Fat Chicks Rule

Run like the wind or a snail.

I am currently reading "Talking Fat" by Lonie McMichaels which I will be reviewing in a few weeks. But it opens with a story of a fat woman named Sarah who does a triathlon. When she posted a picture of her in a swimsuit, she was attacked with nasty comments. 

Nike recently released a commercial "Find your Greatness" that shows a lone jogger. As the person gets closer it is of a fat young man running.  

 

The positive aspect of the commercial is it shows a fat person doing movement and breaking a stereotype that fat people don't exercise (Some of us do and some of us don't just the same as thin people). There is no mention of dieting or weight loss. Just an ordinary kid on a run. 

On its website, Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity praised Nike for demonstrating “its commitment to demystify myths about overweight and obese people.” Rebecca Puhl, Rudd’s director of research, was surprised — pleasantly — by the ad, which she believes challenges stereotypes of obese people as lazy, crazy for junk food and lacking in willpower or self-discipline.

The negative aspects is what we didn't see. During the filming the kid threw up in a ditch. And this ad has made him decided to lose weight the old fashion way through diet and exercise.

It turns out Nathan is not actually an early-dawn runner. In fact, he threw up in a ditch during the shoot. In an editorial, the paper heralds Nathan as an inspiration, though it seems he was the one most inspired by the shoot. Nathan and his mother Monica have vowed to help each other lose weight through good old-fashioned diet and exercise.

I've never been against anyone trying to eat healthy or getting in more exercise.I hope one day in the future Nathan runs without throwing up. I hope he doesn't stop running even if he doesn't become thin. I wish him not to have my childhood, riddled with old fashion dieting that caused me to gain more weight than lose.

The other issue is stigma about a fat person exercising. In May I wrote that a fat person can't get a break. If they don't exercise, they face stigma for not doing it. If they do, they are made fun of. Dr. David Katz was happy to mention how horrible Nathan looked while running.

“He looks miserably uncomfortable, and as if he’s about to topple over. There is no hint of greatness in it — other than, perhaps, his commitment to do it.  But maybe he is a great mathematician — or orator — or pianist…” he wrote in an email.

 “So, I would have preferred they showed his pursuit of greatness in a way that was not so obviously far from great, so obviously impeded by his weight and so blatantly uncomfortable!”

In other words, because he looked uncomfortable, and not that "great", he should stop running?

Also next year I have decided to do at least one swim race. I'm sure I'll come in last. I don't care.

Snacks at school

Before I start, I don't mind keeping corporate products out of school. To me they take advantage of a vulnerable population who can be easily influenced. I also don't mind if schools cut back on vending machines or junk food in the cafeteria. I think it gets a little ridiculous if the kids can't have occasional treats for a celebration or buy a few snacks at a bake sale or even at school (Growing up I consumed most of my junk food at home bought from my corner store). 

A study in the Journal Pediatrics recently came out that showed that states that had stricter rules on snacks sold in schools had kids with lower weights than schools that didn't. It's a fucking miracle some might say. Here is how we can make all children super thin again (because they have never been fat children before.)

Except for one thing, the net weight loss between restrictive and unrestricted was about 2.25lbs . That's right. My weight in the morning compared to my weight in the evening is exactly the average that the good schools had over the bad ones.  However, another study in Sociology of Education looked at 20,000 kids from Kindergarten to eight grade discovered the same thing and dismissed the findings as insignificant.

It's not that middle schoolers aren't eating junk food; indeed they are, just like most Americans. It's that most of the junk food they're eating is not coming through the schools.

Again, I don't mind having less junk food in school.

But I have to wonder about one thing.

The Pediatrics study followed students from 5th grade to 8th. When I was 10, I was fat but didn't really care yet. When I was 13, I was dieting. I have to wonder if the same schools the restricted the snacks also hitting the anti-obesity message hard? Could the food restricting/anti obesity atmosphere be causing more kids to diet? 

The problem is discovering eating disorder statistics by state is near impossible. The only thing I could find was a study showing those in Western countries (Which have more pressure to get thin) have higher rates than non-western countries. Something the Pediatrics study failed to look into.

 

Strongest women in the world

Very short post tonight as I just go back from a vacation of limited interweb.

While I was sorry not to see  Holley Mangold or Sarah Robles win any Olympics medals, kudos to them for their attempts. I know Holley hurt her wrist so she lifted 30kg less than her best. I hope to see them at the next summer Olympics in 2016.

That being said, the winner of the Gold medal in Women's heavy weight lifting was this woman Zhou Lulu of China:

All together, she lifted about 734 lbs.

The silver was won by Tatiana Kashirina who was only 2 kilograms short of beating Lulu Zhou. However she did managed to beat two world records.

Both women would be considered obese by American standards. Zhou Lulu would be considered morbidily obese. If she lived in America, she would probably be pushed by pundits, academicians, doctors, and the weight loss industry to lose weight.