Paradox busting time

Brought to you by the kind and unknowing support and inspiration of The Militant Baker (check out her blog. No, really. Do it.)

I am so tired of this crap. So frustrated with people around me going on and on about MY body, as if they have some obligation to point fingers at me, telling me that I should be, to quote Louis CK, "less people." Their favorite reason for trying to "help" is the health benefits they seem to find in restricting my life and the way I live it.

I wonder if these people know that they are in fact spouting nonsense and clichés?

I will not try to write a summary of my thoughts. Instead I will quote my source at the Militant Baker, because she summarizes in one paragraph what I would most likely take page upon page to try and put words to.

Everything you know about fat and health is wrong. Fat people are more likely to survive cardiac events and outlive thin people. Fat can protect against cancer, heart disease, anemia, and type 2 diabetes. Yes, diabetes. You can't make a fat person thin and you can't make a thin person fat. Eating garbage and being obese are not the same thing. No one has proven that fat people eat more and exercise less than thin people. Fat people can eat perfectly balanced meals and exercise and still be fat. And thin people can eat junk food all day and sit around and still be thin. Diets don't work. They just don't. Dieting doesn't make you healthy; it makes you sick.  And you do realize that a shit ton of research about obesity is funded by weight loss companies, right?

And look at that, it even includes helpful links.


In addition, I would like for people to stop the diet talk. I am not interested in ANY of the dozens of diets out there. I am not interested in your results or how much weight you've lost, and I am absolutely not interested in joining any diets or cult/program/organization whose sole purpose is to tell me I suck the way I am. Talking about dieting in a room full of other individuals is inconsiderate and disrespectful. You don't know if anyone around you have or has had an eating disorder that you are triggering. You can't know if there's someone around you struggling with low self esteem or self-hate. You have no right to be "helpful" to someone who doesn't follow your standard.

I am not saying "Don't be on a diet". That is entirely your choice. I am saying "I don't want to hear about it. I won't be joining it."

I love food. Real food. Good food. Not powders mixed with water. Not "power bars" that taste like Styrofoam and saw dust. Real food, cooked with real ingredients. I don't understand fasting and cleansing. I don't get the whole depriving yourself deal (not anymore, at least. I used to do the Starve Yourself dance a few years ago). As long as I can have real yummy food, I am happy. And happiness is the best feeling.