Are you INSANE?! August 11, 2008

What’s a parent to do? “Most important is to practice good sleep hygiene techniques,” said Dr. Elsie M. Taveras, the lead author and an assistant professor of pediatrics at Harvard, who is herself the mother of an infant and a toddler. “No TV in the bedroom, no caffeinated drinks and so on. Getting a good night’s sleep is not just to be at our best the next day; it’s really to assure good health.”

OK. Who gives their TODDLERS caffeine and puts TVs in their bedrooms? Apparently parents of obese children. Because all obese parents have poor childrearing skills.

JK Rowling is teh fatz July 25, 2008

From Harvardmagazine.com:

Honorand J.K. Rowling told the afternoon exercises audience, “Not only has Harvard given me an extraordinary honour, but the weeks of fear and nausea I have endured at the thought of giving this commencement address have made me lose weight. A win-win situation!”

Hmph. A win-win situation would have been Rowling NOT praising stress as a weight loss method.

American Fairy Tales July 13, 2008

Tweety from one of my longtime fora, GeekCulture, has started a new blog, American Fairy Tales. He only has one post so far, but more are promised. The concept is original: America lacks fairy tales like the Brothers Grimm or Hans Christian Anderson. The story posted, about an ogre named Ormley, is cleverly written and contains just the right amount of descriptive phrases and humor. Unfortunately, the message of the story demonstrates the author’s wholehearted subscription to the popular media’s propaganda that fat and overweight are caused by eating fried, high-fat-content foods and that those foods, as well as being overweight or obese, leads to heart attacks and death.

Or maybe that’s the fairy tale.

More food for thought:

Eat Smart

Comments on “Health At Every Size”

Weight Loss Fantasy

Thin Addiction

Veggie Consumption

Fat Family

I think I can, I think I can July 10, 2008

I forget who said it, probably Aristotle or Socrates of Plato, but “As I think, I am,” or something like that. Apparently that’s how it works with weight loss, at least, according to this article. Maybe that’s why our loved ones tend to respond with “but you just ate (insert number) of hours ago” when we say we’re hungry?

A departure from the norm July 10, 2008

… or is it?

I discovered this article by Naomi Wolf on another blog whose address I forget. It’s an article about pornography and how it has affected the young men and women of today. Insert “media” for “pornography,” and change “sexuality” to “obesity,” and you have a totally accurate portrait of today’s attitudes, too. But then again, it’s a strong possibility - if not reality - that pornography has affected our attitudes about obesity. Read the article, then leave your comments here.

The Coping Diet July 10, 2008

A friend of mine sent this to me. I think you’ll enjoy it, tongue-in-cheek as it is.

THE COPING DIET

Only girlfriends can understand this one. This is a specially formulated diet designed to help women cope with the stress that builds during the day.

Breakfast
1 grapefruit
1 slice whole wheat toast
1 cup skim milk

Lunch
1 small portion lean, steamed chicken
1 cup spinach
1 cup herbal tea
1 Hershey’s kiss

Afternoon Snack
The rest of the Hershey kisses in the bag
1 tub of Hagen-Daaz ice cream with chocolate chips

Dinner
4 glasses of wine (red or white)
2 loaves garlic bread
1 family size supreme pizza
3 Snickers Bars

Late Night Snack
1 whole Sarah Lee cheesecake (eaten directly from the freezer)

Remember: Stressed spelled backward is desserts.

Send this to four women and you will lose two pounds.

Send this to all the women you know (or ever knew) and you will lose 10 pounds.

If you delete this message, you will gain 10 pounds immediately. That is why I had to pass it on; I didn’t want to risk it.

Top 10 Fattening Summer Foods July 9, 2008

Beware teh fatz! WebMD has taken it upon themselves to warn us about popular summer foods. Make sure you don’t let even a morsel of these past your lips

Hm… now NBC 10 is talking about why people should try to lose their beer bellies. I wish I could post a copy of it, but I can’t find one on their site. Instead, here’s a slide show about how to lose beer bellies. From the captions:

The key to achieving fat loss in your waist area is to reduce overall body fat percentage. You can reduce body fat quite simply by consuming fewer calories than you are expending.

Uh, say what? “Quite simply” for whom?

Of Stools and Stepladders July 7, 2008

After coming up empty in my search for a step stool at Linens ‘n Things and Home Depot yesterday, I visited Lowe’s today. When I finally found the correct aisle, I looked for the kind of stool I wanted.

Remember those round things librarians used to use years ago? Lowe’s didn’t have that kind, but they did have a variety of step stools. Unfortunately, the weight limits were low. The highest limit was 300 pounds, but it was a full-fledged step ladder, for which I have no room in my kitchen. The smaller step stools also had the lowest weight limit. At 255 pounds, my husband wouldn’t have been able to use those stools! What’s up with that?

Fat Kids? July 6, 2008

Pdiff left this comment, so I wanted to make my reply a post.

So Rhohwyyn, what if the child was obviously over weight. Would you be supportive of unsolicited intervention then? Childhood obesity can be a serious health issue too.

Just curious.

Pdiff

I think it’s hard to know - for the untrained eye - when a child is unhealthily overweight. It’s normal for children to be “chubby.” In general, I don’t think it’s really something to be concerned about, at least not to the extent that it’s being freaked out about in Oz.

I have a feeling, too, that many, if not most, parents can see when their children are fat, just like most people know when they themselves are fat. Or do parents have blinders on when it comes to their own children? I doubt it, though, because how many of us heard from our parents - mothers, in particular - that we were too fat? Practically all of us. Maybe the solution is finding a way to speak positively and gently about fat and health, not tear down our children for things they can’t control?

Mind The Gap July 6, 2008

For the past two weeks, my husband and I have been busy packing and getting ready to move to our new apartment. I’ve had lots of thoughts about what to write, but lacked the energy to do so. Now that all of our belongings are here, we need to unpack, rearrange, and figure out how to live life in a new space.

Please bear with me as I continue to post infrequently. I’ve really enjoyed reading your comments thus far. Keep ‘em coming!