Canticles of the Unhomed
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Optifast Day 4 - Putting Myself at Risk
It is only common sense that overweight people face
weight bias and discrimination on a regular basis. This pressure drives
people to sometimes obsessive and fanatic behavior. I believe we have
all seen the effects of this in society: bulimia,
anorexia nervosa, increasingly dangerous easy access to weight loss
surgery, and insanely intense workout regimes. As well, the portrayal of
obesity and weight loss in the media is skewed and full of bad advice
and even worse science. The overweight person
has become a person of scorn, disgust and pity, often prejudged as
lazy, unstable, unintelligent, unhygienic, socially awkward, sexually
undesirable, unhealthy and lacking self-control.
Some may think that I am overstating the case,
thinking that they do not harbour those attitudes. However, any
overweight person will tell you in a second that all those attitudes are
alive and well among the "skinny" population, and even
to a certain extent among the overweight population.
We don't have to look far in our culture to find
the culturally "ideal" body type. Needless to say, obesity has no place
in that definition. In fact, if anything, this cultural ideal is by
itself far more unhealthy and dangerous than obesity.
Our culture is sensitive to prejudice and
discrimination. We have a highly evolved and sophisticated language to
deal with this. While it is widely maligned as "political correctness,"
we would never consider calling an African American
the "n-word." Just the fact that I have to write it as "the n-word"
demonstrates the power of this cultural movement. We would never call a
Jewish person a "kike," or someone of Middle Eastern descent as a
"packi." It would be a major faux pas to call a person
who is paraplegic a cripple, or someone who is developmentally delayed a
"retard." All these labels have been determined to be negative and
hurtful and rightly so. We would never consider using these slurs in
casual conversation, but we don't hesitate to label
someone "fat," "porky," or some other indelicate euphemism. In a
culture that is perhaps obsessively sensitive to prejudice and
discrimination, we have not extended this to people who are overweight.
I would challenge those of you who are
weight-stable, who can fit comfortably into theatre and airplane seats,
who doesn't have to go to specialty stores to buy expensive clothes, who
doesn't get sweaty and out of breath putting on your
socks, to examine your responses to overweight people. How do you feel
when the overweight guy gets the seat next to you on the plane? Would
you ever date someone who is overweight? Examine your emotions, and your
speech. Are you a closet weight bigot?
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| Is Thermogenic even a word?!?! |
Optifast is going well… I am discovering that
hunger pain is not going to be my problem. I have only been doing this
for four days, and already I really miss solid food. Not because I am
hungry, but because I miss the mouth-feel of solid
food, chewing and swallowing. I suppose I could just chew food and then
spit it out. That is so sad. Its going to be a long twelve weeks.
On a good note, I have discovered a way to deal
with the dreaded vanilla shakes. When I mix it, I add a couple of
teaspoons of instant coffee to the mix. It cuts the sweetness, and
actually imparts a bitterness that while not being delightful,
renders the shake relatively flavour neutral and thus inoffensive. I
also get the added benefit of a caffeine rush through my day. I have
also discovered a good description of the vanilla flavour -- its like
drinking really, really cheap melted vanilla ice
cream. You can call it vanilla only in the broadest philosophic sense.
Cheers.
:: written by Matt Thompson, 9:26 PM
1 Comments:
People who would label someone as fat or porky would probably label the Jewish person or the handicapped person as well. That is their issue.Remember why YOU are doing this. It is not about looking a certain way but being healthy. It's so you don't get winded putting on your socks. It's about being able to run and play with your son. You should want to do this for yourself. You are the only one who can.
