As I have written earlier on, when I eat something with MSG in it, I get sick, that means not being able to eat at any restaurant but two in the area and paying a heavy price. If I went to Burger King now and ate a chicken sandwich, I would be sick within hours. For some time I have wanted to share this article. I do not agree with everything on the website, but this article definitely brings up some questions. I have noticed MSG is in just about EVERYTHING that is processed I can barely avoid the stuff. Why?
I wondered if there could be an actual chemical causing the massive obesity epidemic, so did a friend of mine, John Erb. He was a research assistant at the University of Waterloo, and spent years working for the government.
He made an amazing discovery while going through scientific journals for a book he was writing called "The Slow Poisoning of America"(1). In hundreds of studies around the world, scientists were creating obese mice and rats to use in diet or diabetes test studies.
No strain of rat or mice is naturally obese, so the scientists have to create them. They make these morbidly obese creatures by injecting them with a chemical when they are first born. The MSG triples the amount of insulin the pancreas creates, causing rats (and humans?) to become obese They even have a title for the race of fat rodents they create: "MSG-Treated Rats" .
MSG?
I was shocked too. I went to my kitchen, checking the cupboards and the fridge.
MSG was in everything! The Campbell's soups, the Hostess Doritos, the Lays flavored potato chips, Top Ramen, Betty Crocker Hamburger Helper, Heinz canned gravy, Swanson frozen prepared meals, Kraft salad dressings, especially the 'healthy low fat' ones. The items that didn't have MSG had something called Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein, which is just another name for Monosodium Glutamate. It was shocking to see just how many of the foods we feed our children everyday are filled with this stuff. They hide MSG under many different names in order to fool those who catch on.
But it didn't stop there. When our family went out to eat, we started asking at the restaurants what menu items had MSG. Many employees, even the managers, swore they didn't use MSG. But when we ask for the ingredient list, which they grudgingly provided, sure enough MSG and Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein were everywhere. Burger King, McDonalds, Wendy's, Taco Bell, every restaurant, even the sit down ones like TGIF, Chilis', Applebees and Denny's use MSG in abundance. Kentucky Fried Chicken seemed to be the WORST offender: MSG was in every chicken dish, salad dressing and gravy. No wonder I loved to eat that coating on the skin, their secret spice was MSG!
So why is MSG in so may of the foods we eat? Is it a preservative or a vitamin?
Not according to my friend John. In the book he wrote, an expose of the food additive industry called The Slow Poisoning of America, www.spofamerica.com, he said that MSG is added to food for the addictive effect it has on the human body.
I wanted to see if there was truth to this MSG rats thing. {Hey always double and triple check things for yourself} They even tell you do that on this article:
If you are one of the few who can still believe that MSG is good for us and you don't believe what John Erb has to say, see for yourself. Go to the National Library of Medicine at www.pubmed.com.
Type in the words "MSG Obese" and read a few of the 115 medical studies that appear.
We the public do not want to be rats in one giant experiment, and we do not approve of food that makes us into a nation of obese, lethargic, addicted sheep, feeding the food industry's bottom line while waiting for the heart transplant, the diabetic-induced amputation, blindness, or other obesity-induced, life-threatening disorders.
With your help we can put an end to this poison.
Do your part in sending this message out by word of mouth, e-mail, or by distribution of this printout to your friends all over the world and stop this "Slow Poisoning of Mankind" by the packaged food industry.
Blowing the whistle on MSG is our responsibility, so get the word out.
Well I went to PUBMED and did a search for MSG and OBESITY.
Guess what it DOES MAKE THE RATS FATTER. Click on these pictures below to make them larger and see the sentences I have highlighted, you will be astounded!!
WOW!!!!!!!!!!!
Here is another one, there is MANY MORE.
If it does that to RATS, what does it do to Humans?
and why is so much of our food having MSG added to it?
Ditching the celery sticks doesn't mean abandoning the whole food group. Frozen vegetables often taste better because they're not turning into starch, like their produce-aisle counterparts. Freezing vegetables seals in their naturally sweet flavor.
Half of a cup of peas has 55 calories and 3 g of fiber; the same amount of corn contains 72 calories with 2 g of fiber. The high-fiber and low-calorie-density combination means they're filling and satisfying, and the frozen part makes them interesting. They're firm, but not rock hard, and they melt in your mouth.
Why not tell people to go eat some cardboard or something?
I am glad this guy got confronted and he backed down. It is time people say "This ends now!" He never would dare make fun of any other medical problem. Even with the apology, I never would take him for a doctor. Who wants someone who looks down on you? Sadly these humor articles by doctors trashing the fat are nothing new. I wrote about another article I saw.....
I loved this quote:
"The last place an obese person should feel scared to go is a doctor's office, yet that's one of the top places where obesity bias is prevalent," said James Zervios, communications director for Obesity Action Coalition, the Florida-based advocacy group that marshaled protest last week after learning of Kelly's column.
Physician David L. Katz, a nutrition expert who founded Turn the Tide Foundation in 2007 to fight the obesity epidemic, has taken his colleagues to task for blaming weight struggles on the strugglers.
"Have you noticed that two-thirds of American adults and a rapidly rising proportion of the global population are overweight or obese?" Katz wrote in a recent Huffington Post column. "Has it not occurred to you that something larger than the will power or motivation of an individual might be in play?"
I believe doctor hatred of fat people is a risk to us. I am facing some issues lately where a doctor is not listening, and it's a specialist, who even ignored my parathyroid issues. He is the only specialist of his type in town, so now I may be forced to figure out a way to travel an hour, to see another doctor. He is good in treating one illness but ignores everything else. This is the guy that constantly berates me to get weight loss surgery. I really think some of these doctors do not see fat people as human. Some are not that smart in my opinion because they keep stupidly blaming the fat people which really is what accounts for the horrible failure in treating obesity.
I am actually getting scared for my wellbeing, thinking I may be now facing something really bad, that is not being dealt with [it involves intermittant severe abdominal pain, digestive issues and now kidney stones], because they just want to push me off as another supposedly overeating fat woman. I thought about doing a blog post on this, but will just mention it here, because it's scary and I do not know what is wrong. It could be nothing but then it could be something. It is sad when you have to read the Merck manual to figure out what is wrong with you while doctors sit around and drool. I have found my own doctor anxiety getting pretty high lately. I did get transfered to a new general doctor but do not know him yet to know how that will pan out. I am hoping he is smart and not prejudiced, and that he will be one of the good ones. I really need a good one right now.
Trust me even if you have already been diagnosed with endocrine issues, many of them do not want to listen to you. They act like auto mechanics, this one because my diabetic A1c score got back down to 6.7 has ignored other serious medical complaints. They knock you down to the lowest common denominator. I have to make phone calls today looking for a new specialist. My own father died being undiagnosed by them. Watching the guy from Philadelphia yuck it up is offensive beyond belief to me. I am at the point, I will have to order all my medical records and try to put the puzzle pieces together MYSELF, AGAIN.
Sometimes I ask myself: What is wrong with these people? Maybe medical school means money now and not intelligence for many of them. [Sorry to the few good doctors I have seen in this life time, but I am tired of the stupid ones]
The iconic kids show is set to unveil a new impoverished puppet named Lily, whose family faces an ongoing struggle with hunger issues. Lily will be revealed in a one-hour Sesame Street primetime special, Growing Hope Against Hunger, which is being sponsored by Walmart. The special will star country singer Brad Paisley and his wife Kimberly Williams Paisley, as well as the Sesame Street Muppets.
“Food insecurity is a growing and difficult issue for adults to discuss, much less children,” said the Paisleys in a statement. “We are honored that Sesame Street, with its long history of tackling difficult issues with sensitivity, caring and warmth asked us to be a part of this important project.”
The special will share the stories of real-life families to raise awareness of hunger issues in the United States, as well as strategies that have helped these families find food. The United States Department of Agriculture estimates that 17 million American children — nearly 1 in 4 — have limited or uncertain access to affordable and nutritious food. Walmart is sponsoring the show as part of a $1.5 million grant toward the initiative and holding screenings in select communities.
I watched "Growing Hope Against Hunger". I thought it was a well done show. The ideas about gardening in the city were good ones. I wish community gardens were part of the landscape. I tried to grow tomatoes this summer at my apt complex but it just didn't work, them sitting outside on the landscaped lawn with the landlord's permission, I think they got a shot of weed killer, because the plants while they grew didn't make one tomato. It's hard when you are trying to work with no patio or real outdoor space of your own. When I moved here, I need a first floor apt, with no stairs and that was hard enough to find. My attempts to grow food indoors, have failed as well. I planted a row of pots, of different things, and only 1 out of 15 seeds sprouted. Still haven't figured that out. I used good soil and everything.
Food insecurity ironically is part of my fat life. A friend helped us with grocery money even this month, which sadly seemed to run out way too fast. There is a lot of time I open the refrigerator and it is empty, some old oranges, and old condiments, pickles, sometimes can be all that is in there. We have better months and shorter months considering husband's wavering freelance employment and the short ones can be difficult.
Sometimes when I am at some people's houses and see the lavish display of snacks, fruits, vegetables and meals that include even two choices for vegetables, it can be weird. I think why am I so fat and not them? Well as I have said before, my weight issues are better the more food I have access too. Less carbs? More choice? Who knows?
I think Sesame Street did help in terms of the severe economic issues out there, and showing families even previously middle class one's that are now poor. This was one rare show that was honest about it. While most shows on TV outside of the news showing the disaffected people holding demonstrations and a lot of that news was censored, very few are talking about the poverty in America. It is like the hidden elephant in the room. No one wants to talk about it.
I found myself thinking well at least during the first Depression, they admitted a depression was going on! I have books from that era, there were people writing President Roosevelt, and using the word "DEPRESSION". Back in those days, they started programs for jobs, where little people actually got some benefits. Now they just hand more billions to bankers.
Now we have the bread and circuses and Dances with the Stars and told the recession has "ended" when evidence of jobs or a real change is nil. And Obama is still sending jobs overseas signing a new NAFTA like deal with a few Pacific nations a few weeks ago. Still do not know why the liberals haven't put those dots together. I don't think much of the Tea party clan either that yells about all the "dead beats" and blames the poor of America, for the dying economy.
With the food pantries though I found Sesame Street idealistic. I have often wondered can beggars be choosers and have thought is there someone to write a letter too about the poor quality of the food pantries around here? I know they are hurting, but one wonders who is getting all the decent stuff warehoused at this one main center, and you show up and they give you cans so dented, you do not dare open them up, because you fear botulism. Still remember the soup can, that was basically smashed half way in. It was like the lady passing that stuff out was saying "Go away!"
The food is so bad, that sometimes you think what is the use? Why so many cookies and sweets too? It's not exactly the best stuff for a diabetic diet. Often times, the food pantries have a lot of junk food offered to them instead of the good stuff.
Mary Flynn, a nutritionist at Brown University, says the rate of obesity is higher in the low-income population because of what she calls the hunger/obesity paradox. High-calorie, low-nutrition foods tend to be relatively inexpensive, so it's not unusual for hungry people to also be overweight, she says.
Flynn says food banks do no favors dishing out the same cheap fare available at a corner store, particularly soft drinks. But even as a board member of a food bank in Rhode Island, she can't get the organization to completely refuse soda.
"I was told that, 'Well, we give it out because if we don't take it, we won't get other food from people when they're distributing it,' " she says.
I had a good small close-knit country church help us out that I belonged to for years with it's own sharing pantry among the congregation but had to move away from there due to economic forces. Many who have read this blog long enough know it was very painful to me to lose my last community, but what else can you do when homelessness looms and your household wouldn't be able to pay the rent? We would share each other's food. That is way it should be done, but that was a working class community facing poverty where they got it, not a place of indifference and eyes staring down from upturned noses just going through the motions.
The churches here, well, the whole system is centralized and not independent where it's caring and personal, and there seems to be no place where the dented cans and bad food doesn't prevail except one or two. Still remember our time at one large charity center being told because we dared to show up a third time [that year!] that we would have to take a budgeting class. My husband said, "How do you budget nothing"?
There is always that implicit stuff, that you are poor due to your own shortcomings. It gets insulting, but in a country where they are covering up what is happening, it's each individual at fault, instead of people looking at the bigger picture. What is sad even Angel Food Ministries has gone out of business via corruption. Over time you do figure out what places are helpful and what ones are not.
What is sad, in our case, we really only need occasional help. Maybe a few times a year at most, maybe once or twice now. There are people far worse off. Our need for the pantries has overall diminished, and the treatment we got in some places wasn't so good. You would think we had been outside with a begging cup every day. You learn to smile and keep your mouth shut to get what you need. By the way, we are people who "did everything right", went to college, worked hard. My husband works hard now. How many families are there now, hitting the food pantry circuit for the first time because of all the jobs that are gone?
Anyhow while I loved the sweetness and the true desire to help in the Sesame Street show, I laughed at the boxes of lavish fruits and vegetables passed out among the food pantries to the poor people by the puppets. This is the way things SHOULD be, but I never have seen it. It was a nice fantasy, but for most food pantry people, its heavy on the carbs, and lean meat and fresh fruits and vegetables are nonexistent. You are fortunate to get some cans of undented green beans and maybe some rice and spaghetti with spaghetti sauce that you can make a meal with. Well again beggars can't be choosers. What are you going to do complain when the cupboards are empty?
It was a good effort by Sesame Street and got the word out there. I sometimes think in communities, and churches, the best bet may be doing what my old church did, sharing extra food among yourselves, but you need to be in a closer-knit community where people share in the same socio-economic problems and just do not see a food pantry as needed "somewhere else". Community gardening is a trend that should grow. Landlords should provide community gardening space at apt. complexes. Share your extra food with those who need it. Sometimes one can find people handing out food on Freecycle. Look for deals and learn to cook. Cooking skills help when things get short, knowing how to make biscuits from scratch or using a crock pot to cook a piece of lean meat can save the day. Food prices are skyrocketing.
No one should be going hungry in the USA, you think of all the trillions spent on useless wars, the now "hidden" depression where the real unemployment rate has hit 25% [check out the website Zero Hedge, to read some of what is really going on] and it is sad and pathetic, there are children going without food out there, and families facing empty refrigerators or even worrying about keeping the rent paid. What is sad, is the problems are hidden, a large number of the country, and the rest has got those with still a little, downing "all the lazy deadbeats" when the simple fact is globalization and the de-industrialization of America, has taken the jobs away. That is something the ones in charge, do not want Americans even talking about.
The fact the food insecurity is going to be growing as a greater problem. There must be someone at Sesame Street who relates or went through poverty as a child. You know something has changed in America, when they have a new puppet facing poverty and food insecurity.
Especially considering that study of poor vs wealthier neighborhoods, and how it affected people's weight, this is an interesting one too. If you have more money, you can purchase more leisure, afford sports, afford the travel to go hiking, etc. You also have the dependable transportation to make all this happen. I know thin families where the kids are on sports teams here in America, and the travel and expenses are immense.
So this won’t surprise anyone. Of course kids from wealthier households are more likely to do gymnastics, swimming club, ballet, soccer, hockey and all the other organised sports kids can participate in these days. Of course parents are more likely to be gym members, play tennis, have a round of golf or try yoga or pilates if they have the disposable income, time, childminding etc to do so. It doesn’t take Einstein to work this out.
It also doesn’t take Einstein to work out that more well to do neighbourhoods will have environments that are more conducive to outdoor activity (i.e. walking trails, bike paths, sports grounds, parks etc). Not only can families with lower incomes ill afford for kids to participate in pricey extra curricular activities but they also need the ability to transport kids to such activities and a parent or guardian who isn’t at work to take said children to said activities. Not to mention the parents themselves need the time and energy (as well as cash) to participate in organised physical activity. But I guess they need to do these studies to prove it beyond all doubt.
"Punks grow out of it and ravers stop raving. Why do goths just carry on? Sociologists can explain"
Dr Paul Hodkinson, deputy head of Surrey University's sociology department and an expert in youth music subcultures, has been re-interviewing a group of goths he first studied in the late 1990s to find out. "They were teenagers and in their early 20s then, and I thought it would be interesting to go back because a number of people do stay involved in the goth scene," he explains. Though many people who belong to youth subcultures such as punk and rave tend to drift away in their 20s, Hodkinson says it's more likely that older goths will want to remain involved in the scene, even though it may become harder to combine with the responsibilities that come with age. To outsiders, it's the visual markers of being a goth – long, dyed-black hair, black clothes, pale faces contrasted with dark, dramatic eye make-up –that stand out.
Years ago, I was a goth, my favorite bands of all time was Sisters of Mercy, and Mission UK and even industrial bands like Skinny Puppy. I wore nothing but black for at least a three year period of time and probably a life long interest in Victoriana got started around this time. Some of my outfits were interesting such as the one with black boots and a long black dress with row of buttons down the front with a cinched waist. While I never did the white face thing, and my sad budget precluded really taking the Propaganda magazine thing too far, I was into it enough to be called GOTH by others.
Today there would be far more clothing choices but back then, I wanted to gag at the clothing offered in your typical Lane Bryant and wanted some "cool" clothes. Silver jewelry formed the icing on the cake. In many ways, I was the sterotypical art student. Sometimes I wish I could go back in time, and shake that young girl, and say: "Hey don't give in to the manufactured rebellion and quit listening to that clinical depression causing music!" Go grow a garden or something! One sad thing about our society, is the many traps they have waiting for every variety of person to lead you to negative places.
Today given my religious viewpoints, I have given up goth-dom. I am no longer a goth. At my age it would be beyond silly though I guess there are still some 40 something goths out there. The idea makes me kind of laugh, I imagine a bunch of even more wrinkled up Robert Smith's sitting around. He looked like he aged out of it even by the 1990s.
Though my husband likes to joke, "Yes you still are, thats why you dress like its 1890". Ok you won't find me wearing a brightly colored sweater with a Christmas tree on the front of it, or pink sweats anytime soon but I found this Guardian article odd, because here in America, I do not see a bunch of old goths walking around.
I believe a fascination with dark things isn't so positive anymore. I wonder how many young fat girls become goths as a way to seek an identity or to be different or to even depart or speak against a world that condemns them? I definitely was one of them. In other words, if you are not acceptable in the mainstream world, why wouldn't you feel enticed to join a sub-culture where being an outcast is not such a bad thing?
I've seen this picture, webwide. I bleeped out the curse word on her shirt. I can understand this girl to a point because I was her, though I was too shy to cuss people out I didn't know and my dress style was very different, free of tattoos and more Victorian. What's with the odd anchor? The angry stance while one can understand given what young fat people go through probably doesn't help her make friends and influence people.
One wonders about all these subcultures. I noticed webwide there were jokes about fat goths, the lithe supposedly being only ones allowed to apply. I remember that, being fat and a goth especially in the 80's was kind of strange even when I was into it. Guess some of the goths don't want the fat people around even still. The ideal was lithe-thin, heroin addict looking dark circled eyes types, not big, fat and burly. Andrew Eldritch didn't date fat girls.
Update: I am a goth again, I escaped the fundies, the goth me was the real me. Elder Goths Unite!
I have never seen someone who was previously fat become forever thin. Some dieters get down for a while but it always goes back up. The only person I know who used to be fat but became permanently thin is someone who had severe cancer and had half their intestines removed. Not exactly the way you want to do it.
The scientists, from the Medical Research Council's National Survey of Health and Development, have concluded it is better to avoid getting fat in the first place.
They followed 5,362 men and women from their birth in 1946 and 20,000 from birth in 1958, measuring their weight and blood pressure and assessing their lifestyles.
The researchers found both groups began gaining weight in the 1980s and have steadily increased in size ever since.
Dr Rebecca Hardy, the council's programme leader on body size, said: "Once people become overweight, they continue relentlessly upwards. They hardly ever go back down.
"A few lose weight but very few get back to normal. The best policy is to prevent people becoming overweight.
"For men (weight) goes up steadily through life. For women it starts slowly and accelerates in the mid-thirties," she added.
I wonder about preventative measures being important too, because it seems once the fat is there, it's far harder to get rid of. Also why aren't the scientists paying attention to the fact of lower metabolism among fat people? Metabolism is the ignored elephant in the room.
"Obesity rates are about one-fifth lower in women who moved from poor neighborhoods into low-poverty neighborhoods than those who did not move, according to results from a federal housing program initiated in the mid-1990s."
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I found this one really interesting, it seems living in a dangerous crime-ridden neighborhood heightens obesity risk. I wonder how much of this is increased cortisol from the constant 'fight or flight" feelings one has living in such a place. When I had my weight gain, I lived in a more dangerous 'inner-city" neighborhood for around 4 and half years. Three of those years, I worked, but the last was when I was disabled.
One had to be tough to survive, we are talking a place where beggars would come up to you daily at the local bus stop, and where you could get jumped. I saw an armed robbery, got attacked--was able to fight off my attacker whose intentions were rape before anything too bad happened, and life was spent with constant crime, stress and knowing that your neighbors were not there to "help" you but often there to rob or take you for a ride. The times of being followed or being set up as a "would be" victim, were incredible. There was a meanness in every place, no mercy, no neighborly kindness just cruelty, get sick in a store and ask to use a bathroom, they would send you away. By the way, the most dangerous place was the subway stands and daring to leave the house after dark. Even the cab drivers and cable companies avoided my then neighborhood. One I befriended from meeting his cab in a neighboring better area, provided a lot of my transportation while others refused.
For many in these bad neighborhoods, life itself is filled with daily danger. Gang-bangers in the streets, beggars, and would be hustlers on the take everywhere you turn does not make for a pleasant life. Even the closed Chinese restaurant across the street from my ghetto apartment had homeless people sleeping on it's ledge with their shopping carts. Police cars filled the streets to bust the drug dealers across the way. It was despair, depression and fear all rolled up in one. When you did meet the occasional kind face, they were beaten down and poor too. Home life wasn't much better, I would see around 6-8 mice and rats a day run across the floors in the cramped 2 room apartment. Well at least with the rats and mice, there was no cockroaches.
Some may be in shock, that I would admit such poverty, often times in this culture, one is told to hide such a thing, lest it be a negative reflection on you, but I lived it, and it played an integral part in my health collapse and severe weight gain.
I did not end up there by choice, I moved to that big city to avoid homelessness after a teaching job lay off which led to a year of unemployment and underemployment, piecing together sub teaching jobs and fast food work, hoping I could jump onto a career track in social work and finish an already started paralegal degree. My first teaching job was grant-based and the grant had ended. [I had a bachelors degree from earlier on]. I did not drug or drink my way into this life, but slipped through the cracks and then some.
Later my family would help, but a older male relative at that time, was of the "let them sink or swim school" blaming me for my then growing weight, career failures and health problems. Looking back, even the pictures of my swollen face, hands and feet were extreme, I was sick before the move to this place even happened. My health had been rotten since college, denying me even regular teaching jobs from failing medical exams. This was during my mid 20s and during the mid 1990s.
My low residential counselor wages, while offering me training in self defense ironically and experience working with the very violent and mentally ill youth which served as being useful for street survival, just didn't pay the rent in a better part of town. $350-450 dollar a month rent in that particular metropolitan city meant living in dangerous neighborhoods. My take home pay was a lousy average $1000 a month. Transportation was very expensive as well, even a trip just down the road could cost 6 dollars to even just get there. Which made life much more narrow, and activities more dear. I know that impacted things too.
I do believe that my weight gain came about from severe economic stresses and what I faced day to day, and my endocrine system saying "I am out of here!"
That is one thing they do not tell people, live in a constant state of vigilance, and fear and the body is pumping cortisol like gang-busters even in normal healthy people. This is one reason I believe obesity is far higher in impoverished populations in America. Add to that endocrine disease and the use of steroids to control serious breathing problems and it was the set up for the snowball to run right down the hill. They should do a study of the obesity differences between huge teeming cities and more rural areas, would be of interest. When humans live in concrete jungles, health diminishes. How much of the obesity epidemic is based on the bad environment so many are being forced to live in? In other words, its not you that is "sick", it is your surroundings and their impact on you.
They mention the lack of access to healthy food, that plays a part. In the ghetto, you have the corner stores full of snack foods and the food is of far lower quality even in the bigger grocery stores. That's where they send the rotten produce and meat. I have seen it with my own eyes. No cab money to get to the decent grocery store in the neighboring suburbs? You are stuck with the little store across the street that sells ramen noodles and hotdogs and one dying onion in the bin by the door. By the way, the poverty brokers like the food pantries and rest, aren't passing out fresh fruit and vegetables, you are getting the most processed carbohydrate rich foods possible. This is true across the board and even applied to later communities. Who decided the poor should just eat endless boxes of spaghetti, beans, and rice?
I believe poverty itself in this society which does not offer strong social networks, stable jobs or communities anymore, jacks up ones cortisol levels to the ceiling especially when crime rates rise. I know how I feel when the budget is always strained to the breaking point or weeks where I am trying to assemble meals from the dregs from the refrigerator, and it's always the good stuff that disappears the fastest. Often the very poor do not have resources to even cook decently. Slumlords do not care about making sure your stove works. I was forced to cook with an old microwave and one plug in spiral during these years. No baking bread, I didn't have a bread pan, or gardening there either, there was no land to be had or patio.
Life in the ghetto stunk. I often think to myself if I had been a woman of normal socio-economic means, that my life would have turned out far different. For me obesity is automatically tied to food insecurity and opening an empty fridge and realizing that week there is no money for food. Some may say, how does one get so fat, having no food? Wouldn't it be the opposite, but I often wonder how my 1 meal a day lifestyle, during my worse years of poverty affected my metabolism? Even now, during the wealthier times, I know the weight dips. More food and more variety for me means, better weight loss and control of hunger. More money means more activities. Today I am provided for and God responds to my needs, but those times have stayed with me.
There is a reason I escaped to a very small town, a town I still miss right now. Watching its economic demise, was very difficult. This place is too urban for my tastes though I live in a safer more affluent neighborhood here by default. But I know it's important to pay more rent even for my health and well-being, but live with a life long fear now of living in a place where just leaving your front door, means the predators are upon you. I have decided if I am ever that poor again, that I will hop on a bus to a middle of nowhere small town and rent a room. Learning the hard lesson that peace and safety come first came too late for me.
The night before we escaped to a small town for almost 10 years, I still remember the gun shots at 5 am. Bang Bang Bang! probably some sort of gang fight down the street. I was very glad to be getting out.
Being poor does make you fat. The elitist size acceptance types can claim that obesity isn't a disease or ignore the poverty and obesity quotients. No hobbling to the bus stop for them worrying about getting jumped. They live in another world. Sadly because of their elitism, those who suffer from obesity and are poor and who live in neighborhoods like this still will go unheard. At least I am one of the lucky ones who escaped.
As I detailed in my 400lb weight gain blog entry, I am diagnosed with PCOS, and also two other thyroid and endocrine conditions, mine is so bad, they considered adrenal tumors, and I do have high cortisol though one Cushings expert I consulted with considered that as coming from other factors including the severity of my PCOS.
I am glad this article, talks about how PCOS needs to be taken seriously as a life long illness not just a "mild" condition that interferes with fertility. In my case, at least three endocrinologists have told me I have PCOS in one of it's most severe forms and could have one of the worse cases in the country. My signs of the condition actually showed up with brown spots, even while I was near normal size by the age of 13 but I would not be diagnosed til age 30, after my severe weight gain. Endocrine and autoimmune diseases in general are in my family.
Psychologically, PCOS is a brutal condition.
In its most severe form, a woman is stripped of nearly everything that society sees as womanly, a "theft of womanhood," as some sources call it. She probably is very fat, balding, has a mustache or other facial hair, has acne and body tags, doesn't cycle regularly, and has difficulty having children. She is seen as sexually unattractive, epitomizes the image of the "ugly" woman in our society, and is the object of many jokes and much derision in the media. Is it any wonder some women find this condition incredibly demoralizing?
Adding into this is the lack of understanding around PCOS as a condition. Even when you have an official diagnosis, some friends and family consider it a dubious finding. In their view, you're just looking for an excuse for being fat, crying about how your "bad metabolism" causes your obesity, instead of taking responsibility for your supposedly poor eating. They roll their eyes or accuse you of closet binge-eating instead.
My periods had totally disappeared by age 19 unless I took a drug like birth control pills or Provera to force one.
I have to admit this part is very true. I know most except my husband, best friend, and relatives who have lived with me, do not believe me about my eating habits. Some of the better doctors admit my severe metabolic problems but information about PCOS is woefully limited even in the medical community:
Doctors often don't believe you if you tell them you eat normally either, thinking you must be in denial about your eating, or that you are too uneducated about "proper" nutrition to really understand how to eat healthy. Furthermore, the shopping cart and food intake of a woman with PCOS are under continuous scrutiny and criticism, adding constant stress to daily life. The "obese" woman with PCOS always feels on the defensive about her food or exercise habits.
This disbelief about their experiences and the burden of constant surveillance often takes a considerable toll on PCOS women's self-esteem. And for those who truly do struggle with eating disorders after years of dieting, the shame around dealing with that on top of PCOS can be overwhelming.
She goes on to talk about educating care providers and others about PCOS. Her summation is very important here. I would like to see that change too.
Because of its implications for long-term health, PCOS deserves to be taken seriously, regardless of the patient's age or whether or not they want children. It needs to be seen as a life-long condition, not just a concern tied to pregnancy.
I am going to print this article out when I get a chance. Please do read it.
I knew size acceptance was bad with the censorship even years ago, but didn't know how hard and fast their ideological rules held or had grown over the ten years, I was totally detached from their world. I found this written about my blog. She had commented on that other blog in dispute with my own.
I have realized most likely I will be avoiding all size acceptance blogs, why bother if talking to these people is like talking to brick walls? I will still be on the outlook for fellow independent thinkers.
If anyone who is in my size category reads this blog, please honestly look at what I have faced, they do not want you in their movement, you disprove their false theories. Actually given I stand against discrimination against the overweight, their incredible block-headed positions that refuse to "LISTEN" have been astounding. I am ok with people who are happy to be fat, who never want to go on a diet again but explaining things from my perspective, is a perspective, they want nothing to do with. I often have said sometimes the worse hatred for the super-sized person, can come from the midsized crowd, and while I have friends of all sizes from the extremely thin to even at or near the weights I have been, you meet the types, who fear being you. You represent their deepest fears, thus the automatic loathing, anger and more. I know this is true in the hyper-radical circles of size acceptance. The claims of "you only think of yourself"--the world doesn't revolve around YOU, is just more distraction.
Let's begin addressing her points:
Every now and then, someone will make the rounds of FA blogs and basically criticize fat acceptance for being fat acceptance. They want to talk about how much they hate being fat. They want to discuss a cure for obesity that doesn’t involve dieting or surgery. They don’t BLAME fat people, of course. They just want them to stop being fat because it obviously is an unhealthy, unhappy existence. They want to talk about the “other side” of obesity.
It is interesting she mentions this as a recurring theme. I suppose they have driven off fat people like myself they wish to silence or well refuse to listen to. I guess I live an odd life, in that I can have interesting conversations with people on the liberal to the conservative spectrum, I guess I do not get this new American tendency to shut out those who do not fit your specific demographic but these women, seem even unable to engage. Their immediate reaction is to say, GO AWAY!, hands slapped over both ears. Now why is that? Where have I EVER said I want anyone to stop being fat as if I dream of a dystopian world of thin-only people? That is hyperbole to the max. As I wrote on another blog entry what is wrong with a cure? None of them ever answered that. Strange how they never have an answer to such questions.
No I do not blame fat people but obviously this person BLAMES me, for not being the super-healthy, extremely happy fat icons she only accepts in her inner circle. That is yet another level of extreme hypocrisy. As I have said on this blog, if you are dealing with severe obesity, your very existence threatens their whole fat acceptance house of sticks.
Our culture is full of opportunities of discuss the “other side” of obesity.
Where? Is she telling me I have to slink back to the diet mongers and fat haters, because I will not drink the fat acceptance Kool-Aid, slap a smile on my face and hide the truth? Is that what she desires of anyone who speaks the truth about fat? I have to pick one side of the other? Where on the web matches this blog?
That “other side” of obesity is all that really gets discussed.
Where? There are things I discuss on this blog that have been discussed nowhere else.
It is fat acceptance that is the “other side” of obesity. Because of the near total opposition to our ideas, we have created safe spaces to discuss the positive side of being fat, how to live a satisfying life while fat, and advocating for fat rights as we are.
Ironic how she brings up safe spaces, safe spaces with bars on the windows, maybe... I can address that, pretty bluntly. I am a very large woman, I agree with them about being against the discrimination and functioning at your best while fat, but WHAM, down comes the boom for my other viewpoints regarding obesity or even sharing factual aspects of my life. By the way, she can try to portray me as a woeful victim that should be shoved over the shining fat happy people boat but I am not. This is why I can confront these people in these lies. I am not the type to slink off, and say, "Oh I am sorry." No, I am not sorry for sharing my experiences, or for questioning the status quo.
We discuss what it is like to be fat as well as [insert intersectional identity here]. Yet even this is too much for people opposed to FA. We do not do enough to talk about the “other side” of obesity.
What is "intersectional identity"? Sometimes this liberal new academic speak escapes me. I discuss what it is like to be fat at the higher weights, and she does not like it. She wants it hidden? Why? One thing about this blog, being this weight and stepping out to admit what it is really like is not easy. The world screams at you to go back in your hole and shut up! Well these fat acceptance denizens are the leaders of that.
Well, guess what. That’s not what we do. That’s not what we’re about.
So what are you about? Certainly not being welcoming to people of all sizes of fat.
From what I can tell you are about imposing censorship, control of free speech, thought control, dumbed down thinking, and more disrespect towards those who are in the higher weights.
If you want to do that, go someplace else. FA is not for you, apparently,
Well she is right, FA is not a movement for me, it has become a movement of hyper-liberal elitist radicals from what I can tell who care nothing about the opinions, lives, feelings or realities of those they pretend to represent. If she thinks her arrogant support in the sending me off from that other blog, speaks well for her FA movement, it does not. In fact, it only helps my theory, that FA remains a small exclusive, rejected movement because of these traits.
and there is nothing I can do about that. But I am not oppressing you by not allowing you to hijack my blog for a purpose to which I am opposed.
She can't handle one disagreement? What purpose is that? Does she even know what my purpose is? She seems to miss that by a mile. I want real help and support for fat people, not a bunch of "Up with Fat" nonsense brokers.
For the record, you do not HAVE to like being fat, disabled, or anything else you happen to be.
Who on the planet would like being over 500lbs? Who on the planet would like being disabled? thin or fat? I would like to ask that of her friend too over on Fat Heffalump? Isn't she angry over the fact that I am questioning the whole be happy about being fat paradigm? It just doesn't fit for all of us.
You don’t have to agree with me or any other FA blogger. You don’t have to do anything, and it’s not my job to live your life for you. I provide options and alternative views. It’s not about “oppressing” you.
Hey she can say and do what she wants. I have the right to ban anyone I do not want from this blog too, and yes it is my life. I have the freedom to say she and those like her are WRONG.
But at least I live my life free not letting others tell me what to say, do and be. Their censorship of fat people speaks for itself. I am glad I left the fat acceptance movement. This is total evidence of what it has become. Where is the acceptance in fat acceptance? Only perky younger midsized women who have good health need apply who can sing the praises of fat to each other and live in delusion land. Now what is interesting is how closed they are to any other opinions.
I have realized engagement with these folks, is a waste of time, so dear reader, you probably will not hear of any more personal battles with them, but I will still write against the two sided set of lies when it comes to obesity. By the way I am not the first one who has encountered this, they do ban anyone [fat or thin] who questions their theories.
Even on the Dead of Winter blog, looks like I am not the first she has pushed off...as for the delusions they remain entrenched:
I have said it before and I will say it again.Fat does not cause health or mobility problems, so curing fat would do no good.We could make all fat people thin, or at least less fat, and the health issues would remain. Even if it did, we cannot make people permanently thin in a safe way.
I have realized some today are just unable to think.
And this as far as I know is a Republican governor who a friend told me is stripping away all the social services in that area, and giving tax breaks to mega-corporations. Interesting what he wants to spend the money on isn't it? This is the first state reported to have an actual registry.
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder plans to direct doctors in his state to begin monitoring the body weight of their young patients and provide the data to a new state registry, in one of the most extensive government efforts to address the growing problem of pediatric obesity, the Associated Press has learned.
The move would help track the state's growing obesity problem while opening the way for doctors to be more proactive in offering advice, Snyder spokeswoman Sara Wurfel told The Associated Press on Tuesday. The Republican governor will announce the initiative Wednesday as part of his proposal for improving Michigan residents' health.
The body mass index statistics for patients under 18 would be reported to the Michigan Care Improvement Registry but the children's identity would remain anonymous. The state already requires doctors to report how many children are immunized.
I am not talking about turning everyone anorexic, but the size acceptance and fat acceptance crowd seem to be angry at me for desiring a fat cure that works. In fact it infuriates them.
As they hit their block buttons or erase my posts or tell me to go away, I have seen that complaint time and time again, "Five Hundred Pound Peep, wants a fat cure! How dare she!".
Hey the world of the midsized where fatness means having to buy your cute clothes at a special store and maybe getting a bit huffy on the third set of stairs, really can't relate to my world.
IF they came up with a fat cure, one that worked and didn't kill, maim, include torture, severe hunger, and worked in the long term, I'd be on it like a mouse on the biggest piece of cheddar cheese. Who could blame me?
They are crazy if they think someone at my weight and who has been near 700lbs, is going to sing the praises of fat
So wonder fat people have it so hard now.....caught between these two ends...
I want my readers to suggest some fat blogs and other places where independent thinkers are wanted and where one can disagree with aspects of fat acceptance but not be censored or told to shove off, in ten different ways. It's not like I am going to go hang out on a Weight Watchers forum. I am tired of the same Kool-Aid drinkers over and over. I want a place where I can discuss obesity freely as MYSELF without having to subscribe to the party line and where I can have discussions with real people not just shrill ideologues. This blog does have multiple thousands of page views a month and it's growing, so I know people are reading out there. There has to be some options between the LOSE WEIGHT OR YOU STINK crowd and the FAT IS GREAT DELUSION PARTY....
Some months ago I saw some extreme liberal types saying that cities should do away with all cars, there have been initiatives actually taken in Europe. All I can think is to be sick, or old in such places means your life is now going to be very limited. Remember even scooting around on one of those Segway's means you need a bit of balance and a more average body weight of under 250lbs. I find such suggestions elitist too, until you are hiding behind a brick wall at a city bus stop from the armed robber with a sawed off shotgun too, all suggestions for people to give up their cars everywhere is nuts and seems to be idealistic nonsense from the young and very healthy.
Such types never think about how does one grocery shop for the week, and carry all the bags home? You simply can't, you are left to two bags at a time and at least grocery shopping every 2 days and if you are weak and sick that means being able to carry less, and dealing with angry people on the bus, where along with your fat body they resent enough, they squish your groceries as they squeeze by you. I lived life without a car for five years, and let's just say today, I would seriously consider giving up paying rent before living without a car again.
I had to ride the bus for five years in a huge metro city and didn't own a car, which was a nightmare for a woman especially towards the end who could barely walk, just even going 5 miles down the road cost me so much money, I quite going out as much. Just going to the library in a neighboring suburb, it cost 4 dollars for the cab, 1.50 for the subway to get up there, and another 2.00 on the bus to get down the street to the waiting trains. 8 bucks just to leave the house and go to a library that was about 5-6 miles away! Life there became a nightmare.
Another example was getting to the discount grocery store, two bus routes, with a 30 minute bus stop wait in between time. I couldn't even stand long enough to make that happen. That is thing that scares me about the weight gain, I had to walk everywhere, and still grew fat, even with this "increased exercise". Often they would turn off the escalators and in this huge city, elevators or any accomodations for the disabled were horrible, there was one time when I was over 600lbs and returning home from out of town, found myself in front of a "turned off" handicapped elevator three flights under ground after getting off a subway. I had no choice but to crawl up the stairs, coughing, wheezing and holding on to the railing for dear life.
As I got sicker and relented, I signed up with the disability driver service, where they pick you up in a van, you called in your times three days ahead of time. They abandoned me so much, and so badly, it really was no option at all. This included being left for 5 hours at one library before I decided to hitchhike to get to a bus stop to get me home. Endless calls, and begging to be picked up did not work--[I had not made a mistake, both times were on their list, but got constant excuses] I do not recommend hitchhiking, it is dangerous, I used to try to ask women to give me rides, and offering at least 5 dollars to do so having no other choice to get home. Due to the combination of not being able to walk well [at some of the highest weight stratospheres], and low on funds, I was forced to do this at least a few times.
One thing about public transporation that is not talked about, especially if one has to use it in let's say less genteel areas, is that open harrassment of the fat, can happen. It happened to me. It got so bad, I had to learn to fight verbally and also ward off physical attacks, which ranged from having a woman grab me around my stomach and screaming: "You are so fat!!!, you'd be pretty without this" to having a teen gang literally threaten me while I minded my own business to the point, I talked the bus driver into dropping me off in front of a police station where I called a cab to get to where I needed to go.
Even the cab drivers could be fat adversive, while some were friendly other's would try to refuse me a ride when I was at the highest weights. I did fit in the cabs but still remember the day one cabbie, told me "You can't get in my cab, you are too fat and will break the springs!". Exhausted and having waited for a cab for an hour already with no place to sit, I sat down in his cab, and refused to move and told him he could call the cops or take me home. He chose to take me home.
Today even though I weigh less, the sheer physical demands of depending on public transportation would be far more then I could do. But there was more, the worse part was dealing with the PUBLIC.
There was other bad stuff I saw too, let's just say criminal behavior which I believe if I hadn't had the career I had, being trained to deal with violent youth, with some of the inherent street smarts that came from that, I'd be just a statistic now. In other words, self defense was an important asset of life to me. I saw a woman referring to fat women as "limping gazelles" when it comes to predatory men and well, if you are superfat, and in a public area that is not a kind one, you are more vulnerable. They know you can't run very well.
I was not surprised to see this...Where this woman talks about being verbally attacked on a bus. The article is good, though I would not explain myself so much to a person who lacks basic civility. I had that happen too, hoots and insults, and sometimes just getting on a big city bus was a nightmare. I did befriend one bus driver and sat up next to him, for my main bus route, which lowered trouble quite a bit, but of course he was not there for all shifts or routes.
Thankfully today, I no longer have to deal with the "public" on public transporation and my household has a car. I know it does serve an important interest, poor people without any bus or local based busing system, need something for transportation, so I am not against public transportation, Dial-A-Ride buses, county transport serve very important uses, but for super-fat people there can be added difficulties.
Maybe while I do agree with no discriminating against fat people, and standing up for them, I should totally detach myself from anything size acceptance. What is odd is some of them will speak to their rights, their voices, but if someone has a differing opinion all those *liberal* ideals about "tolerance" go flying out the window. I basically wrote in this discussion I did not agree with the concept of 'fat identity". Do thin people walk around identifying as 'thin people" everywhere they go? Hey my name is Joe, happy to meet you, I am a thin person!"
The more you comment, the more I think this space is not for you. You seem determined to try to form other people to your standards, rather than defining your own standards. Fat Acceptance isn’t a service to take charge of your life for you, it’s about finding your own space, your own voice and your own path. That’s what I’m doing here with MY space, MY voice and MY path. It’s not my job to speak for you.
They have the right to identify themselves as anything they please, even Martian, that is what free speech is all about but what is wrong with me sharing my viewpoint about how the fat identity stuff, seems to be just another trap, and making one's physical nature much more important then it should be? That's MY VOICE. What is odd, is why they defend their voice, their space, they do not allow for others which is hypocritical to the max. They never expect ANYONE to disagree with them?
Just do you know, Five-Hundred Pound Peep has been making the rounds of FA blogs basically criticizing fat acceptance for being fat acceptance. She came onto my blog more than once to tell me that FA was wrong for encouraging fat pride, for not wanting a cure for obesity, and a number of other things I won’t get into right now. The point is she is against much of what FA stands for and is demanding that FA allow her their spaces to promote those points of view.
They are right I do not agree with all the mandates of "fat acceptance". What kind of frightens me lately is how so many of them think totally alike, and do not want to hear any other opinions, even those of other fat people, even someone as fat as myself. It's not like I am going to scream at them "Go on a diet!" or something. It is insane. This just gives more credence to my theory that fat acceptance has become a socio-political deception of it's own. Question anything and they consider you "out" and scream at you on their message boards; "This space is not for you!"
Is there any other blog out there of independent-thinking fat people who reject the diet nonsense but haven't drank the fat acceptance Kool-Aid, who just want to censor anyone that makes them feel uncomfortable? I'm over 500lbs for goodness sakes, 522lbs as of last month, 545lbs in April, it's not like I'm a fashion model showing up at their blog to tell them to go on a diet and shut up! But they sure want me to shut up! [What is scary is I had left posts of agreement on there too, and even linked to her blog on my website]
I am mid-way through it, and already astounded, I had wondered where all the lightening bugs and inch worms of my youth went, and was thinking about that the other day. It may be the chemically treated lawns, that basically kills everything off including the earthworms.
Even the plastic containers we are eating, drinking, and storing our food in haven't been tested for safety and are full of chemicals, that are already deemed harmful to human beings. I had worried about the bad habit I had of microwaving left overs in this plastic bowl instead of getting out the heavier glass ones. Then there is problems with food itself and what is being added, chemicals leaching from lining on cans. He addresses the concerns about endocrine disruptors.
We all know by now — don’t we? — that many of the synthetic chemicals in our food, personal-care and cleaning products, toys and household goods are harming not just the environment but ourselves. Body-burden tests, for measuring exposure to chemicals, reveal flame retardants, plasticizers, pesticides and perfluorinated chemicals in the blood of almost every person studied. We see rising rates of some cancers, autoimmune disorders, reproductive illnesses, autism and learning disabilities. Meanwhile, our consumption of synthetic chemicals, a majority of which haven’t been tested for human health impacts, has skyrocketed. A growing number of books make the case that these phenomena are linked.
Saw this quoted on a political website...[I corrected some of the spelling]
Basically, in politics, most Americans are addled little children, believing in mystery cults....refusing to face the reality that almost all US politicians belong to the same clique and that US politics, for the most part, is nothing but Kobyki theater for the dumbed down masses, while the graft and theft goes on without a hiccup.
We know the whole fat thing is like a mystery cult.
We are expected to suspend reality, and believe what they tell us, that all fat people are all at fault, that a perfect diet, food, exercise, would end all our fat problems tommorow even though for decades it hasn't worked, 95% plus still fail, and the same nonsense dance goes on and on. Isn't the definition of insanity doing what doesn't work over and over?
And the exploitation of the fat has plenty of graft and theft behind it....
That lucky friend of yours — the one who barely gains weight when eating the same things you eat, even though your waistline expands — might have a hormone called orexin to thank.
A new study shows that mice deficient in orexin, which is produced in the brain, gained more weight when fed the same high-fat diet as mice that weren't deficient in the hormone.
Supplementing this hormone may be one way to help people lose weight, the researchers suggested, though the new findings are preliminary.
The hormone helps stave off weight gain because it's involved in the body's production of brown fat, which burns calories rather than storing them as white fat does, the study showed.
"Without orexin, mice are permanently programmed to be obese. With it, brown fat is activated and they burn more calories," said study researcher Devanjan Sikder, an assistant professor in Sanford-Burnham Research Institute, in Lake Nona, Fla.
The study is published today (Oct. 4) in the journal Cell Metabolism
It is interesting too how it is brained based. They better be careful with this one because it influences sleep and arousal states too.
Don't they know the low fat nonsense made everyone in America fatter? Higher fat food suppresses the appetite longer and takes longer to break down. There are healthy fats out there too. So the crackers and cereals and everything bloating people up will be cheaper. I thought over in Europe they were a little bit more "with it" with their banning of growth hormones and lawn chemicals. Hope they don't give the ones over here more ideas.
Copenhagen, Denmark) -- It's the world's first "fat tax." People in Denmark will now pay more for fatty foods.
Store shelves are stripped bare of butter, margarine and cream as Danes stocked up on their favorite fatty foods ahead of a fat tax that went into effect this past weekend. "A customer bought 30 packets of margarine. Another costumer had ten to twelve packets of butter in his basket. These are goods that can be frozen down so those are hoarded right now," says Rene Stuhr, a food shop manager in Copenhagen.
Foods containing more than two-point-three percent of saturated fat now cost more in Denmark. A small package of butter is about 50 cents more, half a kilo of cheese about 40 cents extra and a bag of potato chips 12 cents more.
I want to eat tons of pickles. I ate a few dill pickles the last few days but bloated. They make me feel less pukey when digestion is acting up. I seriously FEEL better when I eat a bit of salt. I noticed on my last labs my chloride was running low but that could be from water pills. The doctors seem to be overlooking this. They probably see me as some addled fat woman who wants to lick out the potato chip bag. Well first of all I am allergic to potatoes and second of all while I like the olives, the pickles come first and they are very low in calories.
Sometimes I think they tell over-play the salt is bad for you thing...What if that is another deception? You know the same kind of logic that poured fluoride into the nation's drinking water? You know what is funny, you read about the pioneers and others, and they are eating sauerkraut, things marinated in salt to preserve them--beef jerky, dried salmon and more and no one died of too much salt. Could salt really be that bad?
