Doll Face, by Andy Huang
This is an amazing animation about what we will do to attain the ideals that are continually being programmed into us by media. It might make you cry.
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Changing this way of thinking
As a sufferer of both asthma and fibromyalgia, I am well aware that many people seem to believe that these and other illnesses are the result of fatness. These people only see the fat; they do not know the internal workings of my body, nor do they know anything about my history. They are unaware of my skinny childhood body, which was active as can be (more so than today's overprotected, television-raised children), but afflicted with exercise-induced asthma. I instinctively would reduce my activity when I felt short of breath. I wouldn't become truly aware of it until high school, when cruel P.E. teachers would scream horrible things at me because I could not run a full mile without wheezing. I was screwing up their "presidential fitness test" score, or whatever the hell it was, by not running a mile. I would walk for a bit to catch my breath, ignoring the hateful words of the teacher, and the subsequent snickers of classmates.
I now believe that if these teachers truly cared about fitness, they would have recognized my situation and sent me to the nurse, which would have resulted in my parents being forced to get me treated. As it was, I didn't receive any treatment until I was old enough to take myself to the doctor (21 years old) and pay for it out of pocket. Also note that one of these fabulously healthy PE instructors, one that had called me names, died of a heart attack my senior year, while he was shoveling snow. Hooray for vigorous exercise.
At the time of these events, I was very thin. You could see my ribs and pelvis. I had a 24-inch waist. None of the aforementioned people would have attributed my asthma to my being fat at that time, would they? So why do they do it now? Asthma medications work in a number of ways; some are anti-inflammatory, while some are bronchodilators. None of them remove fat from your body! Asthma is caused by the muscles around the bronchi squeezing the bronchi, making them constricted, and by the bronchi being irritated and producing mucus. It is not caused by fat squishing the lungs. It is not caused by globs of fat accumulating in your lungs. Losing weight does not cure asthma. So let's stop this nonsense, okay?
Another example: I am very fair-skinned. I have mostly northwestern European heritage, and I burn to a crisp in the summer sun. Once the burn heals, I become pale again. There are some really lame people out there who comment on my fairness being a negative thing, but it's now pretty well-known that someone who is naturally pale can do serious damage to themselves by trying to become a shade of brown that they are not genetically programmed to become. One theory exists that being Caucasian is beneficial in northern climates so that we can do the vitamin D thing in reduced sunlight. Darker skinned people have lots of nice melanin to filter out the harsh rays of tropical locations. People developed different skin tones as adaptations to different environments. Why wouldn't we develop different body types too? Why do we all have to fit into the same medical criteria?
Here's the other thing: Diabetes and being fat. If you've heard of Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), you might be surprised to know that the cyst part is actually a symptom of another problem, not an isolated issue. In a nutshell, PCOS is the result of insulin resistance, which also causes weight gain because the body's cells do not utilize glucose properly (so it gets converted into fat). Insulin resistance is also a precursor to type II diabetes--the insulin resistance itself creates the diabetic situation; the fat is a side effect, not the cause of the diabetes. Insulin resistance is primarily a genetic thing. Now, here's the question: Why would someone look at a syndrome that CAUSES weight gain by its metabolic effects and try to say that the syndrome itself is caused by being fat? This is not a chicken/egg situation, here. If A causes B, why would you claim that someone's B caused the A? I'll tell you why: Because it's one more effing excuse to justify the shitty treatment that is continually piled on fat people. It's one more shaky reason to support our twisted image of the ideal body.
But NO. STOP IT. Someone's genes flip a switch and create a health issue for them--asthma, diabetes, insulin resistance, what-have-you. Don't you think it's already hard enough without getting treated like some kind of moral degenerate for it? Before passing judgement on a fat person who has another health condition, bear in mind that you do NOT know their history. You do NOT know how their body works, what their DNA is, or any of those things. Treat the people around you like HUMAN BEINGS, regardless of their weight.
I now believe that if these teachers truly cared about fitness, they would have recognized my situation and sent me to the nurse, which would have resulted in my parents being forced to get me treated. As it was, I didn't receive any treatment until I was old enough to take myself to the doctor (21 years old) and pay for it out of pocket. Also note that one of these fabulously healthy PE instructors, one that had called me names, died of a heart attack my senior year, while he was shoveling snow. Hooray for vigorous exercise.
At the time of these events, I was very thin. You could see my ribs and pelvis. I had a 24-inch waist. None of the aforementioned people would have attributed my asthma to my being fat at that time, would they? So why do they do it now? Asthma medications work in a number of ways; some are anti-inflammatory, while some are bronchodilators. None of them remove fat from your body! Asthma is caused by the muscles around the bronchi squeezing the bronchi, making them constricted, and by the bronchi being irritated and producing mucus. It is not caused by fat squishing the lungs. It is not caused by globs of fat accumulating in your lungs. Losing weight does not cure asthma. So let's stop this nonsense, okay?
Another example: I am very fair-skinned. I have mostly northwestern European heritage, and I burn to a crisp in the summer sun. Once the burn heals, I become pale again. There are some really lame people out there who comment on my fairness being a negative thing, but it's now pretty well-known that someone who is naturally pale can do serious damage to themselves by trying to become a shade of brown that they are not genetically programmed to become. One theory exists that being Caucasian is beneficial in northern climates so that we can do the vitamin D thing in reduced sunlight. Darker skinned people have lots of nice melanin to filter out the harsh rays of tropical locations. People developed different skin tones as adaptations to different environments. Why wouldn't we develop different body types too? Why do we all have to fit into the same medical criteria?
Here's the other thing: Diabetes and being fat. If you've heard of Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), you might be surprised to know that the cyst part is actually a symptom of another problem, not an isolated issue. In a nutshell, PCOS is the result of insulin resistance, which also causes weight gain because the body's cells do not utilize glucose properly (so it gets converted into fat). Insulin resistance is also a precursor to type II diabetes--the insulin resistance itself creates the diabetic situation; the fat is a side effect, not the cause of the diabetes. Insulin resistance is primarily a genetic thing. Now, here's the question: Why would someone look at a syndrome that CAUSES weight gain by its metabolic effects and try to say that the syndrome itself is caused by being fat? This is not a chicken/egg situation, here. If A causes B, why would you claim that someone's B caused the A? I'll tell you why: Because it's one more effing excuse to justify the shitty treatment that is continually piled on fat people. It's one more shaky reason to support our twisted image of the ideal body.
But NO. STOP IT. Someone's genes flip a switch and create a health issue for them--asthma, diabetes, insulin resistance, what-have-you. Don't you think it's already hard enough without getting treated like some kind of moral degenerate for it? Before passing judgement on a fat person who has another health condition, bear in mind that you do NOT know their history. You do NOT know how their body works, what their DNA is, or any of those things. Treat the people around you like HUMAN BEINGS, regardless of their weight.
Friday, April 27, 2007
My weight loss suggestions
After some thoughts about the pervasive idea that the less you weigh, the better you are, I wanted to come up with a few sure-fire ideas for weight loss.
- Starve yourself. The downside is that it's really hard, and it's painful. The up side is that everyone will commend you on your discipline and willpower.
- Get Cancer. As your body slowly wastes away to nothing, people will admire your fabulous thinness. And really, isn't that what's important?
- Smoke cigarettes. The stimulant effect of the cigs will help you burn calories, and you can just ward off hunger with a smoke. Plus, running outside to light up will give you exercise. Don't forget to take the stairs!
- Develop a cocaine habit. Like with cigarettes, the stimulant effect will burn more calories, plus it suppresses the appetite!
- Infect yourself with tapeworms. It's like having a pet, but on the inside! What will you name yours?
- Amputate something non-essential to life. You'll certainly weigh less without one of your legs or arms. Get your appendix, gallbladder, and anything duplicated (lung, kidney, ovary) removed. You don't need them, and why carry around extra weight? It's quick, but expensive. People already get their stomachs removed for this purpose; why not take it a step further?
- Die. As decomposing organisms devour your body, your beautiful, thin skeleton will be left clean, shiny, and perfect. Isn't that what we're all striving for? As thin as possible?
These solutions don't make sense, but neither do many of the bizarre weight loss regimens out there. Some other thoughts I have:
- Why is horizontal growth the only type that we abhor? We can limit a person's height through malnutrition. After all, excessive height is associated with heart problems--people with acromegaly (Andre the Giant, Matthew McGrory) often die young of heart failure. Extreme examples, yes? But so are the examples of large people that are often used in obesity scare tactics. Someone who is 500+ pounds is NOT comparable to someone who is 200 pounds.
- Why is it that we only advocate limiting calories for weight loss? Oxygen is needed for metabolism as well. If we limit our oxygen intake by inducing asthma, surgically limiting, removing, or obstructing the lungs, or by using devices such as corsets, I bet we would lose weight! The need to breathe is natural, and we would not consider interfering with that to lose weight. So why on earth do we view the signal to take in calories (hunger) as a bad thing to be obliterated, or nobly endured?
This hasn't been a terribly coherent entry, but it contains some of the scattered thoughts and notes that I have had the past few days.
- Starve yourself. The downside is that it's really hard, and it's painful. The up side is that everyone will commend you on your discipline and willpower.
- Get Cancer. As your body slowly wastes away to nothing, people will admire your fabulous thinness. And really, isn't that what's important?
- Smoke cigarettes. The stimulant effect of the cigs will help you burn calories, and you can just ward off hunger with a smoke. Plus, running outside to light up will give you exercise. Don't forget to take the stairs!
- Develop a cocaine habit. Like with cigarettes, the stimulant effect will burn more calories, plus it suppresses the appetite!
- Infect yourself with tapeworms. It's like having a pet, but on the inside! What will you name yours?
- Amputate something non-essential to life. You'll certainly weigh less without one of your legs or arms. Get your appendix, gallbladder, and anything duplicated (lung, kidney, ovary) removed. You don't need them, and why carry around extra weight? It's quick, but expensive. People already get their stomachs removed for this purpose; why not take it a step further?
- Die. As decomposing organisms devour your body, your beautiful, thin skeleton will be left clean, shiny, and perfect. Isn't that what we're all striving for? As thin as possible?
These solutions don't make sense, but neither do many of the bizarre weight loss regimens out there. Some other thoughts I have:
- Why is horizontal growth the only type that we abhor? We can limit a person's height through malnutrition. After all, excessive height is associated with heart problems--people with acromegaly (Andre the Giant, Matthew McGrory) often die young of heart failure. Extreme examples, yes? But so are the examples of large people that are often used in obesity scare tactics. Someone who is 500+ pounds is NOT comparable to someone who is 200 pounds.
- Why is it that we only advocate limiting calories for weight loss? Oxygen is needed for metabolism as well. If we limit our oxygen intake by inducing asthma, surgically limiting, removing, or obstructing the lungs, or by using devices such as corsets, I bet we would lose weight! The need to breathe is natural, and we would not consider interfering with that to lose weight. So why on earth do we view the signal to take in calories (hunger) as a bad thing to be obliterated, or nobly endured?
This hasn't been a terribly coherent entry, but it contains some of the scattered thoughts and notes that I have had the past few days.
A few notes about Fibromyalgia
I received a comment asking for me to post some links about the neurological research into fibromyalgia. The Fibro Research blog does it better than I ever could:
http://fibroresearch.blogspot.com/search/label/neurology
Some highlights:
- Fibro sufferers treated for cervical myelopathy (a spine problem) had a reduction in fibro symptoms after the treatment (surgery).
- Fibro patients appear to have accelerated loss of gray matter (the type of loss generally associated with age)
- Post-traumatic stress disorder affects the way the brain processes pain
- Patients with fibromyalgia have significantly reduced dopamine synthesis in multiple brain regions
- In a French study, "Fibromyalgia patients...had significantly increased blood flow in regions of the brain known to be involved in the sensory dimension of pain processing, and significantly decreased blood flow in 'areas assumed to be associated with the affective-attentional dimension.'"
- In another study, "patients with chronic low back pain had 'microstructural changes in their brains.'"
http://fibroresearch.blogspot.com/search/label/neurology
Some highlights:
- Fibro sufferers treated for cervical myelopathy (a spine problem) had a reduction in fibro symptoms after the treatment (surgery).
- Fibro patients appear to have accelerated loss of gray matter (the type of loss generally associated with age)
- Post-traumatic stress disorder affects the way the brain processes pain
- Patients with fibromyalgia have significantly reduced dopamine synthesis in multiple brain regions
- In a French study, "Fibromyalgia patients...had significantly increased blood flow in regions of the brain known to be involved in the sensory dimension of pain processing, and significantly decreased blood flow in 'areas assumed to be associated with the affective-attentional dimension.'"
- In another study, "patients with chronic low back pain had 'microstructural changes in their brains.'"
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Missing
So, I'm doing my water change, having pulled out all the decorations and rocks, and I try to spot the "hard to find" fish in my tank while vacuuming. I see one, two, three ropefish, all accounted for. Black spotted eel, check. Spiny eel, check. Grey leopard pleco (L264), check. Synodontis ocellifer (juvenile), present. Asian bumblebee cat...Asian bumblebee cat?...there you are. Brand new baby goldy (sunshine, L-14) pleco who was my birthday present? Hello?
Goldy?
...
HONEY!!!! I NEED SOME HELP IN HERE!!!
We combed through the gravel, no luck. I picked up my 14" Hypostomus hypostomus and closely inspected the tank (he gets in the way, and doesn't mind being picked up when it's necessary, and it was hard enough with my huge Synodontis eupterus and Synodontis angelicus in the way, and the three adult pink tailed chalceus freaking out), and there was no little goldy. So each decoration, which had been out of the tank for probably 15 minutes at this point (no problem for a pleco, thank goodness), was inspected closely.
My stupid log decoration (above) had a little dead-end side branch. It's that piece sticking out of the top. If I tilted it just so, I could see yellow spots and yellow fins all the way at the end. I gently nudged him with the forceps I had lying around (they're for feeding snakes), and he gave me the little squeaky pleco noise that says, "Go away!"
I had to determine whether he was actually stuck, or just happily holed up. I poked around gently with a cotton swab (highly recommended over metal pointy things when dealing with stuck fishies), and I quickly determined that he had gotten himself into a stuck situation. Sometimes they do this in hard resin decorations; they expect it to be organic like they'd find in the wild, and be able to push their way out, but this stuff is unnatural in its rigidity.
I carefully broke off the branch. It snapped off very easily, and I could clearly see my poor little pleco wedged inside. The whole time, we were dipping him in the water as often as possible, so he was doing okay. Now, here is the part you can learn from. I've had to rescue fish from resin decorations before. The trick is to get a pair of pliers, grip the decoration, and break off a small piece at a time, pulling away from the fish, until you get the fish free. Trying to break it in half or cut through it near the fish is going to kill the fish. I broke off bit by bit until I got just over his little head. Now, this is where needlenose pliers work best, but I didn't have any. I grabbed my cuticle nippers to do the very fine work by his head. Tiny piece by tiny piece, I gently removed the decoration from one of the "stuck" points.
Goldy wiggled free, dove into the tank, and hightailed it for the nearest corner.
I finished my tank maintenance and put everything back together. Goldy's amazingly no worse for the wear. The decoration looked pretty decent after that branch was snapped off, so I tossed it back in there. One of my brichardis likes it, so I didn't want to have to replace it.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Tell me how I feel, because I'm too stupid to figure it out for myself!
http://www.fibromyalgia-symptoms.org/fibromyalgia_opioids_contro.html
"There is much debate about both the usefulness and safety of opioids as a medication for fibromyalgia sufferers. Many health care professionals and researchers feel that there is little evidence that opioids actually provide significant pain relief for fibromyalgia patients. Others are concerned about the potential for tolerance and addiction associated with long-term opioid use. Yet, many fibromyalgia patients find that opioids are highly-effective pain relievers, and work to relieve persistent symptoms of widespread pain and muscle stiffness. "
Okay, how do the "health care professionals" say that there is little evidence that they provide pain relief, when the people who are FEELING THE PAIN and therefore the relief thereof are saying that these medications DO work for the pain? Can anyone explain this to me? Because it doesn't make any damn sense.
And this: http://www.mult-sclerosis.org/news/Mar2002/OpioidsForChronicNeurogenicPain.html
Furthermore, dependence on painkillers, including opioids, may directly inhibit the learning of self-efficacy, which allows patients to take control and significantly reduce their own pain and other symptoms.[20] Unfortunately, for too many today, "taking a pill is easier than building the necessary will," a socio-cultural reality contributing to our national problem of prescription drug abuse...
Am I reading that right? Did this author just suggest that chronic pain sufferers should just suck it up and suffer nobly instead of getting their pain treated with medication? Of course, the rest of the article is fraught with misinformed ideas about fibromyalgia being the result of psychological stress, which the very latest research has shown is not true. In a nutshell, fibromyalgia sufferers in Washington, D.C. were participating in a study where they were reminded to record their pain levels five times a day by a beeping palm pilot. On September 11th 2001, their pain levels were no different after the crisis than they were before. And any fibromyalgia sufferer can tell you, they can be having a wonderful day with happiness and joy all around, but not have the physical ability to enjoy it. It upsets me that this author is trying to paint a picture of us as a bunch of sad sacks who have nothing better to do than whine about being in pain all day.
Let me tell you, I do have a pretty full life. I work long hours, I have a fantastic relationship, I have a lot of things that I like to do. This illness isn't caused by my life being sad and miserable. On the contrary, I have to fight pretty hard to keep the illness from taking away from the joy and awesomeness that is my life. I've never been happier before in my entire life right now. Brian is a big part of that, but also, I enjoy being an adult. I enjoy being able to make my own decisions. I love surrounding myself with the things that fascinate me (fish, snakes, etc). I have more friends than I ever had before--and they're better friends than I've ever had before (trustworthy, caring, generous, all that). I love my job (even when my boss is difficult)--I have fulfilling relationships with many customers, I get to take care of interesting creatures, and I learn new things almost every day. I have awesome coworkers, too, who are smart, hardworking, and fun. I feel like there is this lurking illness reaching up to try and drag me down, but I've got too much to keep me afloat.
Sometimes, in order to do the things I love to do, I take medications that quell the agony I suffer on a daily basis. These medications work. The pain I have abates when I take the pills. I am able to stop hurting and work, be with friends, take care of my snakes, and go out and do things. If Dr. HeadUpArse wants to claim that the medications can't possibly work because "they work on different pathways" yadda yadda, I honestly and truly wish this illness on him so that he can understand HOW IT WORKS. Everyone's body is different anyway; those who know me very well are aware that benadryl doesn't make me tired at all, valium has little effect on me, and I've tried three different muscle relaxers that did absolutely NOTHING--no relaxing muscles, no sleepiness, nothing. The opioid that I occasionally take to relieve my pain doesn't even do normal things; most people get drowsy on it, while I get a stimulant effect (mild).
And I think I know what is going on here. Because there are some bad apples abusing opioid medications, there is pressure to find excuses not to prescribe them. But you know what? Some people use knives to stab people--That doesn't mean that knives should stop being used for good purposes. Maybe you can come up with complicated alternatives for knives (there are lots of them--mandolin slicers, those tomato wedgers, etc), but the fact is, knives work, they're versatile, and I can honestly do a better job chopping things up with my awesome chef's knife than some of these complicated gadgets that are expensive, break easily, and are a pain in the ass to clean. I think that this is an apt analogy, really.
The bottom line is, it's the height of arrogance for these "health care professionals" to tell ME how I feel, and try to deny me (or others like me) the medication that allows me to live my life on the basis of "well some people are abusing it." For the record, I take vicoprofen, which is hydrocodone with ibuprofen. I think that the ibuprofen helps more than the tylenol in regular vicodin, and it's easier on the liver.
"There is much debate about both the usefulness and safety of opioids as a medication for fibromyalgia sufferers. Many health care professionals and researchers feel that there is little evidence that opioids actually provide significant pain relief for fibromyalgia patients. Others are concerned about the potential for tolerance and addiction associated with long-term opioid use. Yet, many fibromyalgia patients find that opioids are highly-effective pain relievers, and work to relieve persistent symptoms of widespread pain and muscle stiffness. "
Okay, how do the "health care professionals" say that there is little evidence that they provide pain relief, when the people who are FEELING THE PAIN and therefore the relief thereof are saying that these medications DO work for the pain? Can anyone explain this to me? Because it doesn't make any damn sense.
And this: http://www.mult-sclerosis.org/news/Mar2002/OpioidsForChronicNeurogenicPain.html
Furthermore, dependence on painkillers, including opioids, may directly inhibit the learning of self-efficacy, which allows patients to take control and significantly reduce their own pain and other symptoms.[20] Unfortunately, for too many today, "taking a pill is easier than building the necessary will," a socio-cultural reality contributing to our national problem of prescription drug abuse...
Am I reading that right? Did this author just suggest that chronic pain sufferers should just suck it up and suffer nobly instead of getting their pain treated with medication? Of course, the rest of the article is fraught with misinformed ideas about fibromyalgia being the result of psychological stress, which the very latest research has shown is not true. In a nutshell, fibromyalgia sufferers in Washington, D.C. were participating in a study where they were reminded to record their pain levels five times a day by a beeping palm pilot. On September 11th 2001, their pain levels were no different after the crisis than they were before. And any fibromyalgia sufferer can tell you, they can be having a wonderful day with happiness and joy all around, but not have the physical ability to enjoy it. It upsets me that this author is trying to paint a picture of us as a bunch of sad sacks who have nothing better to do than whine about being in pain all day.
Let me tell you, I do have a pretty full life. I work long hours, I have a fantastic relationship, I have a lot of things that I like to do. This illness isn't caused by my life being sad and miserable. On the contrary, I have to fight pretty hard to keep the illness from taking away from the joy and awesomeness that is my life. I've never been happier before in my entire life right now. Brian is a big part of that, but also, I enjoy being an adult. I enjoy being able to make my own decisions. I love surrounding myself with the things that fascinate me (fish, snakes, etc). I have more friends than I ever had before--and they're better friends than I've ever had before (trustworthy, caring, generous, all that). I love my job (even when my boss is difficult)--I have fulfilling relationships with many customers, I get to take care of interesting creatures, and I learn new things almost every day. I have awesome coworkers, too, who are smart, hardworking, and fun. I feel like there is this lurking illness reaching up to try and drag me down, but I've got too much to keep me afloat.
Sometimes, in order to do the things I love to do, I take medications that quell the agony I suffer on a daily basis. These medications work. The pain I have abates when I take the pills. I am able to stop hurting and work, be with friends, take care of my snakes, and go out and do things. If Dr. HeadUpArse wants to claim that the medications can't possibly work because "they work on different pathways" yadda yadda, I honestly and truly wish this illness on him so that he can understand HOW IT WORKS. Everyone's body is different anyway; those who know me very well are aware that benadryl doesn't make me tired at all, valium has little effect on me, and I've tried three different muscle relaxers that did absolutely NOTHING--no relaxing muscles, no sleepiness, nothing. The opioid that I occasionally take to relieve my pain doesn't even do normal things; most people get drowsy on it, while I get a stimulant effect (mild).
And I think I know what is going on here. Because there are some bad apples abusing opioid medications, there is pressure to find excuses not to prescribe them. But you know what? Some people use knives to stab people--That doesn't mean that knives should stop being used for good purposes. Maybe you can come up with complicated alternatives for knives (there are lots of them--mandolin slicers, those tomato wedgers, etc), but the fact is, knives work, they're versatile, and I can honestly do a better job chopping things up with my awesome chef's knife than some of these complicated gadgets that are expensive, break easily, and are a pain in the ass to clean. I think that this is an apt analogy, really.
The bottom line is, it's the height of arrogance for these "health care professionals" to tell ME how I feel, and try to deny me (or others like me) the medication that allows me to live my life on the basis of "well some people are abusing it." For the record, I take vicoprofen, which is hydrocodone with ibuprofen. I think that the ibuprofen helps more than the tylenol in regular vicodin, and it's easier on the liver.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Fatphobia
The anti-fat hysteria that is currently manifesting in an all out "War on Obesity" is weighing heavily (no pun intended) on my mind.
I've been keeping up with the Junk Food Science blog, which very logically picks apart the media hype, leaving behind the science of the situation. You can draw your own conclusions after reading the blog, but the gist is this: Fat isn't killing us in droves; cancer, heart disease, and the like are mostly the result of your genes. Dieting is damaging to the body. Diets don't actually work anyway, if you look at long-term studies (people gain the weight back plus some in five years or so; most studies don't go past the two year mark).
The "war on fat" is harmful and deadly, especially to women, in several ways:
- Doctors overlook real problems because they are fat-focused
- Some doctors are so averse to fat women that they actually will avoid doing exams (including pap smears) on them
- Because a moral judgement is often made on fat people ("You have only yourself to blame"), they often don't get proper treatment for unrelated health issues
- Harmful and potentially deadly weight-loss measures are pushed on fat people (bariatric surgery, drugs, diets)
Furthermore, the "kids are fat and going to die" hype is overblown and based on some very skewed statistics. I am not going to rehash everything on Junk Food Science, because Ms. Szwarc is far more eloquent than I am, but there is one awful correlation that is being blatantly ignored by the media: Eating disorders are on the rise. The bombardment of fat-hatred coming from all sides--television, government officials, doctors, school officials, and others--is driving more people, especially young people, to anorexia and bulimia. The fashion industry couldn't dream of having this kind of effect on youth. Thin is just not "in", it's trumpeted as healthy, life-extending, and, dare I say it, moral.
The message I am seeing is this: "If you get fat, it is because you cannot control your disgusting self, and you will be punished by horrible diseases and DEATH." Who needs religion when we've got the fat police to control our behavior? No need to threaten people with damnation; just convince them that they'll never die or get sick as long as they're thin. It's frighteningly powerful.
I'm going to make a scary admission here, and some readers are going to be utterly shocked and dumbfounded by this. I ask in advance that, if you are upset by it, please don't treat me any differently than if you had never known. It's hard to say this, and I'm really nervous about the consequences. When I was younger, I managed to fit into the doctor's chart for "appropriate weight" for my height by not eating. That's a roundabout way of saying it, but I can't bring myself to be more direct than that.
Young people who starve themselves are not doing it because they are stupid; they do it because they are ill. They can't just snap out of it. They aren't making conscious, rational choices. If they recover, it will always be there. It's a piece of them, lurking, popping up every now and then. You can learn to compartmentalize it, squash it a bit, make it less powerful, but it's there.
When I am at a restaurant, it rears its ugly head sometimes. I don't want people to look at me eating, because that little voice is telling me that other people are judging me. They think I shouldn't be eating, because I am fat. It doesn't matter what the food item is; even eating a tomato would make me feel that way, but if it's something like cheesecake, I feel even more self-conscious. It's almost like the sick part of me is reading the minds of other customers:
"Look at her, what does she think she's doing? She shouldn't eat until she is thinner."
"Look, she's eating a salad. Isn't that cute, sweetie...but it probably won't do you any good. Why are you bothering?"
"Maybe she should pass the plate to the skinny boyfriend, she certainly doesn't need it."
Worst of all:
"What's a guy like that doing with a pig like her?"
It's there, and I push it away, but every so often, I'll somehow feel full after only a few bites. Almost nauseated, even, because I'm self-conscious, disgusted with myself for just eating, and feeling guilty for not having the self control to starve myself. Yes, I KNOW it doesn't make any sense. It's completely irrational.
I've visited the "Pro-ana" communities because I had to see for myself that people were glorifying a mental illness. I couldn't look for very long, because that sick part of me was starting to feel validated. "See, all these girls are managing to control themselves and be thin, what happened to YOU? You used to look like that, you pig." I talked back to it. "They're sick, and some of them are going to die young because of it. Some of them HAVE." And I clicked away to something else.
I'm worried, because this is something that is so deeply rooted, so insidious, and it's being programmed into the minds of every child and teenager today. Generating paranoia about fat and eating is a foolish and cruel thing to do, and I am truly sorry for all of the young people that are going to suffer for it. Those who have the nerve to starve themselves are going to do it, and those who don't will hate themselves for it. Utterly abominable.
For the record, I'm fat now. I don't know if it's genetic (I generally look like my father in facial features and body shape), or the result of damage to my metabolism done in those miserable teenage years, but here I am. My doctors have declared me wonderfully healthy*, with great cholesterol scores, excellent blood pressure, and all that nonsense. My tall, thin significant other, however, who eats the same stuff I do and in about the same amounts, has tested high for "bad" cholesterol. I used to blame my vegetarianism for my good cholesterol and blood pressure, but I guess it's all genetics, baby.
* "Healthy", but fibromyalgia-stricken. They've figured out that fibro's a neurological thing, so my fatness isn't to blame for that either. My brain works great for thinking and stuff, but not so great for sorting out false alarm pain signals!
I've been keeping up with the Junk Food Science blog, which very logically picks apart the media hype, leaving behind the science of the situation. You can draw your own conclusions after reading the blog, but the gist is this: Fat isn't killing us in droves; cancer, heart disease, and the like are mostly the result of your genes. Dieting is damaging to the body. Diets don't actually work anyway, if you look at long-term studies (people gain the weight back plus some in five years or so; most studies don't go past the two year mark).
The "war on fat" is harmful and deadly, especially to women, in several ways:
- Doctors overlook real problems because they are fat-focused
- Some doctors are so averse to fat women that they actually will avoid doing exams (including pap smears) on them
- Because a moral judgement is often made on fat people ("You have only yourself to blame"), they often don't get proper treatment for unrelated health issues
- Harmful and potentially deadly weight-loss measures are pushed on fat people (bariatric surgery, drugs, diets)
Furthermore, the "kids are fat and going to die" hype is overblown and based on some very skewed statistics. I am not going to rehash everything on Junk Food Science, because Ms. Szwarc is far more eloquent than I am, but there is one awful correlation that is being blatantly ignored by the media: Eating disorders are on the rise. The bombardment of fat-hatred coming from all sides--television, government officials, doctors, school officials, and others--is driving more people, especially young people, to anorexia and bulimia. The fashion industry couldn't dream of having this kind of effect on youth. Thin is just not "in", it's trumpeted as healthy, life-extending, and, dare I say it, moral.
The message I am seeing is this: "If you get fat, it is because you cannot control your disgusting self, and you will be punished by horrible diseases and DEATH." Who needs religion when we've got the fat police to control our behavior? No need to threaten people with damnation; just convince them that they'll never die or get sick as long as they're thin. It's frighteningly powerful.
I'm going to make a scary admission here, and some readers are going to be utterly shocked and dumbfounded by this. I ask in advance that, if you are upset by it, please don't treat me any differently than if you had never known. It's hard to say this, and I'm really nervous about the consequences. When I was younger, I managed to fit into the doctor's chart for "appropriate weight" for my height by not eating. That's a roundabout way of saying it, but I can't bring myself to be more direct than that.
Young people who starve themselves are not doing it because they are stupid; they do it because they are ill. They can't just snap out of it. They aren't making conscious, rational choices. If they recover, it will always be there. It's a piece of them, lurking, popping up every now and then. You can learn to compartmentalize it, squash it a bit, make it less powerful, but it's there.
When I am at a restaurant, it rears its ugly head sometimes. I don't want people to look at me eating, because that little voice is telling me that other people are judging me. They think I shouldn't be eating, because I am fat. It doesn't matter what the food item is; even eating a tomato would make me feel that way, but if it's something like cheesecake, I feel even more self-conscious. It's almost like the sick part of me is reading the minds of other customers:
"Look at her, what does she think she's doing? She shouldn't eat until she is thinner."
"Look, she's eating a salad. Isn't that cute, sweetie...but it probably won't do you any good. Why are you bothering?"
"Maybe she should pass the plate to the skinny boyfriend, she certainly doesn't need it."
Worst of all:
"What's a guy like that doing with a pig like her?"
It's there, and I push it away, but every so often, I'll somehow feel full after only a few bites. Almost nauseated, even, because I'm self-conscious, disgusted with myself for just eating, and feeling guilty for not having the self control to starve myself. Yes, I KNOW it doesn't make any sense. It's completely irrational.
I've visited the "Pro-ana" communities because I had to see for myself that people were glorifying a mental illness. I couldn't look for very long, because that sick part of me was starting to feel validated. "See, all these girls are managing to control themselves and be thin, what happened to YOU? You used to look like that, you pig." I talked back to it. "They're sick, and some of them are going to die young because of it. Some of them HAVE." And I clicked away to something else.
I'm worried, because this is something that is so deeply rooted, so insidious, and it's being programmed into the minds of every child and teenager today. Generating paranoia about fat and eating is a foolish and cruel thing to do, and I am truly sorry for all of the young people that are going to suffer for it. Those who have the nerve to starve themselves are going to do it, and those who don't will hate themselves for it. Utterly abominable.
For the record, I'm fat now. I don't know if it's genetic (I generally look like my father in facial features and body shape), or the result of damage to my metabolism done in those miserable teenage years, but here I am. My doctors have declared me wonderfully healthy*, with great cholesterol scores, excellent blood pressure, and all that nonsense. My tall, thin significant other, however, who eats the same stuff I do and in about the same amounts, has tested high for "bad" cholesterol. I used to blame my vegetarianism for my good cholesterol and blood pressure, but I guess it's all genetics, baby.
* "Healthy", but fibromyalgia-stricken. They've figured out that fibro's a neurological thing, so my fatness isn't to blame for that either. My brain works great for thinking and stuff, but not so great for sorting out false alarm pain signals!
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