Bloggers, I need to talk to you

A while back I wrote a post called Vegans, I need to talk to you, to discuss the healthism and sizism that goes on in the vegan community. As a vegan myself I find it abhorrent that veganism has become just another fad diet to some and that people feel the need to justify it by tearing other people down. Today the shoe's on the other foot and bloggers- it's your turn. I'm tired of seeing veganism shoved into your blogs in paragraphs about eating disorders and diets. On tumblr I saw a blip just yesterday which said " making me want to hurl my uber-processed fast food milkshake all up in their homemade vegan-frosted faces. With a goddamn maraschino cherry infused with red dye #40 on top. ". Really? Is this what we're resorting to? Tearing down people who make lifestyle choices that are different from yours? Isn't that what you're upset about to begin with? Enjoy your processed milkshake, but don't threaten me just because my vegan lifestyle offends you. And, ironically, this post is about food shamers- while food shaming!And guess who gets food shame and body policed worse than fat people or vegans? That's right- fat vegans.

Part of HAES means being educated about the food that you put into your body and making choices based on your individual needs, wants, and reactions to those foods. So if I choose to eat veggies and hummus while you choose and sonic burger, why is that such a big deal? So healthism is when you discriminate and/or are intolerant of someone based on their health status. When you feel superior to someone because of the health choices they may or may not make- I talked about healthism in Vegans, I need to talk to you because it's a serious issue in the community. However, I don't see much of a difference in looking down on someone's food choices while feeling superior as a fat acceptance activist in the way described by that tumblr post.

And if you've mentioned veganism in fat acceptance, you know who you are. Veganism or vegetarianism shouldn't come up at all in your post unless you're specifically addressing sizism issues within the vegan community. It shouldn't be compared to an eating disorder, it shouldn't be called a diet. Because it's not. By it's very definition veganism is a lifestyle choice that seeks to end bullying and abuse- hey.. just like fat acceptance! It's not about losing weight, it's about trying to lessen/end animal cruelty, exploitation, and objectification. Vegans are people too and we come in all shapes and sizes. It's your turn to step back and check your presumptions at the door. Because all of this vegan shaming? It's, well, shameful. Now please, cut it the hell out.

Fat Sex is Good Sex

Thanks to several fat activists on facebook a study on fat sex has been making the rounds. The small study finds that women who are comfortable with their bodies have better and more satisfying sex lives while women who are uncomfortable with their bodies have less fulfilling sex lives or abstain altogether.  Are you shocked yet? Anything? No? Me neither. Because hating yourself leads to the best sex said no person ever.

Women in the study who said they had begun to embody fat pride reported finally having the confidence to end negative relationships and "retrain" their partners to satisfy them sexually. "As the women experience less body shame and increased confidence, they also seek out or attract partners who treat them better and truly appreciate them,"

Of course, those who seek to keep us down by force feeding hate down our throats might argue that we shouldn't be having sex anyway. Think about that. Think about the quality of life that these people are trying to force on us. You can't be happy until you're thin and since that's not happening for 95% of people you just can't be happy. The women in this study not only had great sex lives but dared to defy the haters by being happy in general.

So my argument is that even if being fat was unhealthy, even if it took ten years off my life or  more, quality matters more than quantity. As The Doctor said, some people live more in 20 years than others do in 80. So if I die at 70 then that's 70 years of happiness and a lot of years of really great sex, friends, family, adventures, and living as opposed to 70 years of being a sad and depressed anxiety filled shut away. I'd rather take the fabulous life thank you.

Fat Fitness

I'm so excited to have worked with Paul Cory on this great fitness photoshoot and very thankful to the owner of my gym who let us use the facility and machines. Yes, this is my actual gym. I'm even wearing my ratty old tennis shoes. These are also some of my actual workout clothes. In other words, I didn't just pretend to workout to get cool pictures. I enjoy working out. Curves alternates between resistance machines and bounce pads for in place running, although you can skip the jogging and do double on the machines if you want to. They also do zumba which is awesome if you haven't tried it or heard of it. Remember that Health at Every Size says to find an exercise that you love and do it as often as you want! You don't have to go to a gym and workout on machines, but find something that's fun and you can be passionate about.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fat Girl Health: Update

Remember how I gushed about the doctor not mentioning my weight? Well that didn't last long. She called me to let me know the results of my blood tests. My blood pressure was already good so she called to let me know that my cholesterol and my blood sugar were also good- a relief since diabetes runs in my family. Still, she just couldn't help (though to her credit she seemed tentative about it) but suggest that I lose weight. Being thin means being healthier! Right? But I'm already healthy so what do I have to gain exactly? More so, I'd like to know how she'd suggest I do this.

I'm going to talk a little about my health- something I avoid doing because I try to sound professional most of the time (I pull that off, right?).  I have hypothyroidism. At least according to my blood test done Dec. '10 with a TSH level of 4.1. This is something that actually impacts my  health. More recently because, despite not being medicated, my TSH suddenly dropped to 1.6 as my symptoms became debilitating. I may actually have hypothyroidism caused by Hashimoto's disease. It's an autoimmune disease where the immune system attacks the thyroid. When it does pieces sometimes break off and dump thyroid hormones into the body causing TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone- a hormone released by the pituitary gland in order to stimulate the thyroid when it's not producing enough hormones [T4 and T3]) to drop suddenly. The symptoms are hell to be honest. Severe fatigue, nausea, dizziness, pain.. I've been barely functioning for the past month or so.

This is partially relevant because one of the symptoms I've been experiencing is lack of appetite and nausea after eating. I've been eating very little. It varies from day to day but the most I've been able to eat in the past few weeks is about 1400 calories (I only know this because someone was concerned and asked me to add it up) and the average is closer to 700 with some days being much less. This is not okay and it also hasn't caused weight loss. So when I ask "what would she have me do?" she certainly can't tell me to eat less! This was just plain irresponsible of her. The severity is what caused me to make a doctor's appointment asap. So this, this is what actually effects my health and in a severe way.

I wanted to make the severity of my symptoms clear so that you can be shocked and outraged when I tell you that the doctor (resident) dismissed all of these symptoms. Perhaps she thinks 'oh, fattie thinks she has thyroid problems, big surprise' (even with a copy of my last blood test in front of her) or maybe she's just inexperienced- she is a resident after all. But these things she dismisses while my life is put on hold because of how sick I am, but she thinks weight loss is an appropriate piece of advice (after I informed her of my history with an ED no less- something else I haven't talked about on here because it still makes me feel ashamed and uncomfortable). There is no good excuse for this people. I have one more appointment next week and if it goes as poorly then it's time to find a new doctor!

Fat Girl Health

Actually, all health, male or female, thin or fat. But this is my particular experience with my trip to the doctor as a fat woman. I didn't jump in the recent debate about Jess Weiner, the former fat activist who wrote a sensationalized article about how fat acceptance "made her" ignore important aspects of health such as seeing a doctor. Because I don't know much about this woman or her history in fat acceptance, I stayed away from it, but my trip to see a doctor today for the first time since I can remember for a checkup did remind me of her and how our culture views health in general.

First of all, exercise and healthy eating are extremely important for health. I'm not denying that, I'm not challenging that, that's not what this is about, just so as we're clear on that. Lifestyle, however, can only take you so far. I feel empowered when I go to the gym, especially after an especially hard workout. I feel empowered when I make a delicious and healthy meal or when my son rejects someone offering him fries and asks for an apple. I feel confident that I've taught him healthy habits and that makes me proud. But nothing made me feel so empowered, so in charge of my health and my life, as going to see a doctor this past week. I had blood drawn for all of the normal things- lipids, glucose, vitamin D, etc (also had blood pressure taken which was fabulously perfect even with the white coat anxiety). I feel pretty sure they'll all come back fine, but the part that makes me feel good is knowing for sure. If they don't come back fine I feel great knowing that the knowledge means that I can take control of it, change it, or treat it. And there are plenty of issues that can arise regardless of how active you are or how well you eat. You should also regularly get tested for STI's even if you're in a monogamous relationship and don't forget your general physical exam. I also got the first dose of the HPV vaccine; if you're a woman, you should be getting this.

My point is this: taking care of yourself feels good. Great even! And it goes far beyond just lifestyle and definitely beyond weight since that number can't tell you anything about your health. Sadly, almost 50 million Americans don't have health insurance. Even more have health insurance but still don't go to the doctor's because they can't afford the deductibles and copays. I'm 26 and I just now got insurance. I haven't been to a doctor for anything other than reproductive issues in so many years that I can't even remember. In fact, I may not have been to have a regular checkup since I was a kid. I'm privileged enough to have that taken care of for me. I was able to tell the doctor that yes, I wanted the Gardasil vaccine even if my insurance didn't cover it. Health is multi faceted and while the "obesity epidemic" is complete bullshit, we do have a health epidemic. Health care should be considered a basic human right and this is one area that the US is greatly lagging behind in. Maybe that's why we resort to faux epidemics and scare tactics and sensationalism. It's a substitute for actual health care and it doesn't work, not even close.

You may have occasionally heard the word healthism come up in the fatosphere and perhaps in a post or conversation about ableism. Healthism is the idea that healthy people are more moral and better people than unhealthy people. I likely don't have to tell you, dear readers, that it's all too obvious that classism is also involved since the ability to access quality healthcare is something that's reserved for the wealthy. Not even the middle class have the kind of access they need. Because I am middle class and I still have to decide if I should go to the physical therapist that my doctor recommended for an old rotator cuff injury, the psychiatrist for my bipolar medication, the psychologist for my PTSD, the eye doctor, or the dentist. I can only pick one for this month and then I have to decide who in my family gets to go get their needs taken care of first because we can't all seek medical care at the same time.

How is this a fat issue? Because healthism is deeply intertwined with fatphobia and sizism and poor people are more likely to be fatter (there are all kinds of speculation on why- my belief is that it has to do with emotional well being as well as untreated health issues). Healthism includes fatphobia which includes classism. It's a vicious cycle of violence against the sick and the poor. Healthcare is a human rights issue.

 I feel like the importance of seeing a doctor regularly is glossed over when talking about HAES sometimes, perhaps because of the huge number of people who have no way of following this advice. Our broken health care system is proof that no one actually cares about our health when they shame us, especially when you think about government programs and initiatives such as Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" anti fat kid campaign. The same people who claim to care about your health in one breath will deny you healthcare coverage in the next. So all of you health trolls- I will be completely ignoring you until you start advocating for universal health care and stop talking about fatties driving up health care costs.