Weight Stereotyping: The Secret Way People May Judge You Based On Your Body
This was a controversial post from Glamour magazine that really got people talking! Read an excerpt below and click on the link to read more. Excerpt: “What our poll shows about the assumptions women hold… Heavy women are pegged as… “lazy” 11 times as often as thin women; “sloppy” nine times; “undisciplined” seven times; “slow” six times as often While thin women are seen as… “conceited” or “superficial” about eight times as often as heavy women; “vain” or “self-centered” four times as often; “bitchy,” “mean,” or “controlling” more than twice as often. Even the “good” labels are unfair. An overweight woman may be five times as likely to be perceived as “giving” as a skinny one. Read More: http://glamour.com/health-fitness/2012/05/weight-stereotyping-the-secret-way-people-are-judging-you-based-on-your-body-glamour-june-2012 Thoughts?
As women, we’re used to hearing about fitness in terms of inches and dress sizes. We may know better, but we’re up against near-constant reminders and pressures to look good and take shortcuts to get there.
The truth is, being a healthy woman isn’t about getting on a scale or measuring your waistline—and we can’t afford to think that way. Instead, we need to start focusing on what matters–on how we feel, and how we feel about ourselves.
I started thinking about exercise as an investment in myself instead of a chore, and I started focusing on the example I wanted to set for my girls. My schedule was dominated by career and kids–not to mention a very busy husband–but thinking about exercise this way made it a priority, even if I had to get up earlier to do it.
That’s what being fit meant to me: feeling good inside and out, and taking control of my health.
5 Uber Hydrating Recipes
These recipes take advantage of water-filled produce like cucumbers, jicama, and radishes to help hydrate you from within as the weather gets warmer.
(via Fit Sugar)
Paralyzed woman finishes marathon 16 days after start
A 32-year-old paraplegic woman using a robotic walking suit has completed the London Marathon, 16 days after the event began.
Hundreds of onlookers cheered a tearful Claire Lomas on Tuesday afternoon as she crossed the finish line on The Mall in central London, The Sun reported. Lomas, who was paralyzed from the chest down in a 2007 horse-riding accident, walked the 26.2-mile course using crutches and a £43,000 ($69,500) suit that uses motion sensors to help her move her legs. When Lomas shifts her balance, the ReWalk machine moves her joints forward, allowing her to take a step, the BBC reported.
Lomas, of Eye Kettleby, England, averaged more than 1.5 miles per day since the marathon began on April 22, following the official route. She stayed at a hotel at night and was driven to the spot where she stopped the day before, according to the BBC. Her husband, Dan Spicer, accompanied her the whole way, and her parents and 1-year-old daughter also were with her for parts of the walk.
“The support has been breathtaking and it feels fantastic to finally finish,” she said, according to The Sun. “I really didn’t expect this and I can’t quite believe it’s all for me. Everyone has been so supportive and I couldn’t have done it without them.”
I love this young girl & her mission! Really wish that Seventeen magazine had taken up her challenge (to be honest, I see it as a HUGE missed opportunity for them).
Every day I get messages from young girls begging for help to fix normal, everyday, common body ‘flaws’ (note: actually not flaws, but are perceived that way. Cellulite is no more a flaw than your ears are. It’s normal, common and something that 90% of women have: not that you’d know it from the way it’s represented in the media). Most young girls have no idea how SKEWED our notions of beauty are or how deep they’ve been internalized. Even though most teens women are aware of photoshopping practices, they still pine for the altered bodies they see everyday in magazines, ads, billboards etc.
Wouldn’t it be nice to have a magazine that, even just ONCE A MONTH, promoted real bodies? As they are? With no digital alteration?
It’s not a perfect solution, but it is a step in the right direction. And you would think it’s not too much to ask (in fact, it may be just the kind of thing that boosts sales at a time when print media is struggling).
Excerpt via Modern Mom
Julia Bluhm, 14, has gotten more than 48,000 signatures for her online petition to “give girls images of real girls” in the pages of Seventeen magazine. The eighth-grader asked the magazine to commit to printing one unaltered photo spread per month.
In the petition written to persuade the editors, Bluhm wrote that girls are deeply influenced by the perfect images they see in the magazines and rip their own bodies and faces apart when they themselves fail to live up what they don’t realize are Photoshopped, airbrushed standards.
“Here’s what a lot of girls don’t know,” she wrote in the petition, “those ‘pretty women’ that we see in magazines are fake. They’re often Photoshopped, airbrushed and edited to look thinner, and to appear like they have perfect skin. A girl you see in a magazine probably looks a lot different in real life.”
“For the sake of all the struggling girls all over American, who read Seventeen and think these fake images are what they should be, I’m stepping up,” Bluhm continued.
Healthy Swaps!
A step in the right direction? Thoughts?
via Gawker
The heads of Vogue’s 19 international editions have come together to form a six-point pact which promises, among other things, to stop the practice of working with models younger than 16, or those who, at the editors’ discretion, are determined to be suffering from an eating disorder.
“Vogue editors around the world want the magazines to reflect their commitment to the health of the models who appear on the pages and the wellbeing of their readers,” Condé Nast International chairman Jonathan Newhouse said in a statement.
Beastie Boys Founding Member Adam ‘MCA’ Yauch, Dead at 47
Adam Yauch, better known to music fans as MCA of the legendary hip hop triumvirate Beastie Boys, passed away today at the age of 47 following a hard-fought bout with cancer.
Russell Simmons’ Global Grind confirmed the tragic news this afternoon.
So sad. Love & light to his family and friends.
Fist pumps all around for this winner of an article! (You have no idea how hard I fought the urge to say ‘breast pumps’ instead).
I struggle sometimes in this industry where rapid weight loss is praised, rewarded and used as inspiration. I’ve just seen too many women brutalize their bodies into quick ‘results’ only to gain it all back and too many women give up on healthy habits when their 10lb goal isn’t hit in a week. Two friends of mine who’ve recently had babies couldn’t help but ‘apologize’ for their slightly bigger appearance when I saw them. As if being a new mom and adjusting to a new busy life was somehow a shitty excuse for why they weren’t back in their skinny jeans yet. What? I smacked ‘em. With love. :)
What happened to the ‘baby moon’? The period of time where you can just connect with the wee one, adjust to momhood and not have to worry about losing that weight?
Oy…
I’m not someone who likes to comment on other people’s appearance. Basically, I’ve taken a stance that if we want to help body image issues, we need to stop talking about people’s bodies all together. And while there are a TON of comments on this story that comment negatively on how this woman looks after years of tanning, you won’t find those kind of comments coming from me.
I DO have my own opinions, but I won’t focus on her appearance. Instead, I ask that we focus on health here. It’s enough of an issue on its own without resorting to name calling, right?
For YEARS, the downsides to tanning have been reported and cautioned. Despite a decline in popularity, MANY people still opt to fry their skin under the UV bulbs to get a healthy ‘glow’. There’s nothing healthy about it and tanning beds ARE addictive. It’s hard to break the habit and many people need more & more to get their ‘fix’. Skin cancer rates are CLIMBING and that ‘healthy tan’ desire from decades of beach babery is something we can now get with a spray or a bottle.
While the mother claims the child did not actually go under the lights, setting healthy examples for your children is not just a matter of what you tell them to do (or not do). It’s also a matter of being an example for them and making choices that mirror the lifestyle you want for them. Telling your child she’s beautiful, while simultaneously criticizing your body all the time can still send the message that bodies are things to be criticized.
Tan responsibly. Wear sunscreen outside. Get your glow from bronzers, spray tans and other non-cancer causing options. LOVE the skin you’re in.
Mom Taking 5-Year-Old Tanning Is Disturbing, But Her Tanned Face Is Even More Disturbing
Recovery Reading: Unbearable Lightness: A Story of Loss and Gain
“I didn’t decide to become anorexic. It snuck up on me disguised as a healthy diet, a professional attitude. Being as thin as possible was a way to make the job of being an actress easier”
Portia de Rossi weighed only 82 pounds when she collapsed on the set of the Hollywood film in which she was playing her first leading role. On the outside she was thin and blond, glamorous and successful. On the inside, she was literally dying.
In this searing, unflinchingly honest book, Portia de Rossi captures the complex emotional truth of what it is like when food, weight, and body image take priority over every other human impulse or action. She recounts the elaborate rituals around eating that came to dominate hours of every day, from keeping her daily calorie intake below 300 to eating precisely measured amounts of food out of specific bowls and only with certain utensils. When this wasn’t enough, she resorted to purging and compulsive physical exercise, driving her body and spirit to the breaking point.
Even as she rose to fame as a cast member of the hit television shows Ally McBeal and Arrested Development, Portia alternately starved herself and binged, all the while terrified that the truth of her sexuality would be exposed in the tabloids. She reveals the heartache and fear that accompany a life lived in the closet, a sense of isolation that was only magnified by her unrelenting desire to be ever thinner. With the storytelling skills of a great novelist and the eye for detail of a poet, Portia makes transparent as never before the behaviors and emotions of someone living with an eating disorder. From her lowest point, Portia began the painful climb back to a life of health and honesty, falling in love with and eventually marrying Ellen DeGeneres, and emerging as an outspoken and articulate advocate for gay rights and women’s health issues.
Portia shines a bright light on a dark subject. A crucial book for all those who might sometimes feel at war with themselves or their bodies, Unbearable Lightness is a story that inspires hope and nourishes the spirit.
Read the first few pages here
Exercise Bulimia: warning signs, information, diagnosis & treatment.
The Symptoms
Compulsive exercisers will often schedule their lives around exercise just as those with eating disorders schedule their lives around eating (or not eating). Other indications of compulsive exercise are:
- Missing work, parties or other appointments in order to workout
- Working out with an injury or while sick
- Becoming seriously depressed if you can’t get a workout in
- Working out for hours at a time each day
- Not taking any rest or recovery days
The Danger
Exercising too much can cause all kinds of problems including:
- Injuries such as stress fractures, strains and sprains
- Low body fat - this may sound good but, for women, it can cause some serious problems. Exercising too much can cause a woman’s period to stop which can cause bone loss
- Fatigue
- Dehydration
- Osteoporosis
- Arthritis
- Reproductive problems
- Heart problems
Some of these symptoms also apply to overtraining but if you’re obsessed with exercise and use it as a way to undo bad eating on a regular basis, it isn’t something you can tackle alone. Many compulsive exercisers find they need therapy to help them deal with exercise bulimia. To get started, call you doctor or check out these online support groups to talk with other people experiencing the same problems.
Source: About.com
Chances are you’ve swallowed gum before. Chances are you’re okay. But if you’ve ever wondered what happened to it, and if it REALLY stuck around for seven years, read this.
Interesting fact about our digestive systems: they work HARD y’all. Read more.
Eat clean & move more: sounds simple right?
Well, yes & no. Being healthy involves a variety of behaviors and choices, including some that may seem counter-intuitive. It’s important to try to give our bodies the best we can, but equally important that we stay mentally healthy while we do it. With healthy eating & exercise, normally healthy endeavors can turn into unhealthy obsessions given the right circumstances.
Eating disorders have a broad range: it’s not just anorexia, bulimia or binge eating. You do not need to lose or gain weight to have an eating disorder. You do not need to be obsessed with your body image to have an eating disorder. E.D.’s are qualified as having an “unhealthy, disordered relationship with food (too much, too little, or very specific kinds) & are characterized by stress, anxiety & gaining (or losing) control over the body”. It’s about behavior: not outward symptoms. Many people go undiagnosed because we tend to focus heavily on visual signs and not enough on behavioral cues.
It’s tough to imagine, but you CAN be too “healthy”. Orthorexia (Healthy Diet Obsession) is more and more common, and it’s hard to diagnose people who suffer.
If you’re a health nut, how can you tell the difference between orthorexia & just doing what’s best for your body?
Orthorexia becomes a problem when food becomes a source not just of nutrition, but of virtue or self-worth, when eating “bad” food implies that one is a bad person, and when the diet becomes a source of either self-esteem or, conversely, guilt and self-loathing.
Possible Signs of Orthorexia (particularly if 4 or more apply. If they all apply, you may be suffering)
- Spend more than three hours a day thinking about healthy food.
- Plan your day’s menu more than 24 hour ahead of time.
- Take more pleasure from the “virtuous” aspect of your food than from actually eating it.
- Find your quality of life decreasing as the “quality” of your food increases.
- Are increasingly rigid and self-critical about your eating.
- Base your self-esteem on eating “healthy” foods, and have a lower opinion of people who do not.
- Eat “correct” foods to the avoidance of all those that you’ve always enjoyed.
- So limit what you can eat that you can dine “correctly” only at home, spending less and less time with friends and family.
- Feel guilt or self-loathing when you eat “incorrect” foods.
- Derive a sense of self-control from eating “properly.”
Commitment and adherence to a diet can be warranted for the seriously overweight, even to the point of altering their lifestyle. But, “isn’t it also important in life to have some spontaneity, some enjoyment?”
Read more.
