A Civil Liberties Segue

I don't usually stray too far into controversial political issues other than FA, and I don't plan to make this blog a regular platform.  But there's a disturbing thing happening in Michigan, and it has to do with my reproductive rights.  

The Michigan senate is considering a bill (SB600) that would allow drivers to purchase an official license plate with a "Choose Life" logo on it.  $25 from the purchase of the plate would go to the organization Right to Life, which claims to simply offer "abortion alternatives," but in reality is an active political lobby for criminalizing abortion and denying funds to organizations like Planned Parenthood, which provides many uninsured women their only opportunity to get routine health care like pap and pelvic exams, access to birth control, etc. (only a tiny portion of Planned Parenthood's operations involve abortion). 

Oh, and there's no option to purchase a plate that supports the other side of the issue.  The state is only interested in endorsing the anti-abortion stance.

Now when I say I'm pro-choice, I mean that I absolutely support a woman's right to choose to not have an abortion.  I support women who think it is the wrong choice for them, and who decide to either raise the child or put it up for adoption.  But the key word in that is "choose."  Choosing to not have an abortion, and taking away MY right to choose whether to have one, are two very different things.  

I think that this issue is an extension of the idea that a woman's body does not belong to her.  This same idea leads to people feeling justified in judging, criticizing, and attempting to control our bodies in other ways.  Weight, for example.  Anyone who's listened to office gossip knows that our culture (including most women) feel that a woman's body is a public object.  She has a social obligation to "maintain" it according to society's standards or face society's wrath.  In part, a woman is blamed if she is raped or harassed because to some extent our culture sees her as already belonging to other people (especially to men) and her body was never her's to defend.  Likewise, we have to fight against the expectation that our purpose (other than decorative) is as a machine for the reproduction of genetic material not our own.  What could be a more personal expression of our ownership of our bodies then deciding whether to give up nine months or more of our lives, threaten our physical and mental health, our economic security, and every other priority, to grow a human being?  Of course having the right to say no to that challenges every cultural assumption that we do not own our bodies.   

I don't think that the state of Michigan has any business becoming an endorsement mill for divisive political organizations.  I have no problem with their using the plates for sports teams (as they offer every team in the state).  If they're crossing the line into political positions such as abortion, they need to make sure that people on both sides of the issue have an equal chance to express their views.  Denying them even that choice pretty much sums up what's wrong with this situation. 

Ninja Commenting, continued

I have my dummy e-mail address (fatactivist @ gmail) and am going to try and post 2-3 comments per day on various articles with fat hate.  I find it helps to not read the other comments.  Today's theme was Paula Deen, and I left comments on 3 articles slamming the hypocrisy of Anthony Bourdain (who chain smokes and binge drinks on his TV show) criticising Paula Deen for cooking unhealthy food.  You know, unlike the butter sauce he puts on everything?  But he's thin, so it makes it okay for him to claim health superiority.  Even though he has to take a break to climb a set of stairs because he has no lung capacity left. 

I used to like his show. 

New Ninja Commenting Text

Until I make the reluctant leap to join the Hive Mind (aka Facebook), I'll continue to update comment cut-and-paste texts for Ninja Commenting here on my blog.  Here's the latest, which I'm using on general "why don't they just put down the donuts and take a walk" kind of fat hate threads, especially those targeted at "childhood obesity".  I think it covers the basics for someone not already in the fat acceptance paradigm:

Ninja Comment:

No one has ever developed a way to make fat people thin. Really. Everyone thinks that it's a very simple thing, but if that were so, wouldn't everyone be thin? No empirical study of weight loss shows more than a 5% long-term success rate for any weight loss method. That means that in five years, 95% of people not only re-gain all the weight they have lost, but generally end up approximately 3-10% heavier. That includes weight loss surgery patients.
The good news is that there are several studies showing that fat and unhealthy are NOT the same thing. Studies show that a person's level of exercise, regardless of how much they weigh, is the primary determinant of health. Genetic factors play a very high role as well. Stress (like in stigma and shaming) is a very important factor in developing many illnesses normally attributed to weight, but for some reason we blame the weight alone.

Trust me, kids know when they're fat. If they ever interact with our culture in America, they're not allowed to forget it. Shaming, bullying, and weight stigma have shockingly bad effects on health. For instance, eating disorders amongst kids younger than 12 have shot up in the last decade. Think about 9 year olds being hospitalized for anorexia before you condone weight-shaming in children. Childhood depression and other mood disorders have increased dramatically. Children who aren't even overweight for their age are developing a poor body image that will haunt them throughout their lives.

If you're interested in an alternative model for health instead of a fruitless pursuit of weight loss and panicked screaming about epidemics, (see the recent news from the federal health agencies that Americans actually haven't been getting any fatter for the last decade. Weight has not increased in any age category), use your search engine to look for HAES (Health at Every Size). You'll notice that a lot of the health specialists involved with promoting HAES are those on the front lines of eating disorder reasearch. They know that the old system of shaming and blaming is only going to do more harm.

Recipe box: Gluten-Free Crepes

I'm finally posting JD's Gluten-Free Crepes!  This is something he adapted from another recipe to work with the GF flour mix we use (below).   We generally eat them for breakfast, ideally with mascarpone cheese and sliced fruit.   Mascarpone can be found in a lot of food stores that sell specialty cheeses.  It's a very sweet, light, Italian cream cheese that tastes like crème fraîche.  The brand we find locally, Belgioioso, is gluten free.  You can also use regular cream cheese, sweetened ricotta, or Neufchatel. 

Gluten-Free Flour Mix:

4 parts white rice flour
3 parts potato starch
2 parts sweet white sorghum flour

measure parts by pouring into a measuring cup or container and use the same container for each "part".  If you have a kitchen scale, measuring by weight is even better!  Scooping the flour from the original container can compress it and give you uneven results.  Mix all the parts together very well (we put it in a big container and shake it thoroughly). 

Crepes

1/2 cup flour [see above for GF flour mix]
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
5/8 cup milk (1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons)

If possible, use a small round nonstick pan with tapered sides, like an omelette pan.

Preheat the pan on medium heat. Dampen a paper towel with vegetable oil and wipe it on the pan to give it a very thin coating.

 Mix all ingredients together. Whip until well blended. Pour just enough batter into the pan to coat the bottom, tipping the pan to spread evenly.  If it doesn't flow well, add milk by tablespoons until it is thin enough.  

Wait for approximately 1 minute, or until crepe is dry and slides easily in pan.  Flip crepe and cook for an additional 30 seconds.  The crepe should still be light and pliant without browning, but may have brittle edges. 

For the visual learners, here's a Youtube video on how to cook the crepes.  Skip past the mixing of ingredients and use the recipe above, but note the texture of the batter and watch how he pours it to coat the pan.

Makes 6-9 crepes.

Ninja Commenting

Ragen at Dances With Fat posted a piece on how we can practice some activism at home and take back some fat hating comment streams through Ninja Commenting.  Please read the post, because it's excellent :-)

I want to expand on her idea and use it myself.  The idea is to find mainstream news stories (not private threads or weight-loss sites; we're not trolls!) about weight.  These stories inevitably spawn some gut-churning nastiness in the comment threads, which I usually avoid.  No longer!  I don't have to read them, but I can post a comment to help challenge the paradigm. 

Step 1 is to create an e-mail account for the purpose.  I don't want to sign up for spam, so I'll create an e-mail account specifically to use as my news commenting account.  I will register it at most of the mainstream news sites I go to (cnn.com, Detroit News and Freepress, etc.)  I'll register more as I need to to comment on individual articles.

Step 2 is to put together some stock responses.  You will find that these articles and comment threads can be generally sorted into a very few themes:

1.  Fat and diabetes (i.e. you got diabetes because you're fat, or if you're fat you'll get diabetes)
2.  Weight loss (i.e. you'd be less fat if you just xyz)
3.  Fat myths (i.e. fat people are lazy, stupid, underqualified for anything, never exercise)

There may be others, of course.  But I can put together a few stock answers to general categories to simply cut and paste to comment threads without spending a lot of time typing.

Some definite necessities:

Ragen mentioned two very important follow-up steps.  Don't check the box that notifies you of responses or follow-ups.  Don't go back to the article to see if anyone has responded to your post.

Trust me, they've responded and you won't like it.  We joke about "sanity watchers'" points in FA, which means you should limit the amount of negativity directed at you when you have the option.  Mental health is still health.  So post your ninja comment and never look back.  It isn't for you; it's for that poor lurker who will come across it and have a seed planted in their heads that they might just be okay.

I'll keep this post updated with stock answers.  Please feel free to use my stock answers, although they'd be much better in your own words (especially if more than one person is ninja commenting the same article!).  Try to avoid putting links in comments, as they're sometimes rejected and sometimes require complicated formatting to work. Instead, cite sources and let the readers look them up. 

Stock Answer 1:  Fat and Diabetes

This is currently useful for the Paula Deen hate going around.  I took the quote from the ADA from Ragen's post.   

It's a common myth that weight can cause diabetes, but according to the
American Diabetes Association: "Most overweight people never develop type
2 diabetes, and many people with type 2 diabetes are at a normal weight or
only moderately overweight."  This is backed up by a lot of research. 
When they say weight is a risk factor for type II diabetes, they mean it
is correlated.  When two things are correlated, it means that they don't
know which causes which.  The type II diabetes could cause weight gain. 
The two could also both be the result of similar biological (genetics) or
environmental (stress, toxins, etc.) causes. No long term study has shown
that reducing weight reduces diabetes risk, which would make sense if the
weight was a symptom, not a cause. Other major factors that are often
ignored include stress and inactivity.  Rather than blaming fat people for
an illness that could affect anyone, maybe we should explore real ways to
improve health in our country?  I would recommend looking up the HAES, or
"Health at Every Size" concept for thorough research and effective models
for public health programs.


Stock Answer Two:  Childhood Obesity (or, "why don't the fat kids just put down the donuts")

No one has ever developed a way to make fat people thin. Really. Everyone thinks that it's a very simple thing, but if that were so, wouldn't everyone be thin? No empirical study of weight loss shows more than a 5% long-term success rate for any weight loss method. That means that in five years, 95% of people not only re-gain all the weight they have lost, but generally end up approximately 3-10% heavier. That includes weight loss surgery patients.


The good news is that there are several studies showing that fat and unhealthy are NOT the same thing. Studies show that a person's level of exercise, regardless of how much they weigh, is the primary determinant of health. Genetic factors play a very high role as well. Stress (like in stigma and shaming) is a very important factor in developing many illnesses normally attributed to weight, but for some reason we blame the weight alone.

Trust me, kids know when they're fat. If they ever interact with our culture in America, they're not allowed to forget it. Shaming, bullying, and weight stigma have shockingly bad effects on health. For instance, eating disorders amongst kids younger than 12 have shot up in the last decade. Think about 9 year olds being hospitalized for anorexia before you condone weight-shaming in children. Childhood depression and other mood disorders have increased dramatically. Children who aren't even overweight for their age are developing a poor body image that will haunt them throughout their lives.

If you're interested in an alternative model for health instead of a fruitless pursuit of weight loss and panicked screaming about epidemics, (see the recent news from the federal health agencies that Americans actually haven't been getting any fatter for the last decade. Weight has not increased in any age category), use your search engine to look for HAES (Health at Every Size). You'll notice that a lot of the health specialists involved with promoting HAES are those on the front lines of eating disorder reasearch. They know that the old system of shaming and blaming is only going to do more harm.

Happiness Project: Memories versus Clutter

Scanning important documents, photos and souvenirs and tossing the originals is one of the frequent decluttering techniques I've seen posted on organizational blogs.  I've always really resisted it, and now I have a good reason.  I've just had a catastrophic computer snafu, and irretrievably lost all copies of every photo I've ever saved electronically.  

Digital is convenient and compact, but anyone who works with digital files regularly should be very aware of their ephemeral existence.  You can back them up in various ways, but they are never entirely safe.  True, paper photos are subject to fire, flood and theft, but electronic images always held an extra element of intangibility and easy loss. 

So I'll get aboard with reducing clutter by ditching hard copy books for digital, because in a pinch I can always get another.  I'll scan unimportant documents like past bills where I can get copies from the companies if needed.   But I don't think I'll ever be comfortable with having my only copy of important photos and writing in electronic form. 

One of my happiness resolutions is to remove all kinds of clutter from my life.  But I think I need to define clutter as that which is unimportant and unnecessary.  Physical objects are not always clutter, and clutter is not always comprised of physical objects (stress, anxiety, overcommitment, etc. can be clutter).  I hereby declare that photos of important moments in my life (within reason) are no longer clutter.  I defy the professional organizers and take back the right to prioritize my own life and belongings. 

In exchange, I need to commit to caring for what's important.  I have photos tossed in boxes and piles that need organizing and arranging in albums.  I should toss photos that no longer evoke good memories, and reduce those that do to a representative sample.  I don't need a hundred pictures of the same beach in Cozumel.  I should scan what I do have and back it up to an online storage medium so that I am protected from both physical and electronic damage.

Maybe that's what clutter means to me: If it isn't worth the effort to protect it, is it really worth having at all?

Happiness Is....

Warning:  Sappy alert!

Happiness on this very snowy morning is warm gluten-free crepes with lemon curd and mascarpone, a pre-warmed car with all the snow brushed off, good music, and a partner who gets up early to make it all happen even though he doesn't need to be anywhere for two more hours. 

Happiness is being grateful every day that he's in my life.

Georgia's Idea of Sugarcoating

The state of Georgia is currently covered with billboards and videos telling people to "stop sugarcoating it" in regards to childhood obesity.  What's next, a campaign against bipolar disorder telling people to "just get over it already!"?

Let's start with the cognitive disconnect over what constitutes "sugarcoating." 

I'm routinely bombarded with the message from the news media, my doctors, the majority of websites, and multiple ads, that I'm going to get horribly ill and die.  More subtly, I'm told that I don't deserve clothes that fit, chairs that fit, public transportation seating that fits, or human love and contact.  My friends are told that they will get fat and die just by associating with me.  I am uncomfortable exercising in public because of hate vibes, sneers and verbal attacks.  Fellow fatties are physically attacked for daring to exercise, verbally assaulted for daring to ride a bus, rejected by lovers, friends, employers and service personnel, and denied custody of their own children.  They are denied adquate medical care, pay higher insurance premiums, and have to justify any illness or injury; even those common amongst thin people.  I am told, over and over again, in subtle and overt ways, that I am a failure as a woman and a human being.  All because I am fat.

Where the fuck does the sugarcoating come in?  I must have missed that part.  Or is it considered sugarcoating if they're not actually sticking knives into us?

Fat stigma and shame has not worked in a century or more, and will continue to not work.  Anyone in the mental health field with any experience with eating disorders will tell you that shame and stigma are demotivators; they do the opposite of what they're intended to do.  If shame and stigma were successful at creating thin people, no fat people would exist. 

So, since insanity is repeating the same actions while expecting different results, how about we try something new?  How about Georgia tax payers (and all of us) demand evidence-based research behind health initiatives, instead of popular media science?  HAES and similar weight-neutral, positive approaches are the only ones that show real, long-term health results. Not necessarily weight results, but perhaps public officials need a reminder that health was their real purpose. 

In the meantime, consider signing this petition from Change.org to stop these particular fat-shaming, kid-hurting billboards in Georgia.

http://www.change.org/petitions/childrens-healthcare-of-atlanta-end-the-stop-sugarcoating-obesity-campaign

The Biggest Winner?

Our office has begun the ubiquitous and poorly named "Biggest Loser" contest.  If you're lucky enough to be free of these where you work, the premise is that whoever loses the most weight in a certain time period wins a pot of cash, which the participants paid to enter. 

Now I don't think that health should be competitive.  There's enough "good/bad fattie" stigma from the world inflicting guilt if you don't exercise for hours every day or eat nothing but whole vegan organic foods.  But I think, as a matter of compromise, that the only way to get rid of these destructive weight-loss competitions is to first replace them with something constructive. 

So I propose a "Biggest Winner" contest, based on precepts of HAES, and focusing on adding health positive actions to your day instead of deprivations. This might already exist, and if it does please let me know!  If it's a feasible idea though, I'll eventually put together a full kit of daily e-mails, goals, charts, etc. that people can download for use in their office or organization. 

One of the challenges is that HAES is an entirely new paradigm for most people.  The idea of health independent of weight is radical, and it has to be presented in acceptable bite-size pieces if this is going to work. 

If you have any ideas for points or rules to add, remove or tweak, please let me know in comments or via e-mail at Jolandra6 at Yahoo (formatted here to prevent spam).

Contest Rules:
You earn points for certain physical or mental wellness activities.  It is self-reporting and depends on honesty, but the goal is to try out new wellness activities to see if you want to incorporate them into your life.  At the end of the contest (1 month?  6 weeks?)  the person with the most points receives some sort of prize/trophy/recognition. 

Any one activity can only count in one category.  If you go for a swim, it can count as exercise, meditation, or time for yourself (not all three). 

The maximum points for each day or week are to promote moderation.  You are welcome to go for a two hour run every day, but as 30 minutes of moderate movement is enough to gain significant health benefits, the maximum is to allow people to meet that mark without feeling that they have to overdo it to stay competitive. 

Points:
10 points for each 10 minutes of moderate physical activity (30 points maximum each day)

This can be any physical activity that raises your heart rate and breathing to aerobic levels.  You can walk, dance, swim, mow the lawn, etc.  It doesn't have to be traditional "exercise" as long as it gets the heart rate and breathing up! It can be done in increments (i.e. three 10 minute walks). 

5 extra points per day if the activity you chose to do is one you enjoy. 

This is defined as something you like enough that you want to continue to do it after the contest is over. 

10 points for 10 minutes of strength training or stretching activity (20 points maximum each day)

This can be traditional weight lifting, or any activity that strengthens or stretches muscles (especially core muscles) such as pilates, yoga, or simple stretches.  It is generally recommended that you give muscles 24 hours to recover after strength training; so alternate strength and stretch days, or work a diffferent area of the body each day.  

10 points for 10 minutes of meditation (20 points maximum each day)

This can be any activity that creates mental stillness, grounding and centeredness; whether traditional meditation, simple deep breathing, yoga, tai chi, etc.  It must be done without distraction or interruption, for at least 10 minutes at a time. 

10 points for adequate sleep the previous night

This is generally a full 8 hours, although your body's needs may vary.  Some people only really need 7, others may need 9.  If you require a lot of caffeine or other stimulants to get through the day, you're not getting enough. 

5 points for each serving of fruits, vegetables or whole grains (30 points maximum each day)

Look for foods you enjoy or haven't tried before and prepare them in different ways to get variety.  You may find that a vegetable you dislike is tasty if prepared differently.  Note:  It's still a vegetable if you put butter on it.

10 points for trying a new food (10 points maximum each week)

This can be anything you've never tried before, or haven't tasted for at least 10 years.  It can be a new way to prepare a familiar food, or a completely new ingredient.  It needs to be more than a simple variant on a familiar recipe, unless the taste is dramatically different.  

10 points for each day you drink enough water

Your water needs may vary, but the general rule is to drink half your body weight in ounces of water each day.  You need more if you exercise, breastfeed, or are ill, but you may need less if you have certain medical issues like low sodium or potassium.  Soup, juice, soda, milk, etc. all count towards your total for the day. 

10 points for doing something just for you (10 points maximum each day)

This can be anything that simply gives you pleasure.  Take some time to read or veg.  Go window shopping.  Get a mani/pedi.  Eat dessert.  Take some "me" time.  Avoid anything that serves dutiful double-purpose as being about someone else's happiness or accomplishing something.  If the activity is accompanied by the idea of what you "should" be doing, it doesn't count in this category. 

20 points for volunteer activites or charitable donations (20 points maximum each week)

Any cause you feel good about can count towards these points.  This can be anything from shoveling your elderly neighbor's walk to volunteering at Habitat or an animal rescue, to decluttering your house and dropping off reusable items at a charity resale shop. 

50 points for a personal wellness project (50 points maximum each week)

The focus should be on positive additions to your mental and physical wellness, but this should be a significant project for you, and you decide your goal for earning points.  You can split the points into days or make a weekly goal. 

Some ideas for personal wellness projects:

1.  A personal activity goal beyond the points offered above

2.  Commit a certain amount of time to decluttering your house each week
3.  Significant time spent with friends, family or partners
5.  If applicable, commit to keeping your blood sugar or other controllable measures within a certain parameter each week


While the focus is on adding positive measures, you can decide for yourself what your personal wellness goal will be.  If you want to set a goal to reduce or eliminate tobacco, caffeine, alcohol, etc. you can certainly set those goals!  You could also set a goal to reduce your level of criticism, or to focus on constructive thinking. 

The personal wellness goal should be achievable, reasonable, measurable, and contribute to your personal wellness (physical, mental, or emotional). 

2012 Body Love Resolution Telesummit

Have you registered yet?  It's a series of live interviews, accessible from anywhere with internet access, with many of the super-stars of size diversity.  Golda Poretsky will interview such well-known names as Peggy Howell, Marilyn Wann, Linda Bacon, Paul Campos, etc.  Many FA bloggers, activists, and other experts are on the list.  I'm really excited to have registered, and can't wait to listen!

You can register at http://www.bodyloverevolution.com/  There's a free basic access registration that lets you listen to the entire series, but the paid all-access is well worth it if you can afford it.  They give you download privileges for all the interviews until the end of March (in case you miss one, or want to keep it for future reference).  They also donate 20% of the proceeds to NAAFA (National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance). 

The one unhappy note is that signing up for the teleconference will subscribe you to various newsletters from the presenters.  If that says spam to you, use a temporary dummy e-mail to register.  I would prefer that they let you select the newsletters you would like (or opt out), but I don't think their data collection is that complex.  You can unsubscribe to any of the newsletters you do receive, and they promise to not sell your e-mail elsewhere.  I get it; I've done non-profit event organizing. Speakers need some kind of enticement or compensation for their time.  If they're not paid in cash, they need to be paid in contacts.  Altruism is a wonderful thing, but time is valuable.  So while it doesn't make me happy, I can see why an event organizer would feel the need to make this particular move.  I still think the telesummit is worth it, and registered for it this morning.