Nancy Comic Strip on GoComics.com

Nancy Comic Strip on GoComics.com

Invisible Illness Awareness Week

I never knew anything like this existed!

http://invisibleillnessweek.com/

Aside from his fading scar, my husband's coronary artery disease is invisible. My CFS is invisible, as is my hypothyroid, hypoglycemia, partial deafness, asthma, and degenerative disc disease and other arthritis and neuritis problems. And now that my labwork is showing I have an autoimmune disease, add that to the list.

I think I'll be spending a lot of time on that web site the next few days. 

Jesse & The Rippers Reunite

When life was much simpler.

"No Longer Defensible" Post from Fat and Not Afraid Blog

This blog gets better each time I read it! Be sure to read the comments, too.

“No Longer Defensible”

June 25, 2013

 

 I don’t think there is a person who is connected to the wider world somehow (e.g., internet, evening news, newspapers) who doesn’t know that the AMA declared obesity a disease this week.  Many Fat Acceptance bloggers have written about it.
In the same week that this is happening, Time Magazine posted an online article about, well, about a sort of Fat Acceptance.  Oh, they didn’t call it that, but that’s what it was.

Jeanette DePattie (The Fat Chick) In the Mainstream Media

This is mostly here so I can find it again in the future, since I have a bad habit of losing videos I want to do repeat watchings of. Enjoy!

Mister Rogers YouTube Mash-Up

My son may have hated the show but I loved it and still catch an episode now and then if I see it listed.

International Towel Day - May 25th

For more information, check the International Towel Day official web page.

 
And thanks, Mr. Adams.

Why It's Okay to be Fat video by Golda Poretsky

Secrets of Old Age Video

Found this on YouTube today. Yeah, it's a little corny and preachy at times, but it has beautiful graphics and a nice message.

Today Is International No Diet Day

In the fat acceptance community, today is celebrated as International No Diet Day, a day when we fatties should be proud of who and what we are and once again vow to never "diet" with weight loss in mind ever again. We're told over and over again that we CAN be fat and healthy. Many of us prove it day after day. We have excellent lab values, our blood pressure is fine, we have no limitations in our activities of daily living.

But I know in my heart that this isn't true.

Because of the large amount of weight my body has, my feet hurt and the bones in my feet shirt out of position, exacerbating the arthritis, causing tendinitis and leave me prone to corns, calluses and plantar fasciitis.

Because of the large amount of weight my body has it causes pains in my knees, hips, even my neck, and may have contributed to the degenerative disc disease and neuritis I have.

Because of the large amount of weight I carry I get winded climbing up the three flights of stairs to my apartment, while walking a few blocks to my car, while shopping in large department stores or malls.

BUT

From almost 60 years of dieting, my metabolism is equal to that of a slug or sea sponge. My core body temperature on awakening routinely is between 95 and 96 degrees F, my resting pulse rate is typically in the 40's, I've officially been diagnosed as hypothyroid (but still being under treated), barely sleep at night, have severe brain fog, and I gain weight if I eat even 1000 calories a day. In fact, even as a 10 year old active tomboy I gained weight at 1000 calories a day.

I KNOW dieting for weight loss doesn't work. I KNOW very low calorie food plans, the ONLY thing that will make me lose about a pound a month, is harmful to my health and will cause even slower metabolism. So why do I still harbor the Fantasy of Being Thin? Why do I still read all these weight loss books, visit diet doctor sites, read OA literature, load up on half a paycheck's worth of greens and other fresh produce (which always goes bad before half of it gets eaten), and when I have the energy, still weigh and measure everything I eat?

I guess I'm just, as my husband frequently says, fucked in the head when it comes to my weight. Even after all these decades.

I GOTTA See This Movie!!

World Tai Chi Day

Today is World Tai Chi and Qigong Day

I'd like to offer my thanks to Dr. Robert Bates, Lee and Karen Holden, Garri and Daisy Garripoli, Thich Nhat Hanh, and, believe it or not, David Carradine, who sparked my interest in the gentle martial arts many, many decades ago.

Bye, Annette

She's up there singing and dancing with the angels now. 

My condolences to her family, but at least she finally has some rest from her ills.

I FINALLY Understand Poetry!

Thanks, Richard Thompson!

Declining Life Span In Women Confuses Scientists - Not Me

I just saw this news report this morning and just shook my head in disbelief:

Study shows declining life span for some US women
Mar 4, 4:07 PM (ET)
By MIKE STOBBE

NEW YORK (AP) - A new study offers more compelling evidence that life expectancy for some  U.S. women is actually falling, a disturbing trend that experts can't explain.

The latest research found that women age 75 and younger are dying at higher rates than previous years in nearly half of the nation's counties - many of them rural and in the South and West. Curiously, for men, life expectancy has held steady or improved in nearly all counties.

The study is the latest to spot this pattern, especially among disadvantaged white women. Some leading theories blame higher smoking rates, obesity and less education, but several experts said they simply don't know why.

I know why, and so does any fat woman in America today. There's a whole blog out there describing the treatment we get when we go to doctors with our medical complaints.  Everything is blamed on our fat. If we are above the "normal" BMI we're not taken seriously, and the treatment for our complaints is always "lose weight," whether we present with a broken arm or chest pains. 

Read the blog First, Do No Harm if you don't believe me. "Normies" will be aghast at the treatment those people received at the hands of their doctors while fat people will nod their heads and say, "Yep, that happened to me, many times." I can add a few stories of my own if I wanted to, most notably the cardiologist who told me I had a heart attack when I didn't because, he admitted, he thought hearing that would scare me into losing weight. Nice, especially when the cardiac problem I DID have was the result of the extreme stress I had in my life at the time. He didn't think the fat lady would have copies of all the tests he ran that showed what I did or didn't have so he couldn't bullshit me. He got mad at me when I refused to see his friend, the head of the bariatric surgery department of the hospital, for a consultation. And even though I had the lab work in my hands that proved it, he didn't believe I was following a very low fat, whole foods, plant based food plan prior to my hospitalization, because "vegans aren't fat."

These people in the study didn't die of obesity but of neglect and malpractice. There are thousands of doctors out there like that cardiologist.

People like those doctors make women afraid to see a doctor when something really is wrong. Women have died of heart attacks and ruptured aneurysms, ruptured appendices, various cancers, etc., because they were afraid to see their doctor when they had pain, because they knew it would be blamed on their weight and not given any diagnosis or treatment, so they lived with the symptoms. Until they didn't.

And what about the fat people who believe what their doctors tell them, that their fat is the cause of their ills, and go through desperate measures to get rid of the fat and die as the result? Women who take unsafe over-the-counter stimulants to "boost their metabolism." Women who over exercise and undereat and overstress their bodies which may lead to sudden death from heart attacks or electrolyte imbalances. Women who ingest tapeworm tablets. Women who have their healthy intestines and stomachs amputated in hopes that less digestion leads to weight loss. You know, weight loss surgeries. These procedures rob the body of needed nutrients, which lead to all sorts of medical problems, and for many, early death, earlier than if they just stayed fat in the first place. And don't forget those who die on the operating table or within the first 48 hours. Those are the only deaths counted as caused by the surgery itself. Statistics aren't kept on those who die months or a few years later from all the complications even if they're from the surgical procedure, such as ruptured suture lines, infections at the suture site that never healed because the body doesn't have the nutrition to defend itself, leaking of gastric material into the abdominal cavity from internal sutures or staples that weren't done right or ripped, etc. Those deaths are attributed to the person's fat, not the surgery.

On the opposite end of the weight spectrum are the anorexics and other women with eating disorders. The treatment failure rate is high, and many times leads to unnecessary deaths, all because they feared getting fat.

And let's not forget the young Type 1 diabetics who skip their insulin, not because they're tired of injecting themselves or have a death wish, but because they know insulin improves the metabolism of the food they eat, which leads to weight gain, so if they don't take their insulin they'll lose weight. 

Some women will do anything to lose a few pounds, even risk death. And scientists wonder why the death rate is going up in "certain" women, especially obese ones! Just look at how society treats us and they'll know why!

Richard Simmons Project H.O.P.E.

 
I've been so busy with the funeral for hubby's aunt that I missed all the infomercials and announcement of the release of Richard's new program, Project H.O.P.E.! If anyone knows where the full-length infomercial can be found on-line (Not on YouTube as of this morning), please let me know in the comments.

Not only does it include new exercise videos on 3 DVD's but it comes with an electronic version of the Foodmover. I like how the exercises come in different fitness levels, too.

Richard Simmons New Products

I thought these new DVD's (and computer programs?) we supposed to come out in January but here it is, the 25th, and still no sign of them. That's okay, because one they do appear I'm sure they'll be advertised everywhere for a while and we'll get sick of looking at them.

How I Feel After 3 Weeks of the Flu

Thanks, I Can Has A Cheezburger

Never Diet Again - Not This Year 2013

I should really listen to what Angela is saying here. I'll be 60 in a few months and have been on the diet merry-go-round since the day I was born. Even now, while following one of the healthiest food plans on the planet, I'm not losing weight and won't unless I let my calories drop to below 1000/day, something I'm not willing to do, especially since it would put a strain on my already compromised (from decades of dieting and diet pills) heart. 



What can I do, besides point readers to this blog to the official Not This Year web site? Well, it's only the fourth day of the year and already I took a diet book out of my Amazon shopping cart and vowed to not buy ANY food related books this year except for any upcoming cookbooks by Isa Chandra Moskowitz.  No diet books, no other cookbooks, no diet-related videos (I took one of them out of the shopping cart, too). I vow to finally read the MANY fat-accepting books I already own but put aside in favor of diet books I already owned to reread.

And I vow to eat more cookies and other baked goods that taste good, not only are good for me. In fact, as I type I have a batch of raisin-chocolate chip banana bran muffins in the oven, made from this recipe. They're very filling and delicious as well as healthier than bakery made muffins, made with all kinds of artificial ingredients. One of these babies for breakfast and I'm good for hours before even looking for lunch!

BSG Adama Song

I'm making my way through the DVD series right now, and saw a number of people on the PPK forums are, too. Here's a video someone recently suggested that gives a very fast explanation of the series to newcomers: