Recipe Box: Pico de Gallo, Guacamole, Chilaquiles

After my parents retired, they moved to Ajijic, a small town near Lake Chapala in the Jalisco state of Mexico. I visited them as often as I could afford it during the two years they lived there (they and my brother often helped me afford it!). Right now in the dregs of February, with the weather farking outside the window and threatening to dump another 6 inches of snow on top of the rising floodwaters, I wonder how irresponsible it would really be to use my credit card to hop a plane.

I remember the guys in pickup trucks full of ice that would drive around the neighborhood selling fish they caught that same morning. In Michigan you just don't get fresh shrimp. Ever. My parents grilled them outside with lime juice and a little garlic, then we had lunch in the garden with frosty margaritas and the smell of Jacaranda trees and old city carrying over the wall. The fruit was another marvel for a mid-westerner. I learned that oranges are supposed to be sweet, not sour and acidic. That's the difference of being allowed to ripen on the tree instead of in the truck. Orange mango juice from fresh picked fruit, pineapple that practically melts in your mouth, bananas with actual flavor...I think the lack of really fresh produce is the worst hardship of a Michigan winter. The stuff shipped up from other states tends to be green, sour, bland, or mealy. There's no dark fleshed plums that burst with juices when you bite into them. There's no green beans that steam up nice and crisp and taste like garden-grown bread. There's just the same tired staples under fluorescent lights, sprayed every ten minutes to look like they weren't shipped two thousand miles in the back of a diesel semi.

Every morning in Mexico you walked down to the Tortilleria and got a stack of handmade corn tortillas that served as a lesson in how to live without preservatives. The first day, stored in stone or clay baskets, they stayed soft enough to eat as tortillas. The next morning they were stiff and crumbly. You sliced them up to make chilaquiles in the morning (with scrambled eggs and leftover salsa), then quartered the rest to fry for corn chips. Then you took your basket and walked back down the cobblestone street to the Tortilleria, where the women wrapped your stack of warm tortillas in waxed paper to keep them fresh.

It was the same with salsa. You make fresh salsa at night to let the flavors really mix well. The next day you have delicious Pico de Gallo for almost any kind of dish or snack. The following morning you use it in chilaquiles, then add avocado to the rest for guacamole. Nobody does delicious leftovers like they do in Mexico.

So yeah, going to my warm happy place as I trudge through the snow, I decided to just go ahead and make a batch of fresh salsa for the Super-Tuesday C-span watching "party" on Tuesday. It tasted an awful lot like summer :-) Today it's just about ready to make into guac. If I can find any avacados.

Fresh Salsa (Pico de Gallo)

This is better if made at least an hour in advance, and best if made the night before and stored in the refrigerator. That gives the lime juice and salt time to draw the juices from the tomatoes and onions and really temper the flavors.

6-8 fresh roma tomatoes
2 medium red or yellow onions
3 limes
1 bunch fresh cilantro
2 jalapeno peppers (optional - more if desired)
1 tablespoon coarse (sea) salt

Cut tomatoes in half and scoop out (fingers or a spoon) the seed pulp (or as I call it: the nasty slimy bits)
Chop tomatoes into medium chunks (approx 1/4-1/2 inch)
Slice jalapenos lengthwise and carefully remove core and seeds. Rinse to remove all seeds.
chop jalapenos very finely
Peel onion and chop into medium chunks
remove cilantro stems and chop/shred leaves (approx 1 cup)
Juice the limes; you want about 3-4 tablespoons of juice

Mix all the ingredients well together.
Cover bowl tightly with wrap or lid and let sit in refrigerator at least an hour, preferably overnight.
Serve with a variety of corn chips.

This keeps for a couple days in the fridge, but not much longer. On the second morning, leftovers!

Guacamole:

Use the leftover salsa from above, add equal amounts of avocado.
Slice the avocado lengthwise and scoop out the meat and pit.
Set the pit aside
Use a fork to mash the avocado and salsa together. I like to leave it a little chunky so you can really taste the avacado.

If you're not serving immediately, guacamole will oxidize very quickly. It doesn't make it "bad", but it turns black and looks pretty gross. To prevent this, put the avocado pits back into the bowl, pressing them down into the top of the guacamole. Cover with saran wrap directly onto the dip and pits, leaving as little air as possible between the wrap and the guacamole. Who knows why, but the pits help prevent the dip from oxidizing.

Chilaquiles:

This was the best breakfast, even if it doesn't quite taste the same in winter :-) I've actually found that cooking it in well-seasoned cast-iron makes it taste more authentic:

For each serving:
2 Leftover soft corn (masa flour) tortillas
2 eggs, scrambled
2 Tablespoons salsa ranchero or 1/2 cup leftover Pico de Gallo
1 Tablespoon fresh cream (can substitute sour cream in the U.S.)
1 tablespoon fresh salsa (or to taste)
1 teaspoon olive oil
cut the tortillas into strips and cook in the oil on medium-high until crispy or browned
turn down heat
add eggs and salsa
cook over medium low heat until eggs are to your liking
serve with a dollop of fresh cream or sour cream and fresh salsa. This can be a main dish for breakfast or a "side dish" with eggs and toast

Fat People Sports!

It's an old FAQ, but so far in my reading it's an excellent one!

Big Folks Sports and Activities FAQ

It goes through various sports and physical activities and talks about how to do them as a fat person. Considering my last post, I consider this find a sign that I'm on the right track. They've got a pretty good section on horseback riding. They also have a good section on caving, but while it sounds like a helluva blast, I doubt I have the time or money for the strength training and equipment it would require.

Wouldn't it be grand, though? :-)

I should get back down to Mammoth Cave this year. I used to go every summer as a kid.

Giving up the Fantasy

Thanks almost entirely to Kate Harding's eye-opening blog on The Fantasy of Being Thin, I've posted the following ad to Craig's List:

Looking for a place to take riding lessons or rent a horse for trail riding within 1/2 hour or so of the Kalamazoo/Portage area, either after 5pm or weekends. Specifically looking for a place with a sturdy horse (clyde, shire, quarter, etc.) that can carry a 300 pound fat chick. Grew up with horses but haven't ridden in 10 years. Willing and able to work as part of/in exchange for lessons (stall cleaning, stacking hay, grooming, some carpentry, etc.) Prefer private lessons or adult group with teacher who doesn't judge ability by body size. Frequency of lessons depends on schedule and price.

This is my fantasy of being thin.


I grew up with horses (two AQHA registered geldings), but had to give them both up when I went overseas in my senior year of high school. They went to good homes, and I went to Europe. No regrets, really. The exchange year was a once in a lifetime opportunity and did more to temper me than anything else I've ever done.

I did, however, miss the stable. Fiercely. While I was living in France I tried to take riding lessons, but their horses were too small and I was too heavy. I was at my thinnest in a very long time after swimming and walking every day, but at 6’2” I was pretty damn fit and still 280 pounds. To say I was too heavy to ride isn't fat hatred, just biology. Horses are not machines, and the average riding horse does risk back injury if they carry someone over 240 pounds.

So I made it my shiny, pretty, far-off star to reach for during the next three years. When I got down to 240, I would find a stable and ride again. When I got down to 240 I would finally take dressage lessons instead of the putz-around trail riding I was content to do as a kid. When I got down to 240, I would be a horsewoman, and content, and pretty, and happy, and free, and have no problems whatsoever.

Of course, as we all know, I would never get down to 240, and even if I did, only the first of that list would really change. Not even by swimming laps for an hour every morning before work, doing cardio and weight training every day after work, and eating the media perfect “healthy” diet chock full of veggies, whole grains and lean meats, would I ever maintain a weight below my body's set-point. I lived like that for two years in complete social isolation and never got within spitting distance of that goal weight. Nevermind the 180 pounds I was "supposed" to weigh according to the BMI chart maximum.

Now I have no idea what I weigh, and don't much care. I'm about a size 26/28 in most clothing lines now that my body's set point has "reset" higher from dieting. The one line I had to cross in accepting the FA state of mind was that I thought I had to give up on this one fantasy. I know there's a stereotype about fat girls who like horses, as if it's some kind of freudian defect to har har about. That I could get over. Giving it up would be a lot harder.

This one last dream never changed throughout my life, even when others (like doing the Wild Cave Tour spelunking trip at Mammoth Cave) came and went as motivators to chase thin. I loved going to fairs and horse shows just to walk up and down the aisles. I love the smell of dust and hay. I love to watch them move, I love to do all the little chores of grooming, clipping, brushing, braiding. I didn’t want to give up that part of my identity.

But maybe I don’t.

Now that I'm working my way through the stages of fat acceptance, I'm also learning to think outside the fantasy. For example, did you know that you can put a saddle on a Clydesdale? Also, quarter horses can come pretty big; Ours were 16 and 17 hands and they carried me just fine. Sure I'd need a step to mount until my leg muscles caught up to the jump, but does that matter so much? If I toss the fear that everyone will laugh at the fat chick on the horse, is there really any reason why I have to be six sizes smaller, just to grant myself permission to do something I love?

This is my fantasy of being thin.


And this is me letting go of it.

On a personal note....

New Haiar fridge with adjustable glass shelves and humidity controlled produce drawers: $395.

Delivery, set up and haul away old fridge: $30

Knowing that next time I open the door the cilantro won't be frozen solid and the yogurt won't have completed it's short journey to becoming strawberry-botulism flavored cheese curd: priceless.

ahhhhhhhhh.....

Ok, I crunched a lot of numbers yesterday on the cost of health care, so today I get a break. At least until tonight when I turn on C-span for the primaries.

Big Fat Public Health Care Costs (Revised)

Ok, some people took umbrage with my math in my original post comparing the cost of obesity vs. the cost of the war on obesity. My math was pretty generalized, but then, so are the estimates thrown about by the media on what a fat person costs the taxpayers. My conclusion was that the U.K. is actually spending 35 Million GBP more on failed attempts to make people not fat than they claimed fat people actually cost the public health care system. E-mailers didn't like that.

So I dug deeper. I found more hard numbers, citations, data from the UK's National Audit Office, etc. What I realized part way through is that I'm arguing against fallacious methodology in the first place. The UK's estimate of what "obesity" costs the NHS each year is based on the cost of treating fat people for diseases they assume are caused by fat. The specific studies they use to determine this aren't listed, but considering no independent study (as in, not funded by pharmaceutical companies or weight loss clinics) has proven that fat causes a single disease (remember: correlation is not causation), and that more recent studies are showing that even correlation disappears in most cases when physical fitness is taken into account, I cannot accept their numbers estimating the "cost of obesity" to be valid in the first place.

So here's the revised breakdown, showing that instead of 35 Million GBP, the UK is actually wasting 324 Million GBP, or US $639,772,672.47 trying to make people no longer fat.

(update 2/5/08: Ironically, the day after I posted this, a supporting article came out on Junkfood Science. It analyzed a new study that shows fat people actually have fewer health care costs than thin people over a lifetime. Who'da thunkit?)

Big Fat Public Health Care Costs

It's a good year to be fat, especially if you're a shareholder of Roche or GlaxoSmithKline. According to a January, 2008 report the sale of prescription weight-loss drugs has undergone an eightfold increase since 1999. 1.06 million people in the U.K. are on some kind of prescription drug that promises to usher them into the exciting new world of fashionable thinness through unfortunate (and sometimes lethal) side effects. The majority of media coverage is touting this fact as a positive move, due to what they claim is the high cost of obesity to the public health service.

Claims of “the cost of obesity” vary wildly, from 1 Billion GPB to 40 Billion GBP per year. Few of these claims cite scientific sources; fewer still actually detail the methodology of arriving at that number. One of the few that does is the official Audit Office of the British Government. They say that obesity costs their country 500 million GBP per year. They come to that figure by researching various studies that show a correlation between adiposity and particular diseases. They then calculate the cost of treating the people in the “obese” category of the BMI scale for those diseases, adding in workdays lost through sickness and early death.

This sounds scientific until one considers the fact that thin people get those diseases too. It’s only in fat individuals that the disorder is blamed on the adipose tissue, rather than the likelier suspects of genetics, environment, stress and/or level of fitness. In other words, the estimated cost of obesity is based entirely on the false assumption that correlation equals causation, and that the disease being treated would not exist if obesity were eliminated. (2001 NAO report by the Comptroller and Auditor General).

If, as many studies independent of the pharmaceutical industry are now showing, fatness has little or no bearing on health when fitness is taken into account, this estimate of 500 million GBP disappears entirely. But let’s look at some numbers that do not disappear quite so easily.
According to the NHS (National Health Service), they spend $47.5 Million GBP on prescription weight loss medication, primarily Orlistat and Sibutramine.

According to the British Obesity Surgery Patient Association, an average of 10,000 weight loss surgeries are performed in the UK each year. An average cost for WLS (without complications) is 10,000 GBP. Complications arise in an average of 16% of cases, more than doubling the cost of the treatment. So, on average, the UK can expect to spend approximately 116 Million GBP per year on WLS procedures, not counting lost workdays and the cost of the much-shortened lifespan of WLS patients.

34 Million GBP has been allocated annually to local primary care trusts for obesity prevention programs.

124 Million GPB has been allocated per year over three years for the new 5-point plan for obesity prevention, including programs targeting the gaming industry

2.5 Million GBP has been allocated for the NHS to offer free dance and boxing classes to obese individuals.

So far we’re up to 324 Million GBP, or 64% of the original 500 million GBP expenses blamed on obesity. As no hard numbers were available, I did not account for the cost of TV ads, NHS doctor consultations and monitoring of diets, supplements for programs such as Weight Watchers, government grants for studies, the time and expense of schools to weigh and measure students or police their lunch boxes for snacks, or the billable hours of elected and appointed officials to study, brainstorm, argue, and fight for anti-obesity policies.

In other words, the “cost of obesity” could be better labeled as the “cost of the war on obesity”. The British government is spending 324 Million GBP, or US $639,772,672.47) on failed attempts to make their citizens not fat. So who is really costing whom?

Imagine what all that time and money could do to benefit every citizen if it were spent on HAES instead of hate?

One survivor in Lane Bryant shooting

Police have confirmed that a sixth woman in the Tinley Park store shooting on Sunday survived the incident and was released from the hospital. They don't release any information on her, however, since she's in protective custody until the killer is caught.

Other stores in the mall are open today, and some of the employees are speculating about the motive for the shooting, which left five women dead in the Lane Bryant store. Police say it's a robbery, but some have pointed out that the clothing store wouldn't have much cash on hand. Officials are investigating whether one of the women might have known the gunman.

The dead include store manager McFarland, 42, of Joliet; Connie R. Woolfolk, 37, a real estate broker from Flossmoor; Carrie Hudek Chiuso, 33, a social worker from Frankfort; Sarah Szafranski, 22, a paralegal and graduate of Oak Forest High School; and Jennifer L. Bishop, 34, a nurse from South Bend, Ind., who accompanied her husband to a convention in Tinley Park.

One of the women did apparently try to fight the attacker. Relatives who claimed her body say she had blood under her fingernails and was badly beaten. Thanks to her efforts, they may have DNA to help convict the killer.

Lane Bryant is offering a $50,000 reward.

Shooting at Lane Bryant

5 women were killed at a Lane Bryant in Chicago's Tinley Park around 10:44 am this morning. Police believe that the motive was robbery, and are still looking for the gunman. At least one victim was an employee of the store. Another victim was identified as Carrie Hudek, a 33 year old social worker from Frankfort. The other victims names have not been released, as the families have not yet been notified. They ranged in age from 24 to 40.

The store did not have a surveillance camera, but police are searching surveillance footage from other stores in the area, hoping to catch a glimpse of the killer.

My hope is that the world of pundits and bloggers treat this as the tragedy it is, and remember the humanity of the victims and their families. My sincere sympathy is with them in their time of loss.

Are health risks of fat exaggerated? (well duh!)

The health risks attributed to fat exaggerated from shaky conclusions and a misinterpreted causal relationship? Say it ain't so! :-) Seems like I've heard something like this before, just not sure where....

The Star Tribune in Minneapolis published a quiet little piece about a recent British Medical Journal debate where, wonder of wonders, a couple of rogue experts are actually disputing the epidemic and dangers of fat.

The article, "Are the health risks of obesity overblown?" is available to view once before you have to buy a subscription, so be sure to print it off. (note: if you delete your browser cookies you can read it again.) It features the highlights of a debate between two sets of scientists. One trots out the same tired old propaganda (OMGDIABETES!!!)

The other?

"Media claims about an epidemic ... often exceed the scientific evidence and mistakenly suggest an unjustified degree of certainty."

Really? huh. You mean having breasts doesn't mean I'll automatically get diabetes? Whoda thunk it?

Wait, there's more!

"...The death rates from heart disease and stroke have been falling, not rising. There's no direct evidence that excess fat causes diabetes. "We argue ... that obesity is a symptom of Type 2 diabetes, rather than a cause," said Luik in an e-mail interview. "For instance, changes in physical activity and diet reduce diabetes risk even without loss of weight. How does this support a cause and effect relationship?"

Holy crap on a cracker, Batman! You mean they're still teaching the difference between correlation and causation at those fancy medical schools these days? I would jump up and do a happy dance, but I think the guy at the copier would look at me funny :-)

"Health advocates have resorted to "deliberate exaggeration or, indeed, misrepresentation of the risks" of obesity."

Who cares what the guy at the copier thinks? *HAPPY DANCE!*

Oh, and it's a relief to know that Mememe doesn't get to dance on the graves of the fat people:

Isn't Obesity Deadly? "The evidence is not as strong as you might think. In 1997, the National Institutes of Health found that thin men had the same risk of dying prematurely as overweight men. Any increase in risk is relatively small compared to, say, smoking. "Despite the supposedly abnormal levels of overweight and obesity, life expectancy continues to increase," the two wrote in the British Medical Journal.

Huh...I think I've heard that one before as well....where could it have been? Oh well, I'm sure my memory would improve if I just lost 50 pounds, right?

narf.

In the meantime, Patrick Basham and John Luik are the co-authors of a book that's going right on my Amazon wish list: "Diet Nation: Exposing the Obesity Crusade." It's only available in the UK so far, but I may be able to track it down through the library.

More articles from the same authors:

http://www.forces.org/research/luik/luikintr.htm
http://democracyinstitute.org/Obesity.html

How to contact the sponsors of Mississippi HB 282

In case you missed it, this is the bill that would forbid restaurants from serving food to anyone considered obese.

If you'd like to contact those responsible for this particularly loathesome brainchild, here's how:

Lead Author: Representative W. T. Mayhall, Jr. (R)

Contact Information:

Capitol:
P. O. Box 1018
Jackson, MS 39215

Home:
8417 Cedarbrush Drive
Southaven, MS 38671

(662)393-2069 (H)
(901)734-9540 (C)

tmayhall@house.ms.gov

Co-Author: Representative Bobby Shows (D)

Capitol:
P. O. Box 1018
Jackson, MS 39215

Home:
P. O. Box 373
Ellisville, MS 39437

(601)477-9225 (H)
(601)477-3956 (W)

bshows@house.ms.gov

Co-Author: Representative John Read (R)

Contact Information:

Capitol:
P. O. Box 1018
Jackson, MS 39215

Home:
2396 Robert Hiram Drive
Gautier, MS 39552

(228)497-9852 (H)
(228)497-4090 (W)

jread@house.ms.gov

As a disclaimer, I'm not advocating hate mail, vandalism or anything else illegal or ethically questionable in posting this info. I do think that some informational letters and literature would maybe help to gently correct some ignorant thinking here.

A bill to prevent fat people from eating in public!?

I know I've done this before, but ...

SERIOUSLY!?

SERIOUSLY!?

When I first read this one over at Junkfood Science, I had to double check to make sure the guest writer wasn't from The Onion. Or even the great new Fat Satire (FatSat?) site The Health Institute for Nutrition. I couldn't believe this was something real, or that any elected official could honestly expect to pass legislation that would forbid restaurants from serving food to fat people. That the constitution could somehow allow a state to yank the license of a business that chose to seat anyone who wanted to eat there.

Really, aren't they leaping ahead? Shouldn't they first establish a Fat Section and a Not-Fat section? They could even have completely separate facilities, so that thin people don't have to use the same water fountain. After all, fat is contagious, right?

end sarcasm.

My first reaction, of course, was a cold finger of ice up my spine. Sure they'll never pass it, it can't be anything but a gesture. But the fact that such a gesture can come from a person in a position of authority makes me very, very glad I live in Michigan. *

Basically this stump bill states that the Mississippi department of health is responsible for giving every restaurant in the state information on how to tell if someone is obese. They're non-specific as to how, but I'm sure it'll be easy. After all, isn't it easy to tell how much someone weighs by looking at them? They are then obligated to refuse to serve the bad fatty mcFatFat, and if they dare to do otherwise, their license to serve food at all could be revoked. Then once the fat people can no longer eat in public, they will starve down to a weight that doesn't offend the delicate sensibilities of fat-haters.

Oh wait....grocery stores...and genetics!

curses! foiled again!

So...should we start laying plans for the lunch counter sit-in's now, or wait to see if it dies without fanfare? I don't relish Mississippi in the summer, but it might actually be more effective if we're all in shorts and tank tops.

The funniest headdesk-hysterical part is that the bill would enact three days before the fourth of July.

Happy Independence Day.

Get it?

Ha.

* Michigan’s Elliott Larsen Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age (any age), height, weight, or marital status.

Big Fat public health care costs - a breakdown

It's a good year to be fat, especially if you're a shareholder of Roche or GlaxoSmithKline. Apparently the sale of prescription weight-loss drugs has undergone an eightfold increase since 1999. 1.06 million people in the U.K. are on some kind of prescription drug that promises to usher them into the exciting new world of fashionable thinness through heart palpitations or uncontrollable loose bowels. Why all this fuss?

Why, for the burden of obesity on public health care! The article claims that obesity will cost the U.K. 45.5 billion GBP a year by 2050. They arrive by this highly scientific number by a careful weighing of the cost of every disease obesity is supposed to cause, multiplied by the estimated likelihood that the person with that disease is fat. After all, correlation is always causation, so every fat person with heart disease has only their fat to blame. They run the data through a highly calibrated publicly-funded magic 8 ball to arrive at the 45.5 billion GBP figure. Oh, did I mention that they include the cost of the research to stigmatize fat people into the cost of obesity? Sort of like suing people and tacking on your own lawyer's fee for the trouble it took to do so.

So let's break this down.

A one-month supply of the popular weight-loss drug Xenical is 102.792 GBP at drugstore.com. Let's use that as an estimate. After all it's just as scientific as their numbers.

A one year supply of Xenical is 1233.50 GBP. Multiply that by the 1.06 million people and you are spending 1,307,510,000 GBP per year on weight loss drugs in the UK. That's on the public dole.

Weight loss surgeries have increased dramatically as well. In 2005 there were 4400 surgeries performed in the UK. Since that's the most recent hard number I could find, I'll go with that. After all, we want to be scientific. An average cost for WLS (without complications) is 10,000 GBP. So, in 2005, the UK spent maybe 44,000,000 GBP on WLS procedures.

Now the 45 billion GBP projected for 2050 is a projection, of course. Right now the same study states that "obesity" costs the public health system a whopping 1 billion GBP per year.

So let's break this down. Let's be unscientific and set aside the fact that correlation is not causation and that the cost estimates are radically skewed in the first place as they have no evidence that any of the diseases used in the estimate are actually CAUSED by fat. Only that some fat people have those diseases. (as do some thin people...coincidence?) They also generally fail to take into account the studies that show that fat has protective aspects that reduce the occurrence of certain diseases, and therefore LOWER health care costs in those instances. So let's accept the magic 8 ball numbers and say for argument's sake that fat costs the British Health system 1 billion a year. Let's fudge in the other direction to really be generous with our estimates and not take into account the cost of government staff and resources to enact anti-fat policy, police lunchboxes, lobby for new food labeling guidelines throughout the EU, and other "hidden" costs of the war on obesity.

If fat costs the UK 1 billion GBP a year, and failed attempts to make people not fat costs the UK a highly conservative 1.35 billion GBP a year, doesn't that mean the attempt to solve the problem costs the taxpayers 35,000,000 GBP more than the cost of the original problem?

Doesn't that mean that the UK could very conservatively save itself 35 million GBP a year (approx. US$69,537,012.28 at the current exchange rate) by simply ending the war on fat?

I wonder, if they plowed that 35 million into promotion of HAES, fresh foods in schools, pedestrian-friendly cities, etc.....would they also eliminate the so called "cost of obesity"? A lot of studies are now showing that when lifestyle is taken into account, active and fit fat people (even the "morbidly obese) have the same relative lifespan and health as active and fit thin people.

coincidence?

I think not.

My first photo-shoot

I'm very geeked, the pics from the photo shoot with my friend Breanna came back. It's my first experience modeling for a real photographer who will actually use the pieces in her art.

This one's my favorite, and is definitely my new profile shot:

I'm told that if the subject actually likes 1 in 10 pics from a photo shoot then its a resounding success. That makes this session much better than average. What kills me is that a year ago I would have begged her to delete this because it didn't hide every curve and find that perfect angle that made me look like Angelina Jolie. Is there even such an angle? Who cares? I look damn good in trickster colors. :-)

The best part of posing for her is that she has a great eye for color, and she's a fellow fattie so she knows when I'll be unhappy with a particular shot.

I can't wait for summer so we can do some outdoor sessions.

Fighting for Civility

In the midst of my news searches over the weekend, I apparently missed a complete gem of an editorial that's too good to pass up.

Lucinda Breeding of the Denton Record-Chronicle wrote a piece on Fat Acceptance this past Sunday that I plan to print off and add to my affirmations scrapbook. It's the first really good media response to the New York Times piece on the Fatosphere and if this woman isn't already in the FA movement, I sure hope we can convince her.

"It doesn’t take too much time spent lurking on the blogs to see why they liken their struggles to a fight for civil rights.
In fact, they are fighting for our civility."

How perfectly expressed! That really is the point behind everything the FA movement stands for...that fat people have the right to be treated as human beings. Isn't that the core of civility, to treat people with decency, as human beings instead of objects? We've made a lot of progress towards that goal since the rough beginnings of our culture, but we're certainly far from perfection.

That of course reminds me of Ghandi's quote when asked what he thought of Western Civilization: "I think it would be a very good idea."

"If you’re sedentary and fat, you’re a sinner. If you’re fat and manage two trips to the gym each week, you’re cheating. If you’re a triathlete and fat, you’re destroying your body. Not that the critics have degrees in theology or sports medicine."

Apparently in Denton, TX there's at least one paper willing to print an editorial calling the critics out on their own turf. Bravo!

This particular paragraph slams M. Roth by name and points out her hypocrisy. I'm starting to wonder if Meme isn't FA's best friend, if she's going to continue to make fat hatred look so frantic and ridiculous.

I'd be pretty surprised if Lucinda Breeding isn't a Shapeling in the making. She mentions in her editorial that she's been lurking around the Fatosphere since the NYT article came out. If this is an example of how she expresses herself, I hope she does more than lurk.

Nothing to Do with Feminism

Fat Activism has nothing to do with feminism. Nothing at all. The modern fat health hysteria is completely gender blind. That's why someone put time, money and staff into searching out a correlation between breast size and diabetes. It's also why the careful wording of the scare-tactic headlines are sure to specify bra size as the pertinent risk factor so that men can be sure they're not the ones at risk. Yup, obviously not a feminist issue.

*headdesk*

On top of the obvious scraping the bottom of the barrel for things to be afraid of, this series definitely gets a CDNEC.

(More) Reactions to the NYT article on Fat Blogs

I've been trying to keep up with the slow trickle of news picking up on the awesome New york Times article on Fat Bloggers. The first batch can be found in my summary Here.

THE GOOD:

A lot of the news spread pretty much regurgitates the NYT article word-for-word, such as the National Ledger article from yesterday, and the Tacoma, Washington's News-Tribune article today. They're presenting the issue at face value without tacking on any YOUGONNADIE opinions, which makes them pretty positive!

THE BAD:

While not a lot of news agencies are picking up on this, it's all the buzz in blogs, mostly critical. Google search "fatosphere" for a sample, if you're really masochistic. Also be prepared for an increase in douchhoundery and more fatosphere blogs with the comments moderated.

THE UGLY:

Watch out for those Sanity Watcher Points...Good old D. Savage was on the NYT article like the family dog on leftover chicken in the trash. I won't be linking to it, but at least some of his commenters are starting to express impatience with the recurring theme (read: vendetta).

FA on Fox!?

Does that mean Hell really has frozen over?

(This morning's temperature in Hell, Michigan was -2 degrees fahrenheit, with expected highs of 22 degrees. )

Yup.

Rachel from The F-Word has been invited to appear on Fox’s "Morning Show with Mike and Juliet" this upcoming Monday, to follow-up on the NYT article on Fat Bloggers.

You can see where the show will broadcast in the U.S. at this site. Here in Michigan it's at 9am on the Detroit station, so I really hope someone captures it for YouTube!

It's mixed news, however as they're also inviting fat-hater Meme Roth, who's loathing for her own fat relatives has turned her into a crusader against fat in any form, at any age. She's the rabid idjit behind the fight to make Santa Claus skinny, believes that a healthy woman should be able to fit into her wedding dress for the rest of her life, and threw herself into the public cross-hairs by announcing that Jordin Sparks was "too fat" to deserve to be an American Idol. She was quoted as saying "When I look at Jordin Sparks, I see diabetes". She's an "image consultant" in New York, which makes me wonder how she can possibly be touted as an "obesity expert" by Fox. That's basically like saying a clothing designer is an "obesity expert" because they might sew fabric to cover fat bodies.

Hopefully, Rachel will be able to counter her vitriol and make people see her for the ignorant hate-mongerer she really is.

Give 'em hell!

HAES in the News

"Chasing Perfection," an article in the Australian Courier News yesterday pointed out the connection between dieting, body dissatisfaction and eating disorders. It was a very body-positive article:

""There is a lot of evidence that the more people practise restrictive eating – which is what dieting is – the more likely they are to gain weight," says Lily O'Hara, a public health expert and lecturer at the University of the Sunshine Coast."

You don't often articles willing to criticize the "obesity" hysteria, it's almost become unpatriotic to do so (regardless of the country). I'm glad to see the Courier News willing to do so.



In Holland, Michigan, a hospital is offering a 12 week course in HAES, including body acceptance, pleasure in movement and intuitive eating. The description worries me a little since it puts it in the context of weight-loss, but it does say

"The program embraces the concept that individuals can be healthy at any size and learn to accept their bodies"

I'm really tempted to go to the informational meeting just to see. I would never be able to make the actual sessions (too far away), but I would like to know what approach they're using.


For those of you unfamiliar with the HAES concept, it promotes the idea that people can be "Healthy at Every Size" (HAAS is an alternative version, or "Health at Any Size"). Balanced eating, fitness and positive body image are the goals, rather than weight loss. More information can be found at: http://www.bodypositive.com/

UK encourages bribery to get rid of fatties

They've begged, bullied and bludgeoned fat people, now the UK is resorting to bribery by paying people to lose weight. Basically, they're going to try and turn British companies into settings for competitions along the lines of "The Biggest Loser" with cash prizes for the most weight lost.

There are many claims out there on the cost of fat people to the health care system. These costs are used as scare tactics to force both companies and units of government to "do something" about fat people. How are these costs determined?

Reactions to NYT Article: The Good, The Bad, The Funny

In case anyone's been out of town in the last few days, you've probably already heard about the fat-abulous article in the New York Times about FA bloggers. The buzz has spread, so I thought it would be interesting to do a quick round-up of reactions so far as everyone else scrambles to pick up the story. I'll try to do another round-up later in the day to see if this dies or explodes.

The Good:

The Boston Globe's Miss Conduct posted a very personal, heartwarming reaction to the article, talking about her own body issues and her concern over the hate mail she gets whenever she has the temerity to "suggest treating fat people with courtesy." There's a LOT of good stuff in this piece (my only wish is that it were longer). Amongst other profound bits of insight, she takes the cake when she says, "I cannot fathom what it must be like to have others take it upon themselves to hate my body for me." Looking forward to more good stuff from that quarter in the future.

The Chicago Tribune has picked up the NYT article wholesale. There's a few additional quotes, but it's otherwise the same article. The main difference is that comments are enabled. This may be a good opportunity for follow-up if the fatosphere keeps on the comments and respond appropriately, but they may need Sanity Watchers points.


The Bad:

Harriet from Feed Me! had a rough time on a shock-jock show that invited her on presumably to talk about the NYT article, but really just as a target for hate. She sounds like she kept her cool and cited good evidence in the face of their crap. I know from experience that radio interviews can be a cause for sweaty panic, especially live! Hopefully a few listeners were able to hear her over the obnoxious host.

ABC News has coverage on the story, interviewing Lesley Kinzel from Fashionista, Monique van den Berg from Big Fat Deal, and Lara Frater from Fat Chicks Rule. It starts out with fairly good coverage, but on the second page it devolves back to "OMGFATKILLS". So mixed reviews, but the condescending tone of the last few paragraphs puts this one in "The Bad" category. Comments are enabled here as well, so watch those sanity points.

Kate Harding from Shapely Prose was invited to New York to appear on the "Today Show," only to be canceled at the last minute so that they could cover Heath Ledger's death. Instead the show featured an outrageously commercial, overfluffed plug for bariatric surgery. So it goes.

The Funny:

Not to double-dip, but going back to the Boston Globe's Miss Conduct piece, the closing line almost made me snort apple bits:

"As I've said before, if you think fat people have no self-discipline, consider the fact that they haven't killed you yet."

Congratulations FA Bloggers!

I know everybody's already talking about it, but I have to add my seriously cheerleader-type screech of excitement over the totally fat-positive article on FA bloggers in the New York Times today! Shapely Prose, Big Fat Deal, The Rotund, Feed Me, Fat-Fu, Red No. 3, and The F-Word are all mentioned and/or quoted. Good studies are referenced on why fat isn't necessarily bad for you, and the writers give fantastic positive snippets, such as:

"Smart, sassy and irreverent, bloggers with names like Big Fat Deal, FatChicksRule and Fatgrrl (“Now with 50 percent more fat!”) buck anti-obesity sentiment. They celebrate their full figures and call on readers to accept their bodies, quit dieting and get on with life."

The article headlines on the website as the main story in the health section (with the great shock-graphic of the cute little girl mouwing on chocolate cake from The F-Word's banner). While I'm sure they're worried about attracting new and dis-improved douchehounds, I'd also guess they'll get some new folks wanting to join the fight for body acceptance.

Congrats to all the interviewees for doing a great job in representing us!

Weekend Fluff: Free Rice

Go to http://www.freerice.com/

It's an addicting word game, and for every correct answer you donate 20 grains of rice through the UN to end world hunger.

Yeah, that's all warm and squishy, but really it's about the fun word game to kill time at 4:30 on a Friday afternoon. Forget about Sunday afternoons, this is the true "long dark teatime of the soul."

I peaked out at a score of 46. I'll come back on Tuesday and try again in case my brain just went home early today.

Fat Dance

I'm feeling curmudgeony, so I thought I'd try to counter it with something positive. Not the web comic (both twisted AND funny), but just a little something to show that for each step back, there really is at least one forward!

A special on China Central Television today talks about the growing popularity of the "Danza Voluminosa," a ballet troupe composed of exclusively fat dancers.

A few folks have blogged about this in the past as it's cropped up in the news over the last decade, but the fact that it keeps on coming up might just convince the skeptics who think this sort of thing might be nothing more than a fad or publicity stunt.

To review the fat positive press on these dancers:
NPR covered the troupe in a very fat-positive piece in 2004.
Here's a Youtube Clip of the troupe performing.
There's even a documentary, if you can find it: Defying Gravity came out in 2004.


Unfortunately, while the troupe is in the perfect position to be advocates of fat acceptace, their manager is quick to dodge that mantle. From the New York Times article this year:

Mr. Mas said it would be a mistake to think that his work was intended to glorify or sanctify obesity, or even to deliver a moralistic message that one should not discriminate against the overweight. Rather, he said, the troupe’s art tries to face the reality of obesity while giving larger people a chance to express themselves through dance, a chance they are denied from childhood in most dance classes.

“Although we are obese and dance, we are against obesity,” Mr. Mas explained, saying parenthetically that he admires New York City for banning artificial trans fats from restaurants. “We are always trying to lose weight.”

The quotes from the dancers themselves are much more body positive, and the messages they portray with their dance are powerful regardless of what their choreographer really thinks about fat.

Much more fat friendly (and easier to catch in the U.S. considering the hoops performers from Cuba have to jump to come here) is Big Moves, a dance company with bases in San Francisco, New York, Boston and Montreal.

Featured in the Boston Globe in 2005, Figure Magazine in 2007, and on NPR in 2006, this year Big Moves was also awarded one of the National Women's Confidence Awards by Queen Latifah (before she began shilling for Jenny Craig), and took top honors in the 2007 Montreal Fringe Festival. They were also named Best Dance Company in 2006 by the Boston Phoenix.

Their latest show, "Lard, the Musical" (Like Grease, but Thicker) features a 1950's theme. If you missed it this fall, your last chance may be to catch it at the 2008 Montreal Fringe Festival.

So that's the happy thoughts for the day! If anyone has video clips of Big Moves, they'd be welcome. Otherwise, have a good weekend. I'll be up north in Frankenmuth Michigan at my brilliant and adorable nephew's 2nd birthday party, so no posts until I get back on Tuesday!

Announcing the CDNEC Award for Bad Science

This is pretty much a placeholder post so that I can link back to it easily. The CDNEC Award (pronnounced Cedneck, rhymes with "Redneck") has been invented to mark studies and articles that best demonstrate complete lack of understanding that

Correlation Does Not Equal Causation

Meaning that if a group of fat people eat more asparagus than thin people, the conclusion that asparagus makes you fat is, well, STUPID.

Likewise if more people in a group of men have green eyes than in a group of women, concluding that WEARING GREEN CONTACT LENSES WILL MAKE YOU MALE, is, well, STUPID.

So for all those reporters, researchers, bloggers and editors that believe everything from lung cancer to ingrown toenails is CAUSED by fat, based on correlative evidence, and could be CURED simply by removing adipose tissue, I present the CDNEC:

Feel free to share, cross-post, or use on your own blog as-is, whenever you'd like.

Narf.

Driving Fat = Driving Drunk!?

Seriously!?

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23064210-1702,00.html

SERIOUSLY!?

http://www.sciencealert.com.au/news/20081601-16790-3.html

SERIOUSLY?????

*Headdesk*

In honor of this particular story, which actually has a pretty good chance of getting picked up by media outlets around the world, I would like to propose a new award.....

The CDNEC (CeDNEC, rhymes with Redneck) Award

One Diet Pusher Down, So Many to Go....

For those of you who remember L.A. Weight Loss, they were the very typical, trendy, can't get away from their TV ads of greased up women in bikini's, weight loss scam. They were lately known as the relentless pushers of the over-the-counter version of Orlistat, sold as the weight loss aid "Alli", possibly the greatest invention ever for the laundry industry due to the violent and uncontrollable diarrhea triggered by any fat consumed. Oh, and that handy little hushed-up bit about the colon cancer. That doesn't matter, right? Isn't cancer worth it to lose those 5 pounds? Besides, Chemo will take the fat right off, you'll look great. (eye-roll)

They changed their name to "Pure Weight Loss" in 2007 after a string of lawsuits, orders from state attorney-general offices in Washington, Oregon and New York to substantiate claims in advertisements, a class action lawsuit claiming discriminatory hiring practices against men, and an ABC expose' of their undisclosed costs, hard-sell tactics and emotional manipulation.

Now they have to finally admit that a simple name change can't quite turn the ship around. All 400 branches of Pure Weight Loss have closed as of January 4th.

But weight, (insert rim-shot here)

What about the money?

Members are reporting that corporate headquarters stopped responding to calls and e-mails well in advance of the closing. By the time the doors shut, Pure Weight Loss owed refunds to a lot of people. Tens of thousands of people. They have assurances on their website that they will process them as soon as possible, but members are reporting a complete lack of response. Many of the lawsuits filed against the company in the past were to force them into paying rebates and refunds as advertised, and that was when they were still in business.

Now:

Pure Weight Loss files for Chapter 7 protection (Philedelphia Enquirer)
Pure Weight Loss Inc., the Horsham diet company, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection Friday in U.S. Bankrupty Court, Philadelphia. In a court document, the company said it had more than 100,000 creditors. It estimated its assets at $1 million to $10 million and its liabilities at $10 million to $50 million. The company announced in December that it was closing its weight-loss centers Jan. 4. The company's lawyer did not return a phone call yesterday. - Stacey Burling

Do you think these people will ever see their refund? It would be difficult, considering where the company filed the refund forms they received:

"As for a refund, Pure Weight Loss has posted claim forms on their website, but CBS4's Al Sunshine found out that's not the only place they are. He found dozens of refund claim forms thrown out in a dumpster behind the vacant Pure Weight Loss Center off Sunset Drive and Southwest 117th Avenue. Many of these forms were completely filled out with the customer's name and personal information including their address, their medical histories and their weight. In some cases, the forms even included medical reasons why they wanted to cancel their diet contracts and stop paying for them."
- CBS4.com Daily News


More news articles are beginning to trickle out from customers impatiently waiting for money they paid for nutritional bars, supplements, and counseling, that may never come:

http://www.columbiatribune.com/2008/Jan/20080116News006.asp


Remember, the first one's always free.

Fluff: Murder at the Four Deuces

Since I'm still technically offline, I'm not keeping up as well with fatosphere or news feeds, so now that I've caught a few minutes at a computer, It's filler-time :-) Ten days late, but the pictures of our New Year's Eve party are up. We did a murder-mystery party where everyone had roles in a prohibition-era brothel and speakeasy in Chicago. I was "Madam Meme", wife of the Don and co-proprietor of the fine, upstanding establishment. Girls upstairs, gambling downstairs. Everyone had a blast and went to the line with their costumes. The lovely Tante' sent me a box of great sequined and beaded dresses that we put to good use, and I won best costume in one of them. Unfortunately I was taking more pictures than I was in, but I'm modeling for a photo shoot with Breanna at Beautifully Chaotic Studios on Saturday so I think I'll put it all on again and get some better shots with her pretty new camera :-)

In the meantime, Pictures!

A few more pictures are on my Photobucket

Not everything's loaded, of course, but like I said...offline. It's like having half my brain disconnected.

Sporadic Posting

I will try to get somewhere with a computer once a day to keep my posts up in the next week, but my home computer is DOA so they might get sporadic for a little while until I decide the repair/replace conundrum.

How to Look Good Naked

I caught the re-run of the first episode last night, and was just about in tears by the end of it. It's such a breath of fresh air amidst all the New Year's dieting shows, ads, etc. to have a show that shows how real women can be happy with their bodies right now, instead of dangling impossible standards in their face then chastising them for failing to reach.

It started out with the girl stripping to bra and panties and having to look at herself in a full length mirror. She looked about an average size (12/14? 16 at the most?) but definitely what Hollywood would call fat. She was asked to go over each body part to assess it in front of the mirror, with Carson standing by as coach, countering each complaint with a reality check (you have beautiful skin, all women have those flaps under their arm unless they pay someone to suck it out with some horrible machine, etc.). We did a similar exercise in a meditation class, where we had to look at ourselves naked in a full length mirror (although not with cameras on us!) and describe what we saw without value statements. So I know just how terrifying and vulnerable it felt for her to stand there.

Next they did an experiment that I hope becomes a regular feature of the show. The woman said that her "worst" feature was her large hips. She was brought into a room with 7 or so women, arranged by size from the narrowest to the widest hips. The woman was asked to place herself in the order based on what she thought her size was. She put herself second to largest. Carson pointed out that by measurement, she had added six inches to her hips in her mental image of herself, and moved her down to the correct placement...second to smallest.

This reminded me of an experiment we studied in a sociology class. Women were shown a series of silhouettes, and asked to select the one they think most accurately depicted their body, and the one that they saw as most desired by men. Consistently, women chose a body shape several sizes larger than their actual silhouette, and chose a "desirable" shape several times thinner than surveyed men had chosen as ideal. That's why the first exercise (mirror) is so crucial. Part of being able to love our bodies is knowing our bodies. Part of learning to dress to our shape is knowing what shape we are, and being completely unafraid of it.

The woman was taken to have a professional bra-fitting (and found she was wearing a cup two sizes too small). With all the info Pretty Pear has given on the subject, it's something that's gone up in my priority list. Apparently, the vast majority of women are wearing the wrong bra. 90+% of the support is supposed to come from the band, not the straps (could be why my shoulders ache when I wear certain bras?). The fitting was really enlightening.


At the end, after primping, dressing to her own body shape and style, and agreeing to a photo shoot, Carson dropped another bombshell that I think is going to be a regular. He told her the photo shoot was going to be nude. After some tears and gentle persuasion, she agrees, and they do a series of tasteful shots that turn out really, really sexy. As a final surprise, Carson takes her out into New York, where her photo was projected onto the side of a building. She had to stop random strangers, point at the billboard and ask "Do you think I look good naked?"

The response from both men and women was an overwhelming "yes". A lot of the responses said something along the lines of "That's what real women look like!" One guy got so enthusiastic in his praise that his girlfriend started shooting him glares. The show closed with the woman giving a really positive "no more dieting, I'm going to love my body the way it is" message.

It was fantastic, wildly anti-mainstream, empowering, and I can't wait to be an avid fan of the series! It was definitely anti-diet (described as "destroying yourself") anti WLS/Liposuction, pro body acceptance and love. I just hope that ratings can stay up so that this show can have the kind of life it needs.

The only complaint was that two quack diet pill ads followed the show in commercial break. Lifetime's taken a great step, but has yet to reflect it in their advertising standards.

Recipe Box: (easy) Spicy Winter Soup

Normally I'm big on fresh everything, but this recipe is from a co-worker and tastes surprisingly marvelous, even with packaged ingredients. You can, of course, substitute fresh ingredients for the packaged. In the dead of Michigan winter, however, the "fresh" (i.e. picked under ripe a month ago and shipped here) ingredients are often uninspiring. This is also a great quickie soup for unexpected house guests or family dinner, or cold season to clear out the sinuses and get a dose of nutrients. Serve alone or with a hearty, crusty bread (like sourdough).

Here's the base recipe, feel free to substitute for vegetarian or fresh ingredients if you can get them:

2 cans petit diced tomatoes (2 cups fresh)
2 cans petit diced tomatoes with green chiles (2 cups fresh)
1 pound polish or andouille sausage
1/2 cup rice
1 package (1 pound) frozen chopped spinach
8 cups chicken broth
1/2-2/3 cups fresh chopped cilantro (to taste)

slice the sausage thin (1/4 inch) .
In the bottom of the stock/soup pot (or separate pan), cook the sausage on low to med-low heat until browned.
drain oil.
In soup pot, add sausage, broth, tomatoes and Chiles.
Bring to a simmer and cook for at least 20 minutes (an hour gives optimum flavor, but isn't necessary)
Add the spinach (you don't need to thaw first) and rice
Cook for an additional ten minutes
Add the cilantro
Cook for 10 minutes or until rice is done. Serve hot. This serves well as leftovers, but I haven't tried freezing it. I don't know if the cilantro would survive freezing without breaking down.

Mayor of OKC Calls for City to Lose 1 Million Pounds

The Mayor of Oklahoma City has begun an ambitious campaign for the entire city to lose weight. Unfortunately, they're not talking about urban sprawl, either.

In the Edmond Sun, an article says the mayor's goal is for the entire city to lose 1 million pounds.

The article gives the link to the city's new weight-loss website, http://www.thiscityisgoingonadiet.com/

Seriously?

Now I didn't know if it was an editing issue when the article made a sideways leap mid-paragraph:

"Obesity can lead to other health problems, too. This year alone, one million people in the United States will be diagnosed with cancer. Half of Oklahomans will develop cancer at some point in their lifetimes and 1-in-4 will die from the disease."

Wait...did I miss something? No, the rest of the article is entirely about the dangers of cancer, with no further mention of weight. In an article about dieting.....?

(Cue theme from the Twilight Zone)

Oh, wait, I forgot. Fat causes every disease known to man. Even hangnails and scurvy. How silly of me to think otherwise!

To quote the writers at Shapely Prose....

*Headdesk*

Oh wait, but they're not just targeting fat people this time:

"Together we can become healthier citizens of Oklahoma City. EVERYONE is encouraged to join in the OKC Million community challenge to lose a total of 1,000,000 (ONE MILLION) POUNDS in 2008!"

That's right. Apparently everyone, from athletes to anorexics, can show their civic pride by endangering their health in a crash diet. Doesn't that make you just all warm and fuzzy? Like linty goo? They even include links to Bariatric Clinics in the behavioral modification and surgical programs sections of the website. Because nothing helps to drop those pesky pounds like surgical starvation! I wonder if they put the crematorium ashes on the scale to see if they're under the person's goal weight? Sure you lost a pulse, but you lost a couple hundred pounds with it! And that's what's really important....I wonder if they knock off a couple pounds for the urn?

Oh look, they've got corporate sponsorship! Of course, all of them are Bariatric Surgery clinics:

http://www.thiscityisgoingonadiet.com/Sponsors/tabid/57/Default.aspx

But that doesn't mean this program is a clever advertising/moneymaking scheme by the weight loss industry. They're just concerned about your Health......It's for the Children....


You ever experience a moment when bitter and incredulous sarcasm is the only thing keeping you from screaming and throwing things?

Action and Inspiration

Maybe you've decided that this year will be the year that you reach out and take some part in making Size Acceptance accessible to everyone. Maybe you've resolved to stop waiting for others to provide FA/SA resources and be part of the solution. Maybe you want to do something to get involved, but aren't quite ready for your face and/or name to start showing up on the news or at the bottom of editorials. Maybe you're frustrated that winter is thwarting your ass-kicking plans for sign-waving, whipped cream throwing protests at bariatric clinics. Maybe all of these.

This time of year is difficult. Diet ads and talk are closing in on the post-holiday blues to compound the exhaustion that comes from a concept of self and health that runs so contrary to cultural programming. It's not a new concept. Great literature (Orwell, Huxley, Tolstoy) is replete with characters whose story can only be told because they stand out from the societal landscape. Every great change begins with a small group of people willing to act. Every person who is remembered beyond the death of their children is memorable because they were willing to take a step dictated by their consciousness of rightness being stronger than the programming of mother culture.

But for every person who sits down on a bus and every student who stands in front of a tank, there are hundreds more who create the possibility for that action to be meaningful in the context of a greater whole. There are the organizers, the pushers of paperwork, the poll-workers, and the nameless faces in the crowd that provide mass and inertia to the message. You don't have to be the face in front of the camera to be a force for change. You don't have to be the leader of an organization for organizations to happen. Small actions by individuals are what make the bigger stands something more than an aberration. One person with a sign in front of a WLS clinic is a nut. One hundred people is a movement.

I'm getting a bit side-tracked from my original plans for a post today, but it's difficult to stay on-track this time of year. When I lose inspiration, I also lose motivation. To keep myself inspired, I keep a few good books around, like Paul Campos (merci beaucoup Tante'!) and my recently acquired "Body Wars" by Margo Maine (gracias a Gita por el regalo de Navidad!). When I find myself slipping into the masochistic practice of trying to argue with haters on fatphobic comment or chat threads, or the latest fat hate in the media is dragging me back, I return to what inspired me in the first place. This weekend, it worked. An hour with the Fatosphere often does the trick as well if there's a lot of new posts. I'm inspired by the reminder that I'm not in this alone, and that there's so many intelligent, well-researched, strong-minded individuals out there fighting the same issues with their bodies and the society that wants to create the illusion of shame and monstrosity around something as innocuous as a collection of fat cells.

Another way to stay inspired is through action. Some people are timid to get involved at all, or are worried that they don't have the skills. To be honest, there are plenty of opportunities to make small changes regardless of what you can bring to the table. Right now there are exciting new projects playing out on a grass-roots level throughout the Size Acceptance movement. Some need complex skills, such as web-design or grant writing. All need the less-glamorous but still necessary grunt work that can be done by almost anyone.

Some opportunities to get involved:

1. The MAFRAD project (Media Advocacy for Fat Representation and Anti-Defamation) is working on a revolutionary new combined media guide for Fat Acceptance, covering everything from acceptable language to use in discussing fat in the media to research and links to show the dangers of dieting. Their aim is to create a centralized resource with reliable information so that members of the media can easily find what they need to present an unbiased report.

They're finished with the initial research and drafts. They're currently looking for people to volunteer for the Editing committee to put the pieces into a cohesive whole, and the Web committee to make the finished guide accessible online. You can volunteer by joining their Yahoo Group here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mafrad/ or sending an e-mail to mafrad-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.


2. The Fat 50+ Project is in the early stages of created a guide (state-by-state, province-by-province in the U.S., other countries as volunteers happen) to legislation, legal and medical rights, complaint resources and other issues regarding fat/size rights. This will hopefully create a resource for both consolidating activism efforts and helping with cases of individual discrimination. They have a framework in place but they do need help collecting the information on each state/province/country. Information is easy to find in most cases through the state or province's web site, but if you live in the covered area you have an added advantage of consulting local lawyers, paper records, and local news archives. Any help given will add to this valuable resource. Primarily need researchers. Legal or government contacts would be stellar, but anyone who can slog through legislative documents on a website or google newspaper archives is needed.

You can help by visiting http://fatrights.org/members/ and creating a (free) account. Then click on the link to "Fat 50", pick a state, province or country, and add any information you can find with a link to your source so that editors can double-check.

3. The COFRA project (Council of Fat Rights Activists) is the lead organization for the Fat 50 project, founded by the folks at Big Fat Blog. They're seeking to organize efforts towards Size Acceptance, and need volunteers in many areas.

Volunteer opportunities include: Legal/organizational help (to create organization structure and obtain tax-exemption, create a mission statement, etc.); Web Design; Street-Level Activism (rallies, events, advertising, public relations, etc.

You can help by visiting the COFRA member website at http://fatrights.org/members/ You'll need to create a (free) account, then visit the forums to see what's been done and where they need help.

4. NAAFA (National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance) is a Size Acceptance organization with long standing and credibility. They are responsible for the successful push to add weight/body size to the non-discrimination policy in San Francisco as well as other legal battles against weight discrimination in employment, adoption, and government practices. They are based on the West coast, but have local chapters elsewhere.

The list of volunteer positions can be found here: http://www.naafa.org/volunteers/
Their Fat Activist Task Force tries to coordinate and announce activism opportunities such as letter writing and response to specific issues: http://www.naafa.org/fatf/
To find or create a local chapter to organize Fat Acceptance activism and social support in your area, see the Chapter Index at: http://www.naafa.org/chapters/chapter-index.html
Special Interest Groups are created to coordinate activism and support for those with specific needs or interests, such as diabetics, WLS survivors, Vegetarian, Teen/Youth, Men, Families, Singles, etc. To see a list of SIG's, or to propose a new SIG, visit here: http://www.naafa.org/sigs/sigs.html


That's just what I'm involved in, of course! There's plenty more out there, and if people want to use the comments to draw attention to other volunteer/activism opportunities, please do so. I would personally like to see what else I can help support.

Big Fat Yoga

With all the work to make Christmas gifts, I've been spending a lot of time sitting at the sewing machine. I can really tell the difference when I'm not active. Granted, I'm not a gym rat in the best of times, but being sedentary combined with the holiday stress has really slowed me down. Normally I'm pretty comfortable in my skin. I'm relatively flexible, strong, and can keep up with my friends if we go walking all day without really thinking about it. Of course, I'm still (barely) under 30, so that might change :-)

Yesterday I was feeling stagnant and stiff, so I broke out the Yoga videos that have been collecting dust since I bought them during my "dieting years". My last encounter with Yoga involved someone telling me to do a shoulder stand, at which point I gave them the evil eye and said "My fat ass is NOT going up in the air like that. You guys have fun." Probably for the best, since it's pretty likely I'd come out of it with a neck injury.

This was a Yoga for beginner's DVD, and instead of just diving in full-bore like I would have a few years ago (gotta get my heart rate up, feel the burn, it doesn't work if it doesn't hurt, etc.) I started out with the pose guide and just concentrated on them one at a time. I watched the pose as the tiny superflex-chick on the video did it, then I paid attention to my body and adapted the pose to something I could do without excessive strain. I tried for what they described as the purpose of the pose (elongating the spine, stretching through the arm or leg, etc.) and worked on internal cues to accomplish the same thing in adaptation. Sure, my feet weren't three feet apart in the triangle pose, and my hand was on a rest instead of the floor, but I still stretched from the spine and expanded the rib cage. Isn't that really the point?

At any rate, my usual cycle was throwing myself into a new activity one day, then hurting so much the next day that I was discouraged and tried something else. This time I can feel the difference. I feel stronger and more balanced. My body remembers the good posture I had before I got caught up in the holidays, and I'm aware that the muscles are still there where I left them, if a little dormant :-)

The question is, of course, since I know there's a lot of people in the fatosphere that do Yoga, is there something I'm doing specifically wrong by adapting the poses? Is the end result more important than the precise pose, or is there something about a pose that I could miss entirely by changing it? Of course, the goal is to eventually work my way to the pose as depicted as I regain flexibility, but I'm assuming it isn't important enough to risk damaging something.

Any advice?

"She was healthy twenty pounds ago"

I find it ironic that I hardly ever watch television, but the few times I've turned it on lately I've always managed to catch something meaningful to FA. Are the concepts really trickling in to popular media/entertainment, or is it good old fashioned Jungian synchronicity?

At any rate, I took a break from my mid-winter deep-cleaning of the house blitz and flipped on the TV at random. I was just in time to catch Grey's Anatomy. It was one of my favorite shows for the first couple of seasons, but I'm thinking it got a little soap-opera lately. Anyway, in the midst of all the "who slept with who" drama, a patient comes in with a broken ankle.

She said she fell off her stair stepper and thought she'd sprained it. When they did x-rays, they found that it wasn't just sprained, it was crushed. Her bones had become so frail and brittle that they had started to crumble. The twist? This wasn't some elderly but health-conscious woman. This was a 23 year old girl on a diet.

Wait, it gets better!

It comes out that she's on her low-calorie diet and extreme exercise routine because she and her boyfriend "agreed" that she'd lose 40 pounds before they moved in together. The doctors' eyes pin the boyfriend to the wall, and he tries to defend himself by trotting out the usual:

"She wanted to lose weight, I was just helping her stay motivated."

The girl agrees, and seems proud, even though she's facing six months with her leg bones bolted together and has to take ibuprofen every day to overcome the pain of brittle bones and wasting muscle because her body isn't getting adequate nutrition. The really interesting part is that the reaction from the other characters makes it clear that this girl will get no praise or accolades for her actions. They clearly think it's stupid, unhealthy, and dangerous. She's thin, but she doesn't look healthy, she looks pale and wasted.

And, of course, the cynic in me raises it's ugly head and wonders if they would portray it the same way if the girl was really fat, instead of just going from a healthy average to nearly underweight?

At any rate, the girl's ulcers from her ibuprofen habit hemorrhage and she starts coughing up blood. Because her low-calorie diet and over-training has caused her body to burn up muscle mass, her heart is not strong enough to survive the surgery and she dies.

The boyfriend is out in front smoking a cigarette when he's confronted by a Doctor Torres in a full snorting fire kind of rage, and the dialogue at that point really stuck in my mind like few things on television do:

Boyfriend: She wanted to lose the weight, I was just helping her. I just wanted her to be healthy!
Dr. Torres: Bullshit! She was healthy twenty pounds ago, you just wanted her to be hot! You wanted your ego stroked by being seen with her and couldn't face moving in unless she could make you look good!

She very nearly swings at his sorry, lying, self-justifying face.

Ok, for those of you who really don't care about television, my apologies for the recap. But I have a point. We've heard a lot about dieting lately in the FA blogosphere (and TV, and ads-nauseum). Maybe this episode was aired specifically because of the post-holiday dieting spike, or maybe it was just coincidence, but I've never seen the dieting issue treated in such an anti-mainstream way. Never once did they mention eating disorders, they just presented dieting as something unhealthy entirely on it's own, even if it wasn't pointedly related to or symptomatic of an ED in this particular case. This should speak to the millions of dieters who don't know that you don't have to be anorexic to damage your health with a diet.

Also, it speaks to the often unstated correlation between the body image/weight loss issue and feminism. After we debunk the noble motivation of health, we are left only with the motivation of being told that we are not attractive as fat people. Rather than call them on this bullshit, many people simply choose to change their bodies to please others, without objecting.

This is evidence of the greatest soft-sell advertising in the history of production. The fact that the diet industry can take people who would be outraged if their partner asked them to change their lifestyle (i.e. be a stay-at-home mom or dad, only wear clothing the person likes, only talk to friends their partner chooses, etc.) simply because it pleases the partner rather than themselves, and convince them that it's appropriate to radically change their body and destroy their health for the same reason, is incredible. It's brilliant, from the sleazy political marketing point of view. Decades of struggle for equality and independence, and yet even people who claim to be feminists (like those at majikthise) can fool themselves into supporting dieting simply for the purpose of fitting an unrealistic ideal of their gender as dictated by popular culture.

It's that insidious kind of bigotry and sexism (both male and female) that represents the last stand of any kind of equal rights. Fighting it is fighting a target that cloaks itself in respectability.

We don't like fat because it's unhealthy, it has nothing to do with appearance. I'm not a fat bigot.

We don't want to live in that neighborhood because it looks dangerous, not because black/hispanic people live there. I'm not racist!

We didn't hire her because we didn't think she'd fit in with other employees. It's for her own good, not because she doesn't share my religion!

We don't want to rent to him because we think he'll be disruptive and upset the other tenants. We're not homophobic!

We don't want to hire her because she will cost us more money for health insurance, not because we don't want to work with a fat person!

and on, and on, and on. Yeah, I know the racism/homophobia/fat hatred comparison is a button issue for people, and I'm not making a judgement call as to which one is or isn't more serious, institutionalized and damaging. That's a whole other debate, and one that tends to divide the FA community. There are those of every race and sexuality on both sides of the issue, so it really comes down to personal experience. I personally see similarities in the treatment, legislation and expression of racism, homophobia, and fat hatred. I also see the differences. I'll save details for another blog.

The point is the fear of what's different, and hiding the fear reaction behind respectability to justify hate. Whatever the target of that hate. It is also the fact that so often the targets of the hate actually accept it as truth and believe they are deserving of it. That is what I fight.

Norfolk Clinic Offers WLS for Children

A University hospital in Norfolk, UK is submitting plans to health officials to carry out Weight Loss Surgery on children who cannot lose weight by other methods.

Story from the Norwich Evening News

"the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital is to submit a plan to county health chiefs to carry out surgery on the most severe cases, although only involving children."

But wait, didn't the National Institute for Clinical Excellence in the UK say that WLS surgery for children was not recommended? Of course. But, as we know,

"“We are putting the case forward because of a rise in childhood obesity and illnesses associated with it."

It's for the good of the children, right? Talk about buzzword bingo. Honestly, what all this adds up to? Cha-ching. Children are the last untapped market for a world already saturated with diet fads and drive-through bariatric clinics.

"Hey Maureen, want to get some lunch?"
"No thanks, Claire, I think I'll head downtown and get my stomach stapled this afternoon. After all, I have to look like a perfect sex toy for my husband or else Dan Savage will tell him to leave me."


On this side of the pond, doctors are also considering an increase in childhood weight loss surgery, despite an increased complication rate and death rate of 1 in 50.

From the Washington Post:

"A group of four hospitals, led by Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, are starting a large-scale study this spring examining how children respond to various types of weight-loss surgery, including the gastric bypass, in which a pouch is stapled off from the rest of the stomach and connected to the small intestine."

That article tries very hard to make it clear that the WLS is an absolute last resort. Their definition of a last resort?

"Children are only considered candidates for surgery after they have spent six months trying to lose weight through conventional methods under hospital supervision."

Really. Six whole months? Well fiddle-de-dee, if we can't make those kids slim in a few lousy months then it's under the knife for them! Talk about the art of medicine by Sweeny Todd.

Now, to be fair, the Post does go into some of the grisly details:

"The federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality released a study in July that said four in 10 weight-loss surgery patients develop complications within six months. Among adults, mortality rates among gastric bypass patients remain at between 1 in 100 and 1 in 200 patients."

also:

"Of the patients who participated in the NYU study, two needed a second operation to adjust a slipping band; two developed hernias; five got an infection; five suffered mild hair loss and four had iron deficiencies related to their new diet. After the study was complete, one patient asked to have her band removed because of discomfort, said Evan Nadler, a pediatric surgeon and co-author of the study."

Hmm...that sounds pretty bad, doesn't it Doc? Well yes, concerned parent, it certainly is, but isn't it worth it? After all, if your child doesn't have the surgery, they're at risk of becoming...dare I say it?

A fat adult!

*gasp, cue scary organ music* (pun intended)

Belief, Exhausted

Everything's harder when you're tired. Especially belief.

Sleep is something of a foreign concept to me lately, probably due to the usual holiday stress and SAD. Why do we do this to ourselves? I suppose I should rephrase that question to why do I do this to myself? But removing yourself from a cultural conspiracy is a difficult proposition.
I could say that I'm talking about FA, or the idea of holiday gift-giving expectations, or body image, or the expectation to always live up to some potential ingrained in the image of you that others insist on holding. The answer I pick wouldn't confirm or detract from the truth of any other. The wonderful thing about truth is that it is so seldom based in fact. If there even is such a creature.

But when I'm tired, the insidious creeping hate masked as common sense seems to drown out and cut deeper than the truth. Maybe because negativity has always played better to my cynicism. I should say our cynicism, because backstabbing political ads wouldn't still be airing if they didn't work. Or maybe it's because a few months of Fat Acceptance hasn't erased the 28 years of being programmed to believe that what others direct at me is somehow my fault, and something I deserve for daring to be built the way I am. I really should avoid Quixotic windmill-tilting opportunities like the Majikthise fat-hate thread, but it's like driving by a traffic accident. In this particular case, it's like recognizing the driver as someone you know. At any rate, it makes me realize that if wounds can be opened so easily by total strangers then perhaps they're not healing as completely as I thought.

I have a friend with the philosophy of "what other people think of me is none of my business." Of course it's a difficult thing to live up to and he often doesn't, but that doesn't mean it isn't a laudable ideal. It's something like Ruiz's second agreement. The Four Agreements may be newagey, and I may disagree with the workability or advisability of a lot of it, but there is some good amongst the silly. One good out-of-context quote is: "Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream." In other words, when someone reacts negatively to us, their reaction is not necessarily an objective commentary on us, but more an expression of them. A weight-bigot is expressing their self-loathing, a rude person is expressing their despair, a cocky ass-hat is expressing their insecurities, and a kind person is expressing their love. None of it has anything to do with your own value, worth, humanity, or any other moral measurement. If a person pays you a compliment, they may be doing so to make themselves feel better, or because they feel good and wish to maintain it. The same person after a bad day may criticize what they complimented. That doesn't mean your value has changed, it means their own paradigm has shifted. In effect, you don't have to take anything, compliment or criticism, personally. Or, "what other people think of you is none of your business."

Like I said, it's an imperfect ideal. If you follow it exactly then you have no mirror to hold up to the fixable imperfections. Sure, if someone else thinks I have a character flaw then I have to consider the source. If my imperfections are part of many different paradigms, however, then I have a basis for self-examination to see if there may be some truth in it. I respect the opinions of those I respect, even if I don't take them as absolute truth. That is the line between respect and pedestal-building. The latter will always fail. Complete insularization is as dangerous as allowing others to dictate your self definition. There is always a middle way. But in the meantime I'll keep reminding myself that what other people think of me is none of my business...unless I choose to make it so.