So I just came across this article about recent studies showing that people can be overweight or obese and healthy .I heard about these findings a few months ago and filed it under "Dear Brain.. please remember to look into this later". And forgot:)
(http://healthland.time.com/2012/09/05/can-you-be-fat-and-fit-or-thin-and-unhealthy/)I approve:). As a happy fat person... of course I would be all over a scientific study that supports my felling that one CAN in fact be the dreaded F word AND happy and (gasp) even PRETTY and smart and (OMG)HEALTHY and in general have a great life:)
I want to STRESS VERY STRONGLY that the results in this study are based on fat people who lived a fairly healthy lifestyle that included regular exercise and generally healthy eating habits.The premise of the article is that people CAN be obese and healthy. And alternately that people can be thin and unhealthy.Weight is not perhaps, the be all and end all we thought.The article suggests that exercise and good eating habits carry more weight(hehehe)than just the number on the scale.
No one on the planet is seriously advocating sitting around eating a box of donuts and 3 pizzas a day and never moving.Healthy habits do make a difference for most people.Some people ARE outside healthy weight ranges because of an unhealthy lifestyle. However there are people who DO live a healthy lifestyle outside of the approved weight box
I believe this is a possibility.. even a fact.Some people are naturally thin, some tend to fat.. and some level out in the middle.I believe that aspiring to health is important.. but that in our culture we have narrowed the definition of health too much.There are people I know who drink Pepsi and eat cheeseburgers everyday and never get even close to fat.And SOME of them have atrocious levels of cholesterol and , high blood pressure and off the charts sugar levels. All the things we associate with being fat. Without a single extra pound..Alternately,I know girls who live on rabbit food and diet soda, and gain weight just breathing in taco fumes.I know plenty of people our society would call fat without fat diseases. Health is not a one size mumu.I do not believe that there is a uniform calories in calories out formula or set of health numbers that fits all of us.We all have different bodies and different characteristics, so why should we not have different levels of metabolic success:D?
In addition I think that we too often confuse health with physical ideals.I hear young girls all the time say that they wish they were "in shape" like such and such super model.I think that there is no one in LESS "shape" than a women who denies herself food and exists on cigarettes, coffee, and other nefarious stimulants.. Of course I TRY to refrain from telling them so.. cause as a grown up woman with 50 extra pounds on her.. I have ZILCH credibility there:)They WILL decline to believe me.
But it is NOT just 14 year old girls. We all subscribe to environmental standards of beauty which is fine.. I have nothing against pretty stuff.. all cultures have ideas of what is beautiful .. but those ideals are NOT really good indicators of health.On both sides sometimes:)
I was ENTHRALLED this year during the Olympics at some of the women competing. I was seriously praying that the young chickies of America were paying attention.I was so excited to see women competing that looked like real strong healthy FIT women.Women whose big thighs and proportionally wide hips, and sometimes lack of ta tas might have been summarily rejected by modeling agents everywhere... but in reality added up to strength and grace and health. Women with perfectly imperfect bodies by Vouge standards... but totally perfect by the standards of health and wellness and strength.
No such luck though.I heard and read many conversations saying things like "OMG that chick was way to fat to be in a swimsuit on TV,,"OMG did you SEE her legs???" "HELLO birthing hips twelve o clock""etc etc.About super fit athletes who probaby train daily and live pretty healthy lifestyles.Sigh. And SIGH.
Anyway..digress...
The point of today's' musings is I am encouraged to see the definition of "healthy expanding".So to speak:D....
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HOWEVER,,, all of that being said.... let me say.. I am in no way a "fat advocate" as we think of that term.
I do not wish you all to become fat.
I do not run around declaring all of us should be fat.
I have a wide range of lovely girlfriends.. some fat... some medium... and some thin..Heart them all and celebrate their gorgeousness.
If you are not fat, I do not think you are a junky hateful shallow person nor do I assume you hate fat people.
If you work to maintain a certain body weight and level of fitness I admire your ability to stick to and achieve your goals and do not disparage you in the LEAST.:)
I do not believe that fat is a disability or a disease or affords me or anyone else special considerations.
I do not believe that it is ANYTHING but what it is. A physical characteristic.
I am fat like I am short.. and brunette.. and fair skinned. Fat is one aspect of my physical package.Likely created in the genes I received from my two overweight parents. Just as they gave me brown eyes, a short nose and a tiny space in my teeth:)
At my smallest adult weight I was never ever as thin as young girls WISH to be.I was a pretty solid size 9(7 when in a non eating or crash diet phase ) from high school on.. when the teenage dream was a 3:)My build is more stocky peasant than lanky super model:) But despite the horse on my butt being JUST slightly larger then the one on AngieKerriJenMichelleLoris' booty, I have always felt fairly confident in my own cuteness:)I decided fairly early on that I was a pretty girl who was not a swimsuit model and I worked with the hand I was dealt:)
And I am not saying I shot out of the cookie with fully developed confidence. My inert belief that I rock was always there(sometimes to a fault)I always had this sort of inexpiable princessy attitude.. but like all women in our culture, there were periods of insecurity invoked dieting and body image issues.I do not think any women in our wold is immune completely.(And of course, it was usually involving a boy:) But by my early twenties I was pretty much convinced that I was awesome just as I was and awesomeness was more than the tag in my jeans or the number on the scale I tossedinthetrashandleftitthere.By the time my first marriage ended in my mid twenties I was way over it:)
Now to that end... I had some great role models.Most of the women in my family are slightly to moderately overweight.. mostly of the southern end variety..(save for a few who got some random weird athletic gene Amy and Renee and Mary bless you:))and while I grew up listening to them bitch about the size of their butts and pinch their belly rolls regretfully here and there...that was not the be all and end all of my memories.They were all GOOD and happy and pretty and great cooks and great moms and hilarious and passionate about everything and STRONG.
Even though my own mom was always sure she was supergiant fat.. that seemed like such a small part of her..she was so pretty and kind to everyone and such a great mommy and so many things that seemed so much more important.
I have also been so majorly blessed with strong confident women as friends.My dearest dear Amanda Claire... from the get go was such an example of being ok in your own skin. I have seen this girl at a size 7 and seen her at a size 24 and there is absolutely no difference in how beautiful or confident or happy she is.And she was like this at 14 when we met :) I had other girlfriends throughout high school and college and life... who were strong and beautiful and confident and ambitious beyond their bikinis:) Tracy Z... my Indy bestie is another shining example..confident WAY beyond her years.... she is a brilliant lovely sparkly eyed girl with a brilliant creative mind, one of the best moms I know, and walks around completely comfortable in her package.Ms Shuntell my other Indy bestie who is not even in fats county... but is a gorgeous SUPREMELY confident woman with whom I have NEVER had a "we hate our bodies" conversation with.Ms Tink who is seriously one of a kind anyway.. and while she may drop a casual "I'm so fat" here and there... You know she doesn't really think it matters.. and her utterly one of a kind way of decorating herself is a testament to a beautiful spectrum.And Tracy N who is superfit and strong and a brilliant inspiring advocate for good health but is blessed with eyes that see beauty however it shows itself. And Zumba Rhonda who I don't know that well but in 6 weeks of class has made a lifetime impression on me! She who is gorgeous and curvy and not skinny and who VERY energetically teaches ZUMBA(this is NO small feat) and is a perfect example of what I am trying to get across here.And of course...my sister Allie ... who is convinced that she is the coolest thing on wheels no matter what:)My Aurora.. my unbio sister who happily went from a girl men stopped on the street to declare her the "most beautiful girl in the world" to a regular pretty happy woman who hates makeup and is morally opposed to heels not found in nature:) Mark Ds' beloved Dawn,,, who while she IS every bit the gorgeous Buffy girl Mark was seeking... is one of the sweetest most un-bitchy to others girls I know!!And on THAT note my Army Crissy who seriously is the American dream walking..The girl is like the pied piper of boys:) And I have never ever had a single conversation with her about calories ..ass size.. or ever ever EVER heard her tearing down anyone else..And again...on THAT note ALL my Army wives who are all gorgeous and all such a beautiful mix of strength and confidence and kindness.... And there are so many others that I have been lucky enough to know..don't feel slighted if I did not mention you..cause my life is full of gorgeous women who don't spend ALL their time talking about calories and beating themselves up for loving cake:)It would take three blogs:)
And that statement may annoy some of you who do that. And you know.. I don't mean it to be hurtful. I hurt FOR you. I am sad when I talk to a gorgeous smart talented women and hear her tell me that she cant look at herself naked cause she is revolting.And usually she is so far away from anyone's idea of revolting.Usually she is skinner than I am and... I honestly do not know any butt ugly girls soooo... she is also usually cute:). And I am just always kind of flabbergasted:)...
So I guess this is why I am encouraged by studies like this. I don't want everyone to give up and go on non stop burrito binges.. But I would love to see a world where the definition of health is tailored to the individual rather than a physical ideal.
Where women who are blessed to be mommies can look at their baby altered bodies and feel as gorgeous as they should.. having created LIFE in those bodies.. instead of feeling sad.
Where teenage girls can stop puking up all their food in a effort to look like someone elses idea of pretty and learn early on to be their OWN best.
(And.... maybe play more sports instead of wait around for boys all the live long day maybe?? pleaseandthnkyou universe:))
Because I AM an individual, a one off... a one of a kind:)And so are YOU. And all the YOUS. I am the only me and there is nothing wrong with this me. I am fat AND pretty healthy.(Except for my PCOS which is a genetic fluke and has nothing to do with my pasta habit:) I exercise the required 3 times a week (soldier man says not hard enough but I am not a soldier thankyouverymuch) and I try to eat healthy most of the time.(Go 80/20!!)
And like most of us I could do more, and I aspire to more ...I want to be FITTER and stronger than I am..Just because I don't care if I am someone elses idea of bikini ready,,, does not mean I want to be Jabba the hut... but I aspire to a healthy ME .. not a healthy YOU ..or you.. or her..:) And while I am working on that.. life is IN PROGRESS.. and it is a journey I don't want to MISS!! If this were my last day I would not want to have spent it crying over my didnotevengetababyoutofthesestretchmarks or round belly or my short little legs that are shaped exactly like my 1 year old me pics.. :)We are all works in progress.If we re going to love ourselves at all we have to love who we are in this moment because we only truly HAVE this one...Life is short...We can't put our lives on hold until we get to some magickal perfect place because... THAT place my beloveds exists NOWHERE in heaven or earth. And I for one,refuse to sit around and not live until I reach the "ideal".
So more studies like this I say. And more emphasis on being our personal bests. More supporting each other rather than tearing each other down.
Cause healthy is beautiful... strong is beautiful... confidence is beautiful... and we are all ...somewhere... sometime.. in the eyes of our husbands.. and wives... and babies... and mom,,,s and daddies'... and ultimately in the eyes of our creator ..utterly,, perfectly..uniquely.. Beautiful.
Happy New Year Beloveds:)
http://blogs.voanews.com/science-world/2011/08/15/study-its-ok-to-be-fat/
