weekend, feeling flush with tax returns, I went shopping for new things. I didn't spend much, but it felt like a lot. But I was motivated by a colleague's coments about how she's going to report me to "What Not To Wear."
Now don't get me wrong, I would love to be on the show. First, being given $5000 to spend on a new wardrobe: woot woot! But there's also a part of me that would love to go be fat and proud on the show. And, of course, there is the idea of having Nick Arojo's hands in my hair that is part of a wide variety of personal fantasies.
But as I was thinking about what my colleague said, I realized that she is right. I often will go shopping at thrift stores or other places and find things that fit, but may be too baggy. I also know that, I have lost at least a size since finding out about my gluten thing. There was very little real weight loss, but it was mostly inflamation and bloating. So most of those clothes that have fit me not too long ago are getting to the very baggy stage.
And, then, there are the internal rules that I have played by for decades. Baggy is good to hide the "bulges." Neutral is better than color to not attract attention. These are no longer rules that I want to live by.
So true to the WNTW show, I created a set of rules for myself and went shopping. I'm very happy with what I found, for the most part. I do need to have one pair of pants I bought slightly altered (something I've never done, but was wanting to do with these pants...I have a shape that does not always lend itself to typical pants sizing). But, all in all, I am happy with my choices. I feel good. I look good in these clothes. And I got lot's of compliments.
Still, I do have the other clothes. If you'd like to refer me for WNTW, I would willing bring out the old stuff for your video taping pleasure!
This past weekend, feeling flush with tax returns, I went shopping for new things. I didn't spend much, but it felt like a lot. But I was motivated by a colleague's coments about how she's going to report me to "What Not To Wear."
Now don't get me wrong, I would love to be on the show. First, being given $5000 to spend on a new wardrobe: woot woot! But there's also a part of me that would love to go be fat and proud on the show. And, of course, there is the idea of having Nick Arojo's hands in my hair that is part of a wide variety of personal fantasies.
But as I was thinking about what my colleague said, I realized that she is right. I often will go shopping at thrift stores or other places and find things that fit, but may be too baggy. I also know that, I have lost at least a size since finding out about my gluten thing. There was very little real weight loss, but it was mostly inflamation and bloating. So most of those clothes that have fit me not too long ago are getting to the very baggy stage.
And, then, there are the internal rules that I have played by for decades. Baggy is good to hide the "bulges." Neutral is better than color to not attract attention. These are no longer rules that I want to live by.
So true to the WNTW show, I created a set of rules for myself and went shopping. I'm very happy with what I found, for the most part. I do need to have one pair of pants I bought slightly altered (something I've never done, but was wanting to do with these pants...I have a shape that does not always lend itself to typical pants sizing). But, all in all, I am happy with my choices. I feel good. I look good in these clothes. And I got lot's of compliments.
Still, I do have the other clothes. If you'd like to refer me for WNTW, I would willing bring out the old stuff for your video taping pleasure!
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