A Weight Lifted

Happy Healthy Holiday Eating Tips

Thanksgiving officially kicked off the season of dread for many weight worriers. And no wonder. Sally Squires in her Washington Post column says that healthy weight folks usually put on about a pound during the holidays. But the weight strugglers among us are looking at an average of five extra pounds by the New Year.  (BTW, Sally’s got generally good tips in this column but I think sometimes they’re too diet oriented; for example, she recommends counting calories at the Thanksgiving meal to make sure they don’t exceed 1000 calories. To me, that’s a good way to ruin the meal.)

The Massachusetts Eating Disorder Association (MEDA) recently sent an email of “Helpful Holiday Tips” for people with eating disorders and their families; if you or a family member have an eating disorder, check it out.

The email inspired me to come up with these tips for those of us who don’t exactly have an eating disorder but don’t have it totally together with our eating either, especially during this time of year. They focus on attitude more than anything else. When it comes down to it, that’s what usually leads our success.

• Ban conversations about food and weight. Forgo the ‘body scan’ that takes place among friends or family who haven’t seen each other for awhile (you may not be able to stop others, but at least you can refuse to participate). If it advances to conversation, change the topic. Likewise with comments “I feel so fat” or “I shouldn’t have eaten so much.” They just serve to focus us on the negative.
• Try to eat regular meals on something of a schedule, instead of grazing. There’s often just too much rich food around to make grazing a healthy option among those of us who are not completely in touch with internal cues for hunger and satisfaction.
• Be a role model for those around you, especially if you have children (who too many times do what you do -- not what you say!). Make conscious choices about what you’ll eat, build in physical activity regularly, and stay positive. You’ll all have a much better time.
• Include your friends and family in your effort, if you feel comfortable doing so. Support is a key factor in success, and what better time to feel supported by your loved ones than during the holidays.

Check here for some of our other holiday eating tips from previous years.

Hope you have a wonderfully fun holiday season!

Tags: healthy eating tips, holiday eating tips, holiday diet tips, holiday weight gain

Perdita di peso - Dimagramento - Benessere - Centro per dimagrire - esclusivamente alle donne e rispettoso della salute
Il programma di perdita di peso Green Mountain tutela la salute
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When Does Dieting or “Better Health” Become Destructive? Part II

Last week I submitted a post with the title, "When Does Dieting or “Better Health” Become Destructive?, not really intending it to be a two-part post. But I've spent the past week thinking about the comment posted by Jenny ("I have often been worried that my own attitude towards food could easily turn into something obsessive..."), and I think examining the ideas about food, our bodies and eating in light of what Green Mountain stands for would be useful.

First, something about intent or context. When you see articles published on this blog that describe the destructive effects of dieting on self-esteem, body image, confidence and overall health, it's with the intent to show that recommendations to "diet to lose weight" (which is interpreted as "lose weight by any means") due to an arbitrary and increasingly discredited measure such as BMI rarely, if ever, produces the desired result. Unless, that is, the desired result is a more hostile relationship with your body, less muscle mass, and the first dip in what will be come a rollercoaster ride of lows and highs of body weight.

Secondly, we try to bring a context to the idea of the pendulum swings of attitude that dieters inculcate as they begin to think about food and their body in terms of "good" and "bad" ("I only ate "good" food today, therefore I am "good") and spotlight the subtle insanity that is foisted onto women, things that start as concepts, grow to opinions, and become mega-sized "facts" after a while ("I have to eat NOTHING to lose weight," "I can't exercise because I can't do it perfectly" "If I do everything perfect, everything and everyone will fall into place and THEN I'll have time to worry about myself").

Everyone has read one day how food item x can be a great source of y, and then picked up the papers the next day to find out that food item x might just kill you. Rather than inform or shed light on the situation, these two seemingly conflicting reports as you hear them in their sound bite formula, most likely come from the same "scientific" study, and probably have nothing to do with you!

For example, food x might be a great source of something that you don't need AND it might be dangerous for those that live 14,000 feet above sealevel. So unless you're willing to subscribe to the professional journals where this information is sound bite-itized from, you'll never really know what to make out of this, so you ignore it, which is really the right thing to do. But a side effect of that is that you do nothing about your health behaviors that will make a difference (such as reducing stress, having a balanced meal that makes you feel good when you finish, and going for a walk) because you have been implanted with the idea that "none of this matters, I might as well ignore the whole thing." This is my beef (pun intended) with the latest and greatest "breakthroughs" that we hear about - it leads to inertia and disempowerment.

It would grieve me greatly if any information that I posted would lead to the same feelings - this is about empowerment, feeling that you are the captain of your own ship! The attached article is about what happens when healthy eating - or the obsession with it - becomes unhealthy...the purpose is not to scare you away from whole grains, fruits and vegetables, but to help you see that without moderation, the quest for "health" can become just another unhealthy swing of that pendulum.

If these posts DO make you question negative beliefs about yourself, or help you to stop being lead astray by media reports, or feel less scared about the "obesity crisis," then I'm very pleased! I'd like to hear from you about your feelings - if you feel more uncertain about what you're doing after reading this, empowered, overwhelmed, whatever.

Now if you're sufficiently prepared, you can read on about the latest side-effect of "healthy eating" - orthorexia as described in this article, "Parents' health food fads 'make children ill'"

Perdita di peso - Dimagramento - Benessere - Centro per dimagrire - esclusivamente alle donne e rispettoso della salute
Il programma di perdita di peso Green Mountain tutela la salute
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Parents' health food fads 'make children ill'

by FIONA MACRAE, Daily Mail

09:02am 14th October 2005

Children pushed into health fixations by parents

Diet-obsessed parents are bringing up children with a dangerous

fixation with healthy eating, experts have warned. Youngsters are

being pushed into eating only the 'purest' foods, creating eating

disorders in children as young as nine.

Eating disorder expert Dr Steve Bratman said a growing number of

youngsters are eating such a limited amount of sugar, fat, salt and

artificial additives that they are in danger of seriously damaging

their health.

Slavishly following such a strict diet, deficient in vital nutrients

and vitamins, can lead to stomach upsets, headaches, skin problems and

irritable bowel syndrome. In the most severe cases, sufferers can end

up starving themselves to death. Last year, Dr Bratman, who coined the

term orthorexia, warned that British adults were suffering from the

condition.

Now, the Colorado-based doctor, who runs an orthorexia website, has

revealed he is receiving growing numbers of e-mails from British children.

He believes many of the youngsters are picking up their fixation from

their health-obsessed parents.

Dr Bratman told The Big Issue Magazine: "Sometimes it is clearly a

parent who has given them the idea but at other times it is the

culture at large. "I get a lot of e-mails from kids in the UK and the

level of writing in these e-mails frequently astonishes me. Some of

them are terribly painful to read.

"The youngest was nine but the most painful was written by a

12-year-old. Generally they contact me without their parents' knowledge.

"Interest in healthy food as opposed to a healthy or attractive weight

creates an overreaction. The most important message is that extremes

are unhealthy." He added that orthorexia is different to anorexia, in

which victims are desperate to lose weight no matter how thin they become.

"Like other eating disorders, the issue is with obsession," he said.

"But what is unusual about orthorexia is that it is an obsession about

improving your health."

Dietary experts believe an obsession-with diet in wider society -

exemplified by the popularity of TV series such as Fat Families and

You Are What You Eat - is at the heart of the problem.

Deanne Jade, of the National Eating Disorders Centre, said: "There is

a lot of anxiety about weight and the drip-feed of messages about

foods and health may mean children develop a distorted relationship

with food and later develop an orthorexic way of eating.

"We are living in the kind of society where we are asked to take

control of ourselves - diet is always being evaluated due to this

pressure.

"I think children now are growing up very much at risk of orthorexia."

Tags: body image , self acceptance , weight loss .

Tricking Your Brain Into Thinness – Dieting Gimmick or Gimmicky Diet?

Did anyone catch ABC’s 20/20 last Friday?  Titled The Fat Factor, the producers must have figured FAT would be an interesting topic as millions of American’s sat in front of their TV sets feeling overfed and perhaps a little bit guilty about their late night turkey sandwich.

After talking to Wynonna Judd and Carnie Wilson about their trials and tribulations as weight struggling women, the focus turned to the newest diet book, The Flavor Point Diet written by Dr. David Katz. (It doesn’t go unnoticed that Katz is the senior medical correspondent for ‘ABC’, as well  as the diet doc from ‘Celebrity Fit Club’ fame, and a featured columnist at O Magazine).  A pretty media savvy doc, I’d say. 

Described by Rodale (his publisher), as a “groundbreaking diet drawn from cutting-edge science that maximizes your eating pleasure, optimizes your health, and guarantees permanent weight loss, by combining foods selected by flavor,” Katz believes you can meet your weight loss goals by tricking your brain into being satisfied for very long periods of time.  You won’t eat when you’re not hungry and therefore lose lots of weight, faster. 

Sounds revolutionary, doesn’t it?  However, I’m not sure how this diet satisfies the plethora of other problems people face when struggling with their weight, like emotionally eating, managing their stress, time and management issues and competing priorities, just to name a few. 

Nevertheless, the strategy is to follow ‘flavor themes’ by week, day, meal and dish, to eventually reach your ‘flavor point’ where you feel full and satisfied. According to Dr. Katz, too many flavors (variety) offered to your brain and the less successful your dieting will be.  “The concept is very, very simple. An excess of flavor variety over-stimulates the appetite center in the brain," says Katz.

The research offered to back up his theory comes from research conducted at Yale's Prevention Research Center, where Dr. Katz is director.

It’s important to note I haven’t read the book (it comes out this week), but it does sound like the premise may not lend itself easily to the lifestyle of a typical busy American woman.  Themed weeks, days and meals sound awfully challenging.  Not that you can’t lose weight on this ‘diet’ or any other ‘diet’ for the short term, but can you live with it?  Is it a lifestyle and/or a healthy lifestyle? How long can you really eat this way or any other rigidly described way?  Will you be set up for failre is you're currently managing binge eating?

Isn’t it more important to understand how to achieve long-term weight loss success with mindful eating techniques and healthy eating and weight management without dieting? We think so.

Tags: diet books , dieting , weight loss .

ABC 20/20 .

Perdita di peso - Dimagramento - Benessere - Centro per dimagrire - esclusivamente alle donne e rispettoso della salute
Il programma di perdita di peso Green Mountain tutela la salute
Perdita di peso,Dimagramento,Benessere,Centro per dimagrire,Dimagrire,Salute,Dieta,Sovrappeso,Problemi di peso

 

Thai Turkey Soup

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Got leftovers? This hearty Thai Turkey Soup is a new and savory way to enjoy some left over turkey when all the stuffing and cranberries are gone. Try serving with a whole grain roll and a fresh mixed berry fruit cup for dessert.

(Makes 10 cups)

    2 tablespoons olive oil
    2 tablespoons finely chopped ginger
    2 tablespoons finely chopped garlic
    ½ cup chopped carrots
    2 (14-ounce) cans light coconut milk
    2 (14-ounce) cans reduced sodium chicken broth
    1 tablespoon sugar
    4 teaspoons curry powder*
    1 teaspoon salt
    1 (16-ounce) package frozen cut green beans
    1 (6-ounce) bag fresh baby spinach
    3 tablespoons chopped cilantro
    1 ½ cups (8 ounces) baked and torn turkey breast

In large soup pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add ginger, garlic and carrots and sauté about 6-8 minutes or until carrots are soft. Add coconut milk, chicken broth, sugar, curry powder and salt; stir over heat until blended. Add green beans and heat about 2 minutes. Add spinach and cover briefly (about 2 minutes) to wilt the spinach. Remove cover; add cilantro and turkey and heat through. Serve.

* For a spicier soup, increase curry powder to 2 tablespoons.

If you enjoyed this recipe, come and enjoy our complete collection of healthy eating recipes.

Tags: healthy recipes , healthy eating , recipes for living .

 

Hollywood’s Holiday Diet Secrets

Ok, you know we weren’t going to support any ‘tricks or secrets’ – especially where dieting is concerned.  ‘Dieting’ – not being the most popular term around these parts. But, after reading this week’s US Weekly cover story, I was bemused to find the following quotes:

Diet ‘tricks’ straight to you from celebrity women who apparently know a thing or two about tricking!

“Oprah Winfrey tells US she ate green soup and almonds for weeks so she could fit into her Vera Wang gown.”  - US Weekly

     - A raise of hands from those who believe Oprah can still fit into that gown? 

“I like to pick, so it never feels like I’m really eating”. – Kelly Ripa

     - And feeling like you’re eating is a bad thing, why exactly??

“If you’re serious about not gaining weight during the holiday, bring a container of fruit to parties.” - Cameron Shayne, fitness trainer to stars like Courtney Cox.

     - I wonder if that container of fruit comes in regular or evening Tupperware.

“I feel the holiday’s already. I try and go to the gym when I can and skip a few meals.” - Shannon Elizabeth

     - Now that’s sound advice! I know skipping meals has always worked for me long term!

“On Thanksgiving none of the food is good for you.” - Hillary Duff

     - Ok, she’s only 19.

Hollywood gals who get our thumbs up!

“Don’t eat too much, but eat everything you want!”  - Julianna Margulies

     - Now there’s a woman with a beautiful head on her shoulders!

“You want to be able to have pumpkin pie. It is a festive occasion, who wants to be bitter because someone is having bread and you’re not?”  - Garcelle Beauvais-Nilson

     - Bread and just about anything else!

“I think you can eat whatever you want…in moderation” – Alyssa Milano

     - Who’s the boss? You are Alyssa!

Happy Turkey Day!  (And everything that you desire that goes along with it!) 

Bon Appetit!!

Tags: body image , celebrity dieting , weight loss .

Perdita di peso - Dimagramento - Benessere - Centro per dimagrire - esclusivamente alle donne e rispettoso della salute
Il programma di perdita di peso Green Mountain tutela la salute
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When Does Dieting or “Better Health” Become Destructive?

The simple answer to that question is, “when it’s really about something else.” Following is the most articulate and insightful description of “something else” that I could ever imagine. While the writer did eventually cross over into the land of full-blown eating disorder, the steps leading up to it are almost universal in becoming food and weight obsessed. It’s worth the read...

Perdita di peso - Dimagramento - Benessere - Centro per dimagrire - esclusivamente alle donne e rispettoso della salute
Il programma di perdita di peso Green Mountain tutela la salute
Perdita di peso,Dimagramento,Benessere,Centro per dimagrire,Dimagrire,Salute,Dieta,Sovrappeso,Problemi di peso

 

 

Keeping Up Appearances
By AMANDA BANES
It's difficult to pinpoint just when I went to war with my body. It started innocently enough just after graduate school. I wanted to lose a few pounds, feel a little better about myself, and improve my health and fitness. The transition from graduate student to faculty member seemed like a good time to transition into a more slender body.

Somehow, things got out of hand. In about 14 months, I went from a relatively happy, productive 175 pounds to a miserable, obsessive 125 pounds, drained of energy and motivation, and racked with shame and guilt. I don't think it entirely coincidental that the downward spiral of my eating disorder corresponded with the upward spiral of my career.

I was lucky to land a tenure-track position in education at a large research university right out of graduate school. After completing my dissertation, I figured I could handle whatever stress a faculty appointment had to offer. I never anticipated a tenure-track position would be so demanding, or that I would feel so unsettled and insecure all the time.

The more out-of-control I felt in my career, the more I attempted to control my body through cycles of denial and purging. The more I tried to control my eating, the more it gained control of me. I found myself thinking constantly about food, developing elaborate formulas for caloric intake and output, and cruising online weight-loss sites.

Exercise initially seemed like a good solution, but when I was at the gym, I felt guilty about not being at work, and when I was in the office, I felt guilty about not being at the gym. I could literally feel my fanny expanding as I sat at my desk. I could almost hear the cellulite bubbles snap-crackle-popping into existence, but that might have been because I had just spent 40 minutes thinking about Rice Krispies Treats when I should have been working on my spring syllabus.

I started getting up at 5 a.m. and earlier, so I could fit in a 90-minute workout and still be into the office before 8 a.m., when most of the department members began to arrive. My obsession with appearance extended to making sure I always looked busy and productive.

I say looked because by that point, I was too exhausted to produce much. I wasn't eating or sleeping enough to keep my body going. I began to spend longer periods of time staring vacantly at my computer screen, because my brain simply didn't have the energy to do what I needed it to do.

It isn't fair to imply that my job was the sole cause of my problem. I've always been a perfectionist, and it doesn't surprise me that I applied that to my quest for a thinner self. There is also some history of anxiety and addiction disorders in my family. But academic culture and the demands placed on women in our society to have it all certainly contributed to my disorder.

Even something as mundane as working on a grant proposal would lead to feelings of self-doubt and fear. What if I didn't get the money? I needed more accomplishments to put into my tenure application. Without grant money, how would I ever find the resources and time to do my research and get those publications in?

To displace the nagging voices in my head, I would find some chocolate cookies. Ten minutes of bliss were quickly followed by hours of guilt. How could I convince anyone that I was capable of managing a grant when I couldn't even manage my own eating? The solution was to become even more controlling of what I ate, and if that shaky control broke, well, I could always stick my finger down my throat. Things were starting to get ugly.

It isn't possible to keep up appearances forever. Following a series of arguments that started over meals I refused to eat, my partner started voicing his concerns about my obsessive behavior. Several close friends and colleagues also began to realize something was very wrong, and tentatively suggested I seek help. One very brave student even approached me, concerned because she had taken classes from me for two consecutive years, and noticed my alarming drop in weight.

The behaviors I had developed to help me cope with the stresses of my job were now adding to my stress, and worse, hampering my ability to do my best. This had to stop.
My final wake-up call came on the heels of Terri Schiavo's much-publicized death. One afternoon I saw stars and nearly passed out in my toilet while vomiting. Wondering if similar stars were the last thing Schiavo saw before she began her long journey through the wastelands of vegetative convalescence, I knew I had to bring my eating disorder to heel.

Having admitted to close friends and family that I really did have a problem was the first and hardest step. Since then it has been a slow but steady progress toward a healthier attitude, and although I can't honestly say I'm at peace with my body, I feel like I've at least entered a state of truce.
I don't know if anyone ever completely recovers from an eating disorder. I still have very bad days when I can barely stand to look at a piece of bread, much less eat it. On those days, I rely on my friends and family to remind me that my body needs energy and nutrients to do the things I need it to do.
Overcoming the shame is part of the battle. I've had to realize that it is OK to be flawed, both in my personal and professional lives. There is no such thing as a perfect person, even in academe. I don't know anyone who has had every grant proposal financed, or every paper they've submitted accepted for publication.

Just as I have bad food days, I also have bad job days when I can't bear to look at my current grant proposal or revise a returned publication. On those days, I rely on colleagues, mentors, and especially students, to remind me of all the reasons why I took an academic job, and still -- despite the stress -- love it, and know in my heart that I am good at what I do.

Bodies come in different shapes and sizes, and so do CV's. I may gain a few pounds. I may not have all of my publications accepted this year. I'm not perfect, but I'm going to live with that, not die of starvation over something I'm not.
________________________________________
Amanda Banes is the pseudonym of an assistant professor of education at a research university in the West.

Tags: body image , self acceptance , weight loss .

Weighing In - Literally

One of the worse memories I have growing up as a child was school ‘weigh in’ days.  From 1st grade to high school, I sat in terrified anticipation as I watched the school nurse drag a giant scale down the hall for my yearly humiliation.  Each class lined up in the hallway waiting to be weighed and measured, while the nurse called out the heights and weights to another nurse who would log the information on a chart.  This was never done (to my recollection), with any kind of propriety and I remember thinking even then, who wants to know?

The issue?  Weighing just 5 or 10 pounds more or less than your classmates (which I usually did), could translate to bullying; name calling or actual shunning for the rest of the school year faster than you could say the pledge of allegiance. 

This very subject has come to a head in Indiana, where Hoosiers have been ranked some of the heaviest in the nation.  In an all-state effort to battle their war on obesity, and with the rise of type 2 diabetes in children, Indiana health and education officials are asking school officials to track health trends by recording all Indiana student’s heights and weights and reporting their findings to a government body by May of this year. This, in an effort to mark trends which might affect decisions about nutrition and exercise programs which might prevent such weighty issues from getting out of control.

But many in Indiana are saying, no way. The push back comes from several school officials who’re concerned (rightly so), that any leak of this type of personal information in the classroom or on the playground could cause humiliation and ostracizing of susceptible students.

"Kids are very sensitive about weight issues," said Joe Backmeyer, superintendent of Nettle Creek Schools in Wayne County. "We work hard to treat everybody the same, and to have any kind of information out there that would do otherwise doesn't appear to make sense."

The collection of information requires each child’s identity be revealed initially for record keeping purposes. However, the state is trying to assure school officials that ultimately names will be kept confidential.

On its face it seems to be reasonable to want to track health information of students if that information can be fed directly into the education system and the end result are programs which focus on healthier lifestyles.  But, what concerns me is focusing too much on weight, and not on health or healthy eating.  When you’re measuring only heights and weights, there seems to be little allowance for changing bodies as kids grow.  Pre-puberty, most of us get rounder and the uneducated about this subject worry that kids are just getting fat then, and that can set off a lifetime of weight worries for kids who are ‘talked to’ about it. 

Weight and kids is a touchy subject that shouldn’t be left in the hands of school nurses and the like who really don’t understand all the ramifications of the subject.

Tags: body image , self esteem ,

Perdita di peso - Dimagramento - Benessere - Centro per dimagrire - esclusivamente alle donne e rispettoso della salute
Il programma di perdita di peso Green Mountain tutela la salute
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Maple Pumpkin Pie

Beta-carotene, vitamin A, calcium, healthy fats, protein…wait a minute, this doesn’t sound like dessert! Yet that’s exactly what this great-tasting mix of good-for-you nutrients is. Otherwise known as pumpkin pie, we’ve added a Vermont twist, substituting maple syrup for some of the sugar, and adding pecans for an extra special taste. You can use your favorite pie dough recipe, just mixing the pecans into the flour mix before you add water. Or if don’t want to bother making your own pie crust, use a ready-made refrigerated crust. We’ve given you the ‘in-between’ version, using a boxed mix for the crust.

(Makes 10 servings)

   1 box pie crust mix
   1/2 cup ground pecans
   1/4 cup sugar
   1/2 teaspoon salt
   1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
   1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
   1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
   2 large eggs
   1/4 cup Vermont maple syrup
   1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin
   1 can (12 fluid ounces) evaporated skim milk
   1/2 cup chopped pecans
   Maple Whipped Cream, if desired (see below)
   Chopped pecans for topping, if desired

Preheat oven to 425°F.

Following package directions, measure out enough pie crust mix to make one 9-inch pie crust. Stir in ground pecans. Follow package directions to make pie crust dough, roll it out and place in pie plate.

In mixing bowl, mix together sugar, salt and spices. Slightly beat eggs, then add to sugar-spice mixture and mix well. Stir in maple syrup and pumpkin and mix well. Gradually stir in evaporated skim milk. Pour into unbaked pie shell. Sprinkle with chopped pecans. Place in oven and bake for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350°F and bake another 50-60 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Cool before serving. Top with a tablespoon or two of Maple Whipped Cream and sprinkle with a few pieces of chopped pecans, if desired.

Maple Whipped Cream
(Makes at least 10 servings)

1 cup whipping cream
2 tablespoons maple syrup

In chilled bowl, add cream and syrup; mix. Whip with electric beater until firm peaks form.

For more great recipes like this one, you can check out the popular Green Mountain at Fox Run Cookbook, Recipes For Living.

Tags: healthy recipes , healthy eating ,

Perdita di peso - Dimagramento - Benessere - Centro per dimagrire - esclusivamente alle donne e rispettoso della salute
Il programma di perdita di peso Green Mountain tutela la salute
Perdita di peso,Dimagramento,Benessere,Centro per dimagrire,Dimagrire,Salute,Dieta,Sovrappeso,Problemi di peso

 

 

‘Tis the Season, Part II

Yesterday I spent the morning on the telephone, trying for the fourth time to get a serviceman out to fix my NEW built-in microwave, and trying to get help with a problem I’ve having with my NEW computer. I won’t go into the ugly details but needless to say, when I hung up after about an hour of fruitless effort, I was just the teeniest bit stressed.

Now this really isn’t groundbreaking news, but that kind of stress just isn’t good for us. For example, last month, Psychosomatic Medicine published a study showing tension increases the incidence of heart attacks and death among men; for women, it was anxiety that stood out as the problem.

I bring this up because of the coming holidays. During this time of supposed celebration, many of us find ourselves dancing with unhealthy stress for the entire season. How many times have you heard someone say (or heard yourself say), “I can’t wait until the holidays are over!”? What’s more, unhealthy stress can lead to all sorts of unhelpful responses….snapping at our loved ones, headaches, exhaustion, a few too many Christmas cookies eaten not out of physical hunger….

If you’re on the mailing list for the Green Mountain print newsletters Update, our next issue (being mailed this week) lists ways we can diffuse the stress of the holiday season. A sneak peek at some of stressbusters mentioned (there’s much more in the actual newsletter):

• Laugh more
• Slow down
• Breathe
• Stop feeling guilty
• Let go of grudges
• Pick your battles
• Exercise
• Do less
• Be with friends
• Go outside
• Take breaks
• Work less
• Go home on time
• Make your job fun
• Delegate
• Play

The Update, which will be posted online in the next week or so, can help you with managing binge eating, mindful eating, and staying on track with your healthy weight loss program. Look for it in the mail, or download it for a quick read that we hope will help you make this holiday season happy for everyone, including you!

holiday stress , reducing stress , healthy lifestyles

Perdita di peso - Dimagramento - Benessere - Centro per dimagrire - esclusivamente alle donne e rispettoso della salute
Il programma di perdita di peso Green Mountain tutela la salute
Perdita di peso,Dimagramento,Benessere,Centro per dimagrire,Dimagrire,Salute,Dieta,Sovrappeso,Problemi di peso

 

Pride and Prejuidice (and fat-suits and supermodels)

You may have heard about a recent episode of the Tyra Banks Show where Tyra Banks donned what’s becoming the neverending fat-suit, (let's not forget about Gwyenth, Eddie, Courtney, et al) setting out to experience life as a 350-pound woman.

Below is the transcript from the CNN interview about Banks experience, conducted by Sibilia Vargas. At the end there is an insightful commentary from Marilyn Wann, author of Fat?SO! trying to make a sense of the random experiences of prejudice that Banks experienced. Wann's comments mirrored my thoughts – "big deal, the world isn’t kind to fat people (or thin people or short people or tall people for that matter), the real outrage are the women and men that preemptively discriminate against themselves because of their own opinions of their body."

Editing your life to avoid situations and people that might not approve of your weight is the real burden of being overweight. And the second part of that is not objecting to others prejudicial behavior, which makes you complicit in approving such boorish behavior.

Read on and decide for yourself.

PHILLIPS: Next, Tyra Banks goes from modeling the bare necessities for Victoria's Secret to, oh, about 350 pounds.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Model Tyra Banks is turning heads tonight not because she's shockingly beautiful -- that wouldn't be news, right -- no, she's getting attention for something else, something she did that aired earlier today on her TV show. Here's entertainment correspondent Sibila Vargas.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SIBILA VARGAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Recognize this woman? How about now? Lots of people didn't recognize super hot supermodel Tyra Banks as a 350-pound woman
BANKS: As soon as I steps off the bus, I saw three people turn and laugh right in my face. I was stunned.

VARGAS: That's right. The first African-American model to grace "Sports
Illustrated's Swimsuit Edition," host of "America's Next Top Model" and one of "People" magazine's 50 most beautiful people in the world was treated like anything but beautiful.

(on camera): You said it was a heartbreaking experience.

BANKS: Uh-huh.

You're going to make me tear up. It just was heartbreaking because it was so in your face. You know it was so in my face. And I'm like, I couldn't believe it.

VARGAS (voice-over): Banks said she decided to put on the hefty fat suit and prosthetics and feel what it's like to be overweight.

BANKS: The most important thing for this to work was that the suit had to be me, only bigger, 200 pounds bigger.

Just when he started putting the neck on, I got emotional. I got emotional. And
it wasn't that I got emotional like looking in the mirror and seeing myself and oh, that's not so attractive. It wasn't that. It was almost like a precursor. I knew. I had a feeling about what was going to happen that day.

VARGAS: Hidden cameras captured her experience for the "Tyra Banks Show" as she
hit two trendy L.A. spots.

BANKS: The first door I walked into was a popular Celebrity Boutique. Walking in, I felt a bit uncomfortable. As I walked through the store, I felt the cold stares. And I even heard snickering from some people shopping.

VARGAS: And watch what happens as she meets one of three blind dates.

BANKS: I'm not sitting here desperate, but as you can imagine, I'm a big girl and I have to live this life being a big girl.

Oh, you don't have to imagine? What do you mean you don't have to imagine.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can see. I have eyes.

BANKS: Yeah. Well, that wasn't nice.

The first guy had to take a shot. He sat down, he immediately ordered a drink and told me he had to take a shot to get through it.

VARGAS: Banks said the experience changed her life forever. And she now has a greater appreciation for what obese people live through.

(on camera): You could take that off.

BANKS: Yes.

VARGAS: But another person may not be able to do that.

BANKS: Another person cannot take it off. Not overnight at least not, like I could. Not in the matter of -- it took me a couple of hours to take it off, actually. They can't do that. They can't do that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: And that was Sibila Vargas. Joining me now is someone who fights for the rights of overweight people. Marilyn Wann is a civil rights activist and author of "Fat? So."

Marilyn, good to see you.

MARILYN WANN, AUTHOR: Hi.

PHILLIPS: It's not just the gossip and the looks and the snickering as Tyra Banks talks about, but there are so many other forms of discrimination that overweight people deal with, right?

WANN: Well, it should come as no surprise to people in this culture that is so weight obsessed that fat people can be treated badly pretty much everywhere we go: on the job, if we are hired for a job, on the streets in dating, in our doctor's offices. That should be no surprise.

And the fact that people are only going to care about that when a thin person puts on a fat suit is exactly the problem.

PHILLIPS: Well Marilyn, what do you say to...

WANN: I've been talking about this stuff for 12 years and so many people have been raising the issue. So I'm ready for things to change.

PHILLIPS: Let me ask you this. Some people might say, wow, it's awful how people treat those that are overweight, but, you know, let's talk about getting healthy. Let's talk about losing weight. Let's talk about living longer. What
do you say to those people that say, but there's so much more you -- you even heard Tyra Banks say, I can take the weight off, if I concentrated, I can loose the weight.

WANN: That's a big completely incorrect fantasy that everybody could look like Tyra Banks if they tried hard enough.

PHILLIPS: I agree with you on that one.

WANN: I'm a proud. I'm a proud -- and I don't want to. I enjoy looking like me because I'm a proud fat person. I'm not -- I mean, call me overweight if you want to, but that's a judgment. And when you look at me, you have no idea how I eat or how I exercise, which is incredibly well. Or how healthy I am, which is that I'm healthy. And the only thing you can predict by looking at a fat person is your own level of stereotype and prejudice.

PHILLIPS: So, how do you say to somebody, look, you've got to look past this. For example, how do you tell a man, look beyond the fact that I'm overweight. Look at me and realize I'm a...

WANN: I'm not asking people to look beyond the fact that I'm fat.

PHILLIPS: No, but people might come to you -- but you are very unique. You are very confident. You know you are beautiful. You feel fantastic about who you are and how you look. But so many other people aren't as confident as you. So how do you say to them, look, this is how you have to exude confidence. How do you say to people that discriminate against those that are overweight to stop judging, to stop discriminating?

WANN: My confidence comes from the fact that I refuse to buy a system that treats me badly. And the system of fat prejudice is treating thin people badly, too. It's judging them based on their appearance and it's making them fit into narrow little boxes that they have to worry about.

So I say to all of us that we have to demand respect. And when I was a kid growing up, I was inspired by the civil rights movement. There was a piece of graffiti near my house that had a big fist and it said black is beautiful. And what a silly thing to even ever have to say. It should be obvious. Thank goodness we have a little bit of an understanding about how black people are beautiful and how black people are people. And I am raising my pudgy little fist and I'm saying, fat is beautiful. Fat people are people. And we need to start acting that way. All of us.

PHILLIPS: Marilyn Wann, thanks for your time tonight.

Tags: body image , self acceptance , weight loss , tyra banks.

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