Recently I was asked to vote for the Full Figured Fashion awards, which included models, web sites and magazines devoted to larger women. I discovered, to my dismay, that there are a whole slew of magazines and web sites that are popular that I've never heard of, among them:
Web sites:
Judgment of Paris
The Curvy Fashionista
Young, Fat & Fabulous
Pasazz
Meili Sawyer for Plus Size Fashion
Full Figure Plus
PlusModels.com
Luvin' My Curves
Runway Revolution
Musings of a FatShonista
Magazines
Beauty Plus Power
Skorch Magazine
Plus Model Magazine
Gemini Magazine
Manik Magazine
Belle-Noir
Daily Venus Divas
Just as Beautiful
Lou Lou Magazine
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Summer Tomato Blog
Thanks to my friend Caryn, I just found this marvelous blog/web site, called the Summer Tomato http://summertomato.com/category/basics/
The gal who runs the site writes about eating healthy foods, exercising and learning to eat seasonally and cook your own meals instead of eating out at restaurants, which are generally havens of crappy foods laden with fat, sugar, salt and thousands more calories than any one human needs to consume per day.
Those are all great things to aspire to, especially for the average guy or gal who can eat omnivorously, and not worry about having their colon explode if they consume a sunflower seed or an errant raspberry.
But for me, food is a minefield, especially all the whole grains, fruits and vegetables that are coming into season this spring and summer. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE most fruits and veggies, with the exception of okra, brussel sprouts, green beans, onions and strawberries/raspberries, (I am allergic to the latter four items) but when I eat broccoli, for example, or spinach, I have to plan to spend the next 24 hours in the bathroom, in pain, evacuating my bowels and taking percoset so that I don't scream, cry and alarm my husband and son. The same goes for oatmeal, which I adore. Eating oatmeal with dates or raisins and brown sugar is, for me, like eating a land mine. My intestines swell with gas, my colon cramps and writhes, and I am back on the toilet with explosive diarreha for what feels like an eternity. Beano or other anti-gas liquids also make me ill, as does any sort of 'lactaid' kind of pill that is meant to help one digest dairy products. They just do not work for me, and never did. The same goes for eggs, though I adore them. Recently I had the chance to eat some fresh eggs from cosseted local chickens, but I felt it wasn't worth the horrible gut pain they cause just to taste the ova of a chicken named Dosie I'd met in person.
Supplements, particularly ones that have calcium or magnesium in them also kill my gut, and constipate me so badly that I can't go to the bathroom at all, but must feel terrible urges as my colon cramps and tries to do its job, but can't. I'd love to get my Crohn's disease under control and be symptom-free, but I have no health insurance, and my gastroenterologist refuses to give me any new medications until he does a colonoscopy to see if I've got another stricture or some other inflammation in my gut. Colonoscopies cost around 2-3K, by the way, so there's no help from that quarter.
In the last couple of days I've read and watched a lecture by a scientist telling his audience how evil sugar is, especially white table sugar and the dreaded high fructose corn syrup, which is supposedly not even digested by your body, but turned by your liver into fat nearly instantaneously. Wow. Of the few foods I can digest, of course, there's regular white bread, decaf tea with sugar and corn/rice cereals that nearly always contain high fructose corn syrup, but don't contain whole grains. Unless, of course, I want to buy these whole grain rice cereals that are 'organic and all natural' and cost 6 dollars a box. Unfortunately, not only do I have a wreaked digestive system, I am also a freelance journalist who has spent the last year and a half without any assignments, and is therefore poor. I can't afford to buy expensive fruits, veggies, cereals, etc. I am also allergic to nuts, so noshing on walnuts to reap the benefits of all their omega 3s isn't going to happen. And don't get me started on how expensive fish is here in the Pacific Northwest, where it is supposed to be plentiful. The closest I get to eating the requisite amount of fish is frozen fish sticks or canned tuna. I love saltine crackers, because they're easily digested and they taste good, but I know they're not what I am supposed to be eating.
Still, I can and do attempt an apple every few days, or a pear, and my family eats chicken at least twice a week. My husband can't live without pork, particularly pork tenderloin and bacon, so I am not sure how to winnow that from my diet, and he's also a fan of red meat. We try to have a pasta dish with shrimp that my husband makes with a tomato-based sauce every couple of weeks, and we are all fans of potatoes, cooked carrots and beets. My husband and son love corn in any form, and my son and I both adore asparagus, but it has to be well cooked if I am to eat it without pain. Soymilk and soy cheese pizza are two things I can't live without, and are a regular part of my diet, though I always add black sliced olives and a bit of spinach to my soy cheese pizza for flavor. I also always use olive oil in cooking, the baked goods I make are vegan and I assume a bit healthier than the sweets I could buy in the store.
I know that I have 'portion distortion' problems, and eat too much of the foods I can eat, but since there aren't a lot of things I can consume, I would at least like the ones I do to taste good. Things that taste good to me invariably have sugar in them. I find myself watching "Dr Oz" dispense diet advice and wonder what he'd make of my portly form. I certainly would be unable to eat the foods he advises, because I'd be sick all the time if I did, and I wouldn't be able to attend exercise classes 5 days a week as I do now. But, since I am not hypertensive, not diabetic and I don't have a cholesterol problem, I wouldn't fit well with his 'truth tube' and fear-mongering over the obesity epidemic.
At any rate, I was thrilled to see Mo'nique win the Academy Award for best supporting actress for her role in the movie "Precious," last Sunday. She was one of the only women in attendance who wasn't a size 2 or below. I also saw a burlesque show on Capitol Hill several weeks ago that had a larger gal and several older women who had what is commonly called "junk in their trunk" sashaying about on stage wearing pasties and tiny underpants as if it were the most natural thing in the world. And it was...it was also sensual and liberating to see women comfortable in their skin and with their sexuality, though they are women of size. YOU GO, BIG GIRLZ! Woot!
The gal who runs the site writes about eating healthy foods, exercising and learning to eat seasonally and cook your own meals instead of eating out at restaurants, which are generally havens of crappy foods laden with fat, sugar, salt and thousands more calories than any one human needs to consume per day.
Those are all great things to aspire to, especially for the average guy or gal who can eat omnivorously, and not worry about having their colon explode if they consume a sunflower seed or an errant raspberry.
But for me, food is a minefield, especially all the whole grains, fruits and vegetables that are coming into season this spring and summer. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE most fruits and veggies, with the exception of okra, brussel sprouts, green beans, onions and strawberries/raspberries, (I am allergic to the latter four items) but when I eat broccoli, for example, or spinach, I have to plan to spend the next 24 hours in the bathroom, in pain, evacuating my bowels and taking percoset so that I don't scream, cry and alarm my husband and son. The same goes for oatmeal, which I adore. Eating oatmeal with dates or raisins and brown sugar is, for me, like eating a land mine. My intestines swell with gas, my colon cramps and writhes, and I am back on the toilet with explosive diarreha for what feels like an eternity. Beano or other anti-gas liquids also make me ill, as does any sort of 'lactaid' kind of pill that is meant to help one digest dairy products. They just do not work for me, and never did. The same goes for eggs, though I adore them. Recently I had the chance to eat some fresh eggs from cosseted local chickens, but I felt it wasn't worth the horrible gut pain they cause just to taste the ova of a chicken named Dosie I'd met in person.
Supplements, particularly ones that have calcium or magnesium in them also kill my gut, and constipate me so badly that I can't go to the bathroom at all, but must feel terrible urges as my colon cramps and tries to do its job, but can't. I'd love to get my Crohn's disease under control and be symptom-free, but I have no health insurance, and my gastroenterologist refuses to give me any new medications until he does a colonoscopy to see if I've got another stricture or some other inflammation in my gut. Colonoscopies cost around 2-3K, by the way, so there's no help from that quarter.
In the last couple of days I've read and watched a lecture by a scientist telling his audience how evil sugar is, especially white table sugar and the dreaded high fructose corn syrup, which is supposedly not even digested by your body, but turned by your liver into fat nearly instantaneously. Wow. Of the few foods I can digest, of course, there's regular white bread, decaf tea with sugar and corn/rice cereals that nearly always contain high fructose corn syrup, but don't contain whole grains. Unless, of course, I want to buy these whole grain rice cereals that are 'organic and all natural' and cost 6 dollars a box. Unfortunately, not only do I have a wreaked digestive system, I am also a freelance journalist who has spent the last year and a half without any assignments, and is therefore poor. I can't afford to buy expensive fruits, veggies, cereals, etc. I am also allergic to nuts, so noshing on walnuts to reap the benefits of all their omega 3s isn't going to happen. And don't get me started on how expensive fish is here in the Pacific Northwest, where it is supposed to be plentiful. The closest I get to eating the requisite amount of fish is frozen fish sticks or canned tuna. I love saltine crackers, because they're easily digested and they taste good, but I know they're not what I am supposed to be eating.
Still, I can and do attempt an apple every few days, or a pear, and my family eats chicken at least twice a week. My husband can't live without pork, particularly pork tenderloin and bacon, so I am not sure how to winnow that from my diet, and he's also a fan of red meat. We try to have a pasta dish with shrimp that my husband makes with a tomato-based sauce every couple of weeks, and we are all fans of potatoes, cooked carrots and beets. My husband and son love corn in any form, and my son and I both adore asparagus, but it has to be well cooked if I am to eat it without pain. Soymilk and soy cheese pizza are two things I can't live without, and are a regular part of my diet, though I always add black sliced olives and a bit of spinach to my soy cheese pizza for flavor. I also always use olive oil in cooking, the baked goods I make are vegan and I assume a bit healthier than the sweets I could buy in the store.
I know that I have 'portion distortion' problems, and eat too much of the foods I can eat, but since there aren't a lot of things I can consume, I would at least like the ones I do to taste good. Things that taste good to me invariably have sugar in them. I find myself watching "Dr Oz" dispense diet advice and wonder what he'd make of my portly form. I certainly would be unable to eat the foods he advises, because I'd be sick all the time if I did, and I wouldn't be able to attend exercise classes 5 days a week as I do now. But, since I am not hypertensive, not diabetic and I don't have a cholesterol problem, I wouldn't fit well with his 'truth tube' and fear-mongering over the obesity epidemic.
At any rate, I was thrilled to see Mo'nique win the Academy Award for best supporting actress for her role in the movie "Precious," last Sunday. She was one of the only women in attendance who wasn't a size 2 or below. I also saw a burlesque show on Capitol Hill several weeks ago that had a larger gal and several older women who had what is commonly called "junk in their trunk" sashaying about on stage wearing pasties and tiny underpants as if it were the most natural thing in the world. And it was...it was also sensual and liberating to see women comfortable in their skin and with their sexuality, though they are women of size. YOU GO, BIG GIRLZ! Woot!
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Interesting Article About Plus-Sized Athletes
Olympic athletes fit, not so trim: Score one for changing beauty standards
By MEGHAN DAUM
Los Angeles Times
Gee, someone deserves a medal! Women of a certain heft are suddenly everywhere.
Mad Men's Christina Hendricks, the Jessica Rabbit-proportioned redhead who also happens to be a good actress, is on the cover of New York Magazine.
Michelle Obama, who a recent Los Angeles Times editorial described as an athletic, real-woman-with-curves, launched her initiative to fight childhood obesity. Meanwhile, the 2010 Winter Olympics is the source of some interesting insights into what athletes-especially female athletes -actually weigh.
Sure, the figure skaters are mostly sparrow-like. But a lot of ladies in other sports are, well, substantial.
Elana Meyers of the U.S. women's bobsledding team is, according to the Team USA Web site, 5 foot 8 and 180 pounds (stats that are pretty much in line with those of her teammates). The U.S. women's hockey team captain, Natalie Darwitz, is 5 foot 2 and 143 pounds. Alpine skier Lindsey Vonn, who appears in a bikini in this month's Sports Illustrated, is 5 foot 10 and, rumor has it, weighs in at around 160 pounds.
Of course, there's nothing surprising about a muscular athlete weighing more than a bony fashion model or even a flabby-if-thin regular person. But unlike in real life (thank goodness), we are watching Olympic athletes heights and weights in sports like luge or bobsled, where such stats are relevant flashed across the screen for the entire world to see.
Unlike movies or television shows, the Winter Olympics have added a novel dimension to the nation's ceaseless obsession with female body weight-actual numbers.
Moreover, they're putting not only a human face on those numbers but some glamorous faces.
It's one thing to see perfunctory footage of protruding bellies during television news reports about the obesity epidemic, or to hear the latest stats from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about the average American woman, who stands 5 feet, 4 inches tall and weighs just over 164 pounds. Or to see images of our national look: overstuffed jeans and double chins.
It's quite another thing to see a woman in that approximate height-and-weight range competing in the Olympics. The Vancouver Games are providing something those height-and-weight charts cannot: evidence that when it comes to fitness, and looks, the numbers are only part of the equation.
Still, I know what you're thinking. For most of us, 164 pounds on a 5-foot-4 frame is, with rare exception, probably too much. Besides, some of these ladies competing in Vancouver are, you know & big. Not fat, of course, but let's put it this way: I don't think I was the only one who, when looking at the Sports Illustrated photos of Vonn, wondered how much Photoshopping took place.
Not because she isn't a beautiful woman, but because a photo of anyone who weighs 40 to 50 pounds more than the average fashion model of the same height is likely to get some technological assistance, especially when the woman depicted is wearing a fringe bikini and thigh-high furry boots (and especially when not even professional models are immune to nips and tucks from art directors).
That's why, for all the lip service paid to the culture's growing acceptance of normal-sized women, we're still a long way from bestowing words like attractive or even fit on anyone who's less than discernibly thin. We put Christina Hendricks on a magazine cover, but then we congratulate ourselves for accepting her.
But every time the weight of another female athlete makes it into our brains, we move ever so slightly away from lip service and toward another kind of service, the kind that slowly chips away at the idea that the only women who deserve to be proud of their bodies are the ones who are thin.
Instead of congratulating ourselves for accepting these athletes, we're congratulating them. Instead of marveling at their ability to excel despite what they weigh, we're forced to concede that going down a mountain at breakneck speed, and who knows what else, is not for the faint of heart--or the size 0.
http://www.kansascity.com/2010/02/22/1766380/the-olympic-athletes-are-fit-and.html
I agree with this article, and with the journalist who wrote it, that we are a long way from accepting women of size as they are, and not beating up on them repeatedly in public. At my thinnest, I weighed 157 pounds, and I looked fabulous...I looked the perfect weight for my height (5 foot 6) and I still had some curves...I was 36, 25, 36, with toned muscles,flat abs and 20 percent body fat, which is healthy when you have 129 pounds of lean muscle, bone and water.
I doubt that I will ever reach those numbers again, 20 years later, now that I am, gulp, almost 50 and heading into the death valley of menopause, with its slug-like metabolism. But I do consistently work out 8-9 hours a week, doing a variety of classes that stretch and build muscles in my body. Granted, the gals that are doing Janice's fitness training for bodybuilding competitions have to work out 15 hours a week, which is really hard core, but I don't try to keep up with them, especially with the 60-75 pounds I need to lose.
This week, Brandy, one of the great women I work out with at WIO, said she is going on a sugar fast for Lent and for her health. She plans on staying away from as much refined sugar as possible, which she challenged me to try as well. I honestly do not know if I could do that, as sugar is one of the few things I can still eat and enjoy, since dairy, eggs, nuts, onions, strawberries, raspberries, green beans and mushrooms are all foods that I am allergic to or make me ill. Broccoli makes my Crohns go crazy, though I love it so much that I often cook up a batch and eat it anyway, knowing that twelve hours later I will be miserable.
I just met a gastroenterologist who told me that if I wasn't symptom-free, I needed to either change gastro docs or tell my current doc to get on the ball and put me on some of the new medications that will keep me from symptoms and from having another stricture operation. So I am waiting to hear from my doc today, hoping that he will have some answers for me.
By MEGHAN DAUM
Los Angeles Times
Gee, someone deserves a medal! Women of a certain heft are suddenly everywhere.
Mad Men's Christina Hendricks, the Jessica Rabbit-proportioned redhead who also happens to be a good actress, is on the cover of New York Magazine.
Michelle Obama, who a recent Los Angeles Times editorial described as an athletic, real-woman-with-curves, launched her initiative to fight childhood obesity. Meanwhile, the 2010 Winter Olympics is the source of some interesting insights into what athletes-especially female athletes -actually weigh.
Sure, the figure skaters are mostly sparrow-like. But a lot of ladies in other sports are, well, substantial.
Elana Meyers of the U.S. women's bobsledding team is, according to the Team USA Web site, 5 foot 8 and 180 pounds (stats that are pretty much in line with those of her teammates). The U.S. women's hockey team captain, Natalie Darwitz, is 5 foot 2 and 143 pounds. Alpine skier Lindsey Vonn, who appears in a bikini in this month's Sports Illustrated, is 5 foot 10 and, rumor has it, weighs in at around 160 pounds.
Of course, there's nothing surprising about a muscular athlete weighing more than a bony fashion model or even a flabby-if-thin regular person. But unlike in real life (thank goodness), we are watching Olympic athletes heights and weights in sports like luge or bobsled, where such stats are relevant flashed across the screen for the entire world to see.
Unlike movies or television shows, the Winter Olympics have added a novel dimension to the nation's ceaseless obsession with female body weight-actual numbers.
Moreover, they're putting not only a human face on those numbers but some glamorous faces.
It's one thing to see perfunctory footage of protruding bellies during television news reports about the obesity epidemic, or to hear the latest stats from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about the average American woman, who stands 5 feet, 4 inches tall and weighs just over 164 pounds. Or to see images of our national look: overstuffed jeans and double chins.
It's quite another thing to see a woman in that approximate height-and-weight range competing in the Olympics. The Vancouver Games are providing something those height-and-weight charts cannot: evidence that when it comes to fitness, and looks, the numbers are only part of the equation.
Still, I know what you're thinking. For most of us, 164 pounds on a 5-foot-4 frame is, with rare exception, probably too much. Besides, some of these ladies competing in Vancouver are, you know & big. Not fat, of course, but let's put it this way: I don't think I was the only one who, when looking at the Sports Illustrated photos of Vonn, wondered how much Photoshopping took place.
Not because she isn't a beautiful woman, but because a photo of anyone who weighs 40 to 50 pounds more than the average fashion model of the same height is likely to get some technological assistance, especially when the woman depicted is wearing a fringe bikini and thigh-high furry boots (and especially when not even professional models are immune to nips and tucks from art directors).
That's why, for all the lip service paid to the culture's growing acceptance of normal-sized women, we're still a long way from bestowing words like attractive or even fit on anyone who's less than discernibly thin. We put Christina Hendricks on a magazine cover, but then we congratulate ourselves for accepting her.
But every time the weight of another female athlete makes it into our brains, we move ever so slightly away from lip service and toward another kind of service, the kind that slowly chips away at the idea that the only women who deserve to be proud of their bodies are the ones who are thin.
Instead of congratulating ourselves for accepting these athletes, we're congratulating them. Instead of marveling at their ability to excel despite what they weigh, we're forced to concede that going down a mountain at breakneck speed, and who knows what else, is not for the faint of heart--or the size 0.
http://www.kansascity.com/2010/02/22/1766380/the-olympic-athletes-are-fit-and.html
I agree with this article, and with the journalist who wrote it, that we are a long way from accepting women of size as they are, and not beating up on them repeatedly in public. At my thinnest, I weighed 157 pounds, and I looked fabulous...I looked the perfect weight for my height (5 foot 6) and I still had some curves...I was 36, 25, 36, with toned muscles,flat abs and 20 percent body fat, which is healthy when you have 129 pounds of lean muscle, bone and water.
I doubt that I will ever reach those numbers again, 20 years later, now that I am, gulp, almost 50 and heading into the death valley of menopause, with its slug-like metabolism. But I do consistently work out 8-9 hours a week, doing a variety of classes that stretch and build muscles in my body. Granted, the gals that are doing Janice's fitness training for bodybuilding competitions have to work out 15 hours a week, which is really hard core, but I don't try to keep up with them, especially with the 60-75 pounds I need to lose.
This week, Brandy, one of the great women I work out with at WIO, said she is going on a sugar fast for Lent and for her health. She plans on staying away from as much refined sugar as possible, which she challenged me to try as well. I honestly do not know if I could do that, as sugar is one of the few things I can still eat and enjoy, since dairy, eggs, nuts, onions, strawberries, raspberries, green beans and mushrooms are all foods that I am allergic to or make me ill. Broccoli makes my Crohns go crazy, though I love it so much that I often cook up a batch and eat it anyway, knowing that twelve hours later I will be miserable.
I just met a gastroenterologist who told me that if I wasn't symptom-free, I needed to either change gastro docs or tell my current doc to get on the ball and put me on some of the new medications that will keep me from symptoms and from having another stricture operation. So I am waiting to hear from my doc today, hoping that he will have some answers for me.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Eating Fruit Could Save Your Life and Other Internet Old Wives Tales
Some friends of mine from the WIO gym insisted that I read this treatise that has been making its way around the Internet as fast as a viral YouTube video or some silly Nigerian money scam.
Basically, with no studies, footnotes, real physician quotes or scientific fact, this 7 page document claims, among other things, that you can't eat fruit unless you eat it on an empty stomach, otherwise you will get no nutrition from it at all, because it will sit atop any other food you might eat, such as bread, which will "ferment and rot" and cause the fruit to become nothing but worthless fiber.
Cold water, it also claims, will cause CANCER!!! said in exactly that way, all caps with exclamation points, as if those of us who have been drinking cold water on hot days and after exercise are just dodging bullets every time we rehydrate. Think of all the kids drinking cold water every summer who are just asking for cancer! Oh the horror! The document claims that drinking cold water (or any cold drink) during or after a meal solidifies "the oily stuff" you have just eaten, which slows your digestion, react with your intestinal acids, and will be absorbed faster than the solid food, causing fat to line the intestine which "lead(s) to cancer."
The pages also claim that you won't get gray hair, become bald, nervous, or have dark circles under your eyes if you eat fruits only on an empty stomach.
Then there is the part that claims that "there are no acidic fruits," like oranges or lemons, that all fruits become alkaline in your body, and cooked fruit is worthless, as is fruit juice, and if you want true health, you can go on a "3 day fruit fast" to "cleanse your body."
If you are ignorant enough to believe any of this, I have some oceanfront property in Arizona to sell you.
I find it astonishing that women who are otherwise bright and savvy will read this crap and believe it to be true, when there is plenty of evidence to the contrary.
To take the last point first, colon cleansing and intestinal detoxification are health scams that have been going on since the 19th century.
Ask any board certified gastroenterologist (one who has gotten his degrees from a reputable American college or university) about colon cleansing and they will tell you that, unless you have some intestinal disease or cancer, you do NOT need to "cleanse" your colon or your small intestine, because they are designed to cleanse themselves with a minimum amount of fuss. We do not "hold" feces in our colons for days, weeks or months, where they fester, nor do we have food sitting and fermenting or rotting in our small intestine.
Your guts are fairly simple--you chew food and saliva starts breaking it down in your mouth, you swallow and the food hits your stomach, which is full of acid that breaks the food down, from there it goes through your small intestine where nutrients are absorbed, and whatever is unusable/indigestible is sent in a slurry to the colon, or large intestine, where the water/liquid is wrung from it and the waste is sent down to the rectum where it is released into your toilet.
Fasting has been shown to be terrible for your metabolism, which shuts down when it doesn't get enough food and thinks you are in the middle of a famine. Your body will store fat more efficiently after such a 'fast' than it ever has before, because it is afraid it will need those calories.
And puuullllease, if cold water caused cancer, there would be many more people dead, especially children, than could be counted every summer. The human body is warm enough to heat whatever you drink long before it hits the lining of your intestines.
I am sure that Ghandi and many other bald men would have been gratified to know that they wouldn't have lost their hair had they only eaten fruit on an empty stomach! That one just makes me laugh. The bald gene is passed from mother to son, and gray hair is a matter of your body not making the melatonin that it used to as you age. Dark circles under the eyes can be a symptom of sleep apnea, certain vitamin deficiencies, certain diseases and it can even be genetic. It most certainly isn't caused by eating fruit with other foods.
And as anyone with GERD can tell you, there are, indeed, acidic fruits that do not become alkaline instantly upon consumption. I just don't see how the fruit acids that hit the acid in your gut could suddenly turn to the complete opposite side of the PH spectrum.
Please people, don't read this garbage and then send it to all your friends like it is some kind of gospel. Talk to your doctor, your gastroenterologist or a registered dietitian, about your diet and your fruit consumption if you are worried about it. But don't disseminate misinformation and outright falsehoods to all the people you know. It wastes everyone's time and stretches my credulity to the breaking point.
Basically, with no studies, footnotes, real physician quotes or scientific fact, this 7 page document claims, among other things, that you can't eat fruit unless you eat it on an empty stomach, otherwise you will get no nutrition from it at all, because it will sit atop any other food you might eat, such as bread, which will "ferment and rot" and cause the fruit to become nothing but worthless fiber.
Cold water, it also claims, will cause CANCER!!! said in exactly that way, all caps with exclamation points, as if those of us who have been drinking cold water on hot days and after exercise are just dodging bullets every time we rehydrate. Think of all the kids drinking cold water every summer who are just asking for cancer! Oh the horror! The document claims that drinking cold water (or any cold drink) during or after a meal solidifies "the oily stuff" you have just eaten, which slows your digestion, react with your intestinal acids, and will be absorbed faster than the solid food, causing fat to line the intestine which "lead(s) to cancer."
The pages also claim that you won't get gray hair, become bald, nervous, or have dark circles under your eyes if you eat fruits only on an empty stomach.
Then there is the part that claims that "there are no acidic fruits," like oranges or lemons, that all fruits become alkaline in your body, and cooked fruit is worthless, as is fruit juice, and if you want true health, you can go on a "3 day fruit fast" to "cleanse your body."
If you are ignorant enough to believe any of this, I have some oceanfront property in Arizona to sell you.
I find it astonishing that women who are otherwise bright and savvy will read this crap and believe it to be true, when there is plenty of evidence to the contrary.
To take the last point first, colon cleansing and intestinal detoxification are health scams that have been going on since the 19th century.
Ask any board certified gastroenterologist (one who has gotten his degrees from a reputable American college or university) about colon cleansing and they will tell you that, unless you have some intestinal disease or cancer, you do NOT need to "cleanse" your colon or your small intestine, because they are designed to cleanse themselves with a minimum amount of fuss. We do not "hold" feces in our colons for days, weeks or months, where they fester, nor do we have food sitting and fermenting or rotting in our small intestine.
Your guts are fairly simple--you chew food and saliva starts breaking it down in your mouth, you swallow and the food hits your stomach, which is full of acid that breaks the food down, from there it goes through your small intestine where nutrients are absorbed, and whatever is unusable/indigestible is sent in a slurry to the colon, or large intestine, where the water/liquid is wrung from it and the waste is sent down to the rectum where it is released into your toilet.
Fasting has been shown to be terrible for your metabolism, which shuts down when it doesn't get enough food and thinks you are in the middle of a famine. Your body will store fat more efficiently after such a 'fast' than it ever has before, because it is afraid it will need those calories.
And puuullllease, if cold water caused cancer, there would be many more people dead, especially children, than could be counted every summer. The human body is warm enough to heat whatever you drink long before it hits the lining of your intestines.
I am sure that Ghandi and many other bald men would have been gratified to know that they wouldn't have lost their hair had they only eaten fruit on an empty stomach! That one just makes me laugh. The bald gene is passed from mother to son, and gray hair is a matter of your body not making the melatonin that it used to as you age. Dark circles under the eyes can be a symptom of sleep apnea, certain vitamin deficiencies, certain diseases and it can even be genetic. It most certainly isn't caused by eating fruit with other foods.
And as anyone with GERD can tell you, there are, indeed, acidic fruits that do not become alkaline instantly upon consumption. I just don't see how the fruit acids that hit the acid in your gut could suddenly turn to the complete opposite side of the PH spectrum.
Please people, don't read this garbage and then send it to all your friends like it is some kind of gospel. Talk to your doctor, your gastroenterologist or a registered dietitian, about your diet and your fruit consumption if you are worried about it. But don't disseminate misinformation and outright falsehoods to all the people you know. It wastes everyone's time and stretches my credulity to the breaking point.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Plus Size Models in V Magazine
This is from MediaBistro's Fishbowl NY Blog:
V Magazine Saves Its Plus-Sized Issue With Actual Plus-Sized Models
By Drew Grant on Jan 05, 2010 02:00 PM
Two weeks ago, we were openly critical of Terry Richardson's photo shoot of "plus-sized" models for V magazine's Size Issue, saying that the skinny plus-sized model in the "Who Wears It Better" spread just proved that "even the term 'plus-size' doesn't really apply to most women in America."
Well, we spoke too soon. V has released more photos from its size issue, and this new crop of five models incorporate sexiness into a larger frame, something that's rarely been done with success in the fashion world.
But will the issue drive sales? Here's at least one: Meghan McCain wrote on her Twitter yesterday, "As a plus sized girl myself, I appreciate a magazine showing that sexy women aren't just size 0's. I am def buying this issue of V Magazine." And there has been an outpouring of well-wishes from the likes of Jezebel and Just Jared, two not-necessarily-fashion-mag-friendly blogs.
So does this count as a coup against fashion's skinny regime? Not necessarily. Much like the Glamour's spread last year, some critics have pointed out that "plus-sized" automatically means "mostly naked" to fashion photographers, and it's true that the V spread did incorporate nude/topless photos into its shoot. Then again, isn't fashion 90 percent about what you're not wearing? From Calvin Klein to Annie Leibovitz, the fashion world has always been saturated with a controversial stance of objectifying women's bodies. Incorporating models who more accurately represent the sizes of American women doesn't change that, it just helps us to redefine "sexy." And it's about time we did.
More pictures from the upcoming issue of V, after the jump.
Read More: V Magazine Preview --Models.com
It Wouldn't Be a 'Size' Issue If the Plus-Size Models Weren't Naked --NYMag.com
V Gives The World A Plus-Size Shoot Not Afraid To Flaunt Its Curves -- Jezebel
Curves Ahead In V Magazine -- Just Jared
Previously: V Magazine Navigates Minefield Of Plus-Sized Models
V Magazine Saves Its Plus-Sized Issue With Actual Plus-Sized Models
By Drew Grant on Jan 05, 2010 02:00 PM
Two weeks ago, we were openly critical of Terry Richardson's photo shoot of "plus-sized" models for V magazine's Size Issue, saying that the skinny plus-sized model in the "Who Wears It Better" spread just proved that "even the term 'plus-size' doesn't really apply to most women in America."
Well, we spoke too soon. V has released more photos from its size issue, and this new crop of five models incorporate sexiness into a larger frame, something that's rarely been done with success in the fashion world.
But will the issue drive sales? Here's at least one: Meghan McCain wrote on her Twitter yesterday, "As a plus sized girl myself, I appreciate a magazine showing that sexy women aren't just size 0's. I am def buying this issue of V Magazine." And there has been an outpouring of well-wishes from the likes of Jezebel and Just Jared, two not-necessarily-fashion-mag-friendly blogs.
So does this count as a coup against fashion's skinny regime? Not necessarily. Much like the Glamour's spread last year, some critics have pointed out that "plus-sized" automatically means "mostly naked" to fashion photographers, and it's true that the V spread did incorporate nude/topless photos into its shoot. Then again, isn't fashion 90 percent about what you're not wearing? From Calvin Klein to Annie Leibovitz, the fashion world has always been saturated with a controversial stance of objectifying women's bodies. Incorporating models who more accurately represent the sizes of American women doesn't change that, it just helps us to redefine "sexy." And it's about time we did.
More pictures from the upcoming issue of V, after the jump.
Read More: V Magazine Preview --Models.com
It Wouldn't Be a 'Size' Issue If the Plus-Size Models Weren't Naked --NYMag.com
V Gives The World A Plus-Size Shoot Not Afraid To Flaunt Its Curves -- Jezebel
Curves Ahead In V Magazine -- Just Jared
Previously: V Magazine Navigates Minefield Of Plus-Sized Models
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Doing the Best You Can With the Cards You're Dealt
First, Stacy of FatGirl Speaks has redesigned her web site to become Bellies are Beautiful. Here's the URL http://www.belliesarebeautiful.com/
Second, I've gained 20 pounds now that I am 6 months out from my stricture-removing intestinal surgery due to Crohn's Disease. I believe part of that is due to the cortisone I was given after surgery to reduce swelling, and part of it is from eating at night while I watch TV, my only alone time, when I can relax because my husband and son are in bed asleep. I tend to eat carbs because these are cheap and readily available. There has also been an enormous amount of stress with our continually failing finances, and my inability to get work as a journalist, or even get an interview for local part time work. Add to that medical bills from the surgery and the bowel obstruction prior to the surgery and you can imagine how my upholstered belly has added stuffing.
Still, I've been exercising religiously 5 to 6 days a week at my favorite gym, Work it Out Women's Fitness in Maple Valley, and though I move slower and seem to have less energy to complete the exercises, I press on with the stubborn determination of an Iowa farmers grand daughter who learned early on that the only real failure is quitting or giving up. At least twice a week I take two classes, back to back, so I feel that helps add muscle mass and hopefully boost my metabolism from the basement it has fallen into due to the advance of menopause and my age (I'll be 49 next month).
Though I feel ungainly and positively porcine, I've been trying to focus on my family, because I know that my husband and son love me just as I am, bulges and all. I've also been trying to be brave about avoiding one food item that I know I shouldn't eat every time I am in the grocery store. Sometimes that means avoiding a package of vegan cookies, and other times it means buying boring cereal instead of frosted corn flakes.
It's a simple thing, but one that has meaning for me.
Yeserday I had some edamame (parboiled salted soybeans) for a snack, along with an apple and soynut butter, and I felt virtuous for the rest of the afternoon. While I know that one snack or one meal doesn't make that much of a difference if I am going to stuff my face with several servings of soda crackers at 11 pm, it still means that I've not completely fallen off the wagon, and I won't end up back where I started, at 270 pounds again anytime soon.
I don't want to go hungry, or gag down more protein (I am really not a fan of protein as a food group; I could live on fruit and bread alone) or eat only tasteless whole grains and raw vegetables that set off my Crohn's disease, but I do want to work my way back to trying to control my portions and not eat as much sugar, which is my main dietary weakness. I am not sure how to accomplish that goal, but now that I have it in writing, I will have to figure something out.
Meanwhile, I am thankful that, unlike many women with Crohns or colitis, I still have most of my guts intact, and they obviously work fairly well at absorbing nutrients and keeping me from starvation or vitamin deficiency. I may look like the Kung Fu Panda, but like him, I've got style and I'm a tough fighter who loves life and enjoys finding creative solutions to problems that present themselves. As long as there is breath, there is hope.
Second, I've gained 20 pounds now that I am 6 months out from my stricture-removing intestinal surgery due to Crohn's Disease. I believe part of that is due to the cortisone I was given after surgery to reduce swelling, and part of it is from eating at night while I watch TV, my only alone time, when I can relax because my husband and son are in bed asleep. I tend to eat carbs because these are cheap and readily available. There has also been an enormous amount of stress with our continually failing finances, and my inability to get work as a journalist, or even get an interview for local part time work. Add to that medical bills from the surgery and the bowel obstruction prior to the surgery and you can imagine how my upholstered belly has added stuffing.
Still, I've been exercising religiously 5 to 6 days a week at my favorite gym, Work it Out Women's Fitness in Maple Valley, and though I move slower and seem to have less energy to complete the exercises, I press on with the stubborn determination of an Iowa farmers grand daughter who learned early on that the only real failure is quitting or giving up. At least twice a week I take two classes, back to back, so I feel that helps add muscle mass and hopefully boost my metabolism from the basement it has fallen into due to the advance of menopause and my age (I'll be 49 next month).
Though I feel ungainly and positively porcine, I've been trying to focus on my family, because I know that my husband and son love me just as I am, bulges and all. I've also been trying to be brave about avoiding one food item that I know I shouldn't eat every time I am in the grocery store. Sometimes that means avoiding a package of vegan cookies, and other times it means buying boring cereal instead of frosted corn flakes.
It's a simple thing, but one that has meaning for me.
Yeserday I had some edamame (parboiled salted soybeans) for a snack, along with an apple and soynut butter, and I felt virtuous for the rest of the afternoon. While I know that one snack or one meal doesn't make that much of a difference if I am going to stuff my face with several servings of soda crackers at 11 pm, it still means that I've not completely fallen off the wagon, and I won't end up back where I started, at 270 pounds again anytime soon.
I don't want to go hungry, or gag down more protein (I am really not a fan of protein as a food group; I could live on fruit and bread alone) or eat only tasteless whole grains and raw vegetables that set off my Crohn's disease, but I do want to work my way back to trying to control my portions and not eat as much sugar, which is my main dietary weakness. I am not sure how to accomplish that goal, but now that I have it in writing, I will have to figure something out.
Meanwhile, I am thankful that, unlike many women with Crohns or colitis, I still have most of my guts intact, and they obviously work fairly well at absorbing nutrients and keeping me from starvation or vitamin deficiency. I may look like the Kung Fu Panda, but like him, I've got style and I'm a tough fighter who loves life and enjoys finding creative solutions to problems that present themselves. As long as there is breath, there is hope.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
The Pudgy Kennedy Passes and Beautiful Buddha
Today Senator Edward "Ted" Kennedy died after a long battle with cancer.
I was born shortly after his famous brother was elected to create Camelot, and I was John-John's (JFK Jr)age, 3, when JFK was shot and killed. It is one of my earliest memories, watching my parents cry and feeling angry at this president person who had brought them so low.
In later years I learned more about the Kennedy family, not just because my father was a lifelong Democrat who worshiped the likes of MLK and JFK, but because they seemed to have everything in terms of wealth and fame, yet they consistently had these things taken from them or rendered useless when family members were killed for no good reason.
When I was in graduate school in Massachusetts, I heard a lot about Teddy Kennedy, the fat younger brother who didn't get the glamorous lifestyle or good press that his brothers got, nor did he have the stunning, brilliant wife or the meteoric career---but he had something that a lot of us pudgy folks have, patience and the ability to work behind the scenes, without fuss or bright lights, to get things done. I actually met and talked to Thomas P "Tip" O'Neill when I lived in Mass, and he was also a chubby Irishman who had no time for those who lorded their wealth or fame over others, and who didn't actually get anything done but propagate their 'brand.' I met Ted Kennedys son, briefly, once as well, and found him charming. I was saddened when he died of cancer at a young age.
Yes, they were full of surprises and Irish blarney and tragedy and pathos, but you could never say the Kennedy clan were dull people who lived mousy lives and had no impact on America. Instead, they enriched us with their unstinting public service, giving their very lives for this country and its people.
So I raise my glass of iced tea and lemon to Tip and Ted, both passed but not forgotten. May they rest in peace at the right hand of God.
Speaking of round guys with big bellies, I happened across some marvelous Buddha statues at a garage sale in which some former missionaries were 'de-cluttering' their home of what they seemed to think were 'pagan' statuary and icons of various kinds, including some lovely carvings of Kuan Yin, goddess of compassion and the begging Buddha, walking Buddha and various Hindu figures like Ganesh and Shiva.
The missionary couple had traveled to China, Singapore, Thailand, Japan, Vietnam and Taiwan, so they had quite a collection and seemed anxious to get rid of their great stuff at pennies on the dollar.
I looked at the begging bowl Buddha, dark red, with his friendly rats running around him, his big smile and his chubby cheeks, and I got him for a dollar, and then I grabbed the traveling Buddha with his walking staff, great grin and shiny red tummy,and I couldn't resist bringing him home for a quarter. I realized, as I set them around me, that they don't just physically resemble me, with their upholstered bellies, but they also represent my outlook on life, that of a happy heart who loves being around other people, traveling to explore other countries, and loves to eat and enjoy the sensuality of life. If that couple had had any statues of Siddhartha with a pile of books by his side, I think I would have swooned with joy.
Oddly enough, my dear friend Janine, while on vacation, bought me a miniature prayer flag set that I hoisted above my traveling Buddha, and she also brought me a lovely raku wishing bowl, tiny and gloriously fired in rainbow glaze colors.
Perhaps these things were meant to be, and my path is now being heralded with heavenly help, or perhaps they are just here to make me smile, either way, I am grateful to have these new editions to my life.
In other belly news, I've gained 12 pounds since my surgery in June, probably because I haven't been able, due to monetary constraints, to afford the expensive food that I know I need to eat to lose weight. Simple carbs are cheap, and while we struggle to put food on the table, those are the foods we can most easily access. But I've been working out regularly, and hard, since June 15, 10 days after the operation, so I am still building muscle, if not taking off fat.
Friday of this week I go in for my follow up colonoscopy to see if my colon and small bowel have healed up completely, and if so, whether or not I go back to taking Imuran/Azithioprine to prevent further strictures and obstructions, or at least slow them down. But tomorrow, I must do the ultimate purge, which is the hardest part of the whole process, so say a prayer for me as I choke down the nasty PEG solution by the quart.
This summer has flown by, but I am looking forward to fall (my favorite season), and a renewed commitment to keeping my body healthy.
Extra note: The colonoscopy went well with my great friend Dr Fred Drennan, and he tells me that my surgery is almost completely healed, though he doesn't want me to go back on Imuran again, because he fears that it will fry my liver. So for now, I am just taking Pentasa and trying to keep my colon happy with soluable fiber.
I was born shortly after his famous brother was elected to create Camelot, and I was John-John's (JFK Jr)age, 3, when JFK was shot and killed. It is one of my earliest memories, watching my parents cry and feeling angry at this president person who had brought them so low.
In later years I learned more about the Kennedy family, not just because my father was a lifelong Democrat who worshiped the likes of MLK and JFK, but because they seemed to have everything in terms of wealth and fame, yet they consistently had these things taken from them or rendered useless when family members were killed for no good reason.
When I was in graduate school in Massachusetts, I heard a lot about Teddy Kennedy, the fat younger brother who didn't get the glamorous lifestyle or good press that his brothers got, nor did he have the stunning, brilliant wife or the meteoric career---but he had something that a lot of us pudgy folks have, patience and the ability to work behind the scenes, without fuss or bright lights, to get things done. I actually met and talked to Thomas P "Tip" O'Neill when I lived in Mass, and he was also a chubby Irishman who had no time for those who lorded their wealth or fame over others, and who didn't actually get anything done but propagate their 'brand.' I met Ted Kennedys son, briefly, once as well, and found him charming. I was saddened when he died of cancer at a young age.
Yes, they were full of surprises and Irish blarney and tragedy and pathos, but you could never say the Kennedy clan were dull people who lived mousy lives and had no impact on America. Instead, they enriched us with their unstinting public service, giving their very lives for this country and its people.
So I raise my glass of iced tea and lemon to Tip and Ted, both passed but not forgotten. May they rest in peace at the right hand of God.
Speaking of round guys with big bellies, I happened across some marvelous Buddha statues at a garage sale in which some former missionaries were 'de-cluttering' their home of what they seemed to think were 'pagan' statuary and icons of various kinds, including some lovely carvings of Kuan Yin, goddess of compassion and the begging Buddha, walking Buddha and various Hindu figures like Ganesh and Shiva.
The missionary couple had traveled to China, Singapore, Thailand, Japan, Vietnam and Taiwan, so they had quite a collection and seemed anxious to get rid of their great stuff at pennies on the dollar.
I looked at the begging bowl Buddha, dark red, with his friendly rats running around him, his big smile and his chubby cheeks, and I got him for a dollar, and then I grabbed the traveling Buddha with his walking staff, great grin and shiny red tummy,and I couldn't resist bringing him home for a quarter. I realized, as I set them around me, that they don't just physically resemble me, with their upholstered bellies, but they also represent my outlook on life, that of a happy heart who loves being around other people, traveling to explore other countries, and loves to eat and enjoy the sensuality of life. If that couple had had any statues of Siddhartha with a pile of books by his side, I think I would have swooned with joy.
Oddly enough, my dear friend Janine, while on vacation, bought me a miniature prayer flag set that I hoisted above my traveling Buddha, and she also brought me a lovely raku wishing bowl, tiny and gloriously fired in rainbow glaze colors.
Perhaps these things were meant to be, and my path is now being heralded with heavenly help, or perhaps they are just here to make me smile, either way, I am grateful to have these new editions to my life.
In other belly news, I've gained 12 pounds since my surgery in June, probably because I haven't been able, due to monetary constraints, to afford the expensive food that I know I need to eat to lose weight. Simple carbs are cheap, and while we struggle to put food on the table, those are the foods we can most easily access. But I've been working out regularly, and hard, since June 15, 10 days after the operation, so I am still building muscle, if not taking off fat.
Friday of this week I go in for my follow up colonoscopy to see if my colon and small bowel have healed up completely, and if so, whether or not I go back to taking Imuran/Azithioprine to prevent further strictures and obstructions, or at least slow them down. But tomorrow, I must do the ultimate purge, which is the hardest part of the whole process, so say a prayer for me as I choke down the nasty PEG solution by the quart.
This summer has flown by, but I am looking forward to fall (my favorite season), and a renewed commitment to keeping my body healthy.
Extra note: The colonoscopy went well with my great friend Dr Fred Drennan, and he tells me that my surgery is almost completely healed, though he doesn't want me to go back on Imuran again, because he fears that it will fry my liver. So for now, I am just taking Pentasa and trying to keep my colon happy with soluable fiber.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)