Back and Better

So, I haven’t posted for awhile. I return to make amends!

I think I have a good excuse, though.

I bought a house!

A real house that’s made of brick and that’s not falling down and doesn’t leak and its ALL MINE! This has been a lofty goal of mine for some time; however, I’ve been recovering my credit from my college days of poor money management. That’s a story for another time, though. So I have worked hard and it has paid off!

In addition to this, Matt, my partner for 3.5 years will be moving in with me. It means that my kitties are going to have to go live with my mom which is a huge sacrifice for all of us. But I hope that it will go well and be worth it.

We close this Thursday and we have to paint the entire thing before moving in. Its a lot of work but I’m so excited.

So, I wasn’t sure if with my absence and this being such a new blog if I should just give it up entirely or if I should come back to it.

Obviously I decided to return. However, I think that I will expand my topics a bit; not limit myself to just fat acceptance and knitting. I have lots of interesting things to talk about. Knitting and fat acceptance just happen to be two of my favorite topics.

Onward and upward then. I promise to kick off my return in the coming week with pictures of the house, pictures of the Ravelry knitting swap that I am expecting in the mail any day now and lots more!

For those still listening, thanks for sticking around and see you in the blogosphere!

~Liz

For Lent, Give up Dieting

For Lent, I’m giving up dieting. Well, not really. I haven’t dieted for quite a few years, based on my own reservations which the fat acceptance movement helped me put into words and even back up with scientific research.

But I want to encourage everyone to do this. For Lent this year, give up dieting. Give up on hating your body. That’s 40 days, 40 nights and absolutely NO food guilt, diet products, or self-flagellation related to the body that you were born with.Don’t give up chocolate or carbs. Give up the notion that foods carry moral values of “good” or “bad.”

Now, you Catholics know the irony of this suggestion. Lent is originally associated with fasting, sacrifice for God and avoiding the temptation of Satan. Now, I have no problem with folks fasting for religious purposes, but since Vatican II, Lent has been less about fasting and more about giving up a vice or a temptation and replacing it with something that brings you closer to God.

My challenge is that eating normally is not a temptation or a vice and that loving your body and yourself is the first step in having a closer relationship with God, the Divine, the Universe or however you represent your highest authority.

And it’s okay to engage in the practices of Lent even if you’re not Catholic. I was only Catholic for a few years and I still give things up for Lent. Sacrifice is often healthy for the soul but sacrificing food to lose weight is not healthy for the body.

So go without dieting and obsessing about food for Lent and see if you come out on the other side any worse for wear. Something tells me you won’t. Something tells me you’ll discover a freedom unlike any other–the freedom to improve yourself in ways that really matter.

Uninformed Mayor Puts OKC on a Diet

I live in the heart of Oklahoma City, in a district called the Asian District. It’s barely the Asian District anymore as the generations of vietnamese who came to OKC as refugees are getting older and their American children are moving off to nicer neighborhoods.

There are no sidewalks in my neighborhood. I have heard gunshots on my street corner. The street I drive to get home–a snow route no less–is crumbling and patches can’t keep up with it. I work for the state so I did not get a raise this year. The city just forced its school superintendent and board chairman to resign.

But what does our distinguished Mayor, Mick Cornett want to make this city’s priority? Losing weight.

That’s right Mayor Mick Cornett has challenged Oklahoma City residents to lose 1 million pounds this year. And how does he propose that we do this? Why, by going on a diet of course!

Look at that website! He’s actually promoting weight loss companies, even diet supplements that he has no idea what they contain or how they could be harmful! That’s just what Oklahomans need, Mayor Cornett. More misinformation.

It physically pains me to think about a city being run by someone who would make this sort of a health declaration without doing his homework. How could a politician influence his community to do something that is actually detrimental to their health?

Here is my message to Mayor Cornett: Diets Don’t Work. And the BMI is a joke.

Mayor, you really want your city to be healthy? Why not start by promoting the retail sale of local Oklahoma grown products? The Oklahoma Food Cooperative is nowhere on your list of ‘diets’ and if you want the city to eat healthy, why not start with eating fresh.

Why not fund and expand fresh farmer’s markets? There are only two in the city year round–one all the way in Edmond and the other at OSU-OKC. Why not have one in Midwest City and expand the downtown farmer’s market to be year round.

Why not promote the safety of city parks? Why not fix my street, build a sidewalk and make my neighborhood safe so that I can go for walks after work? Why not build hiking and biking trails?

Mayor Cornett, stop perpetuating the myths. Obesity is not an epidemic. Dieting is the epidemic and you need to educate yourself before you promote ideas that can lead to a lifetime of suffering.

Want Oklahoma City residents to exercise and eat healthier? That’s great. Urging them to diet and promoting weight loss programs and products whose validity is questionable at best? That’s just an uninformed, irresponsible politician capitalizing on the diet-craze for personal gain. Shame on you, Cornett.

Knitzmo?

Finally! I have finished object pictures!

Granted some are a bit outdated, since I’ve finished a few things before Christmas even.

The first is a picture of my Fetching gloves made with Plymouth Baby Alpaca in a grey and pink combo. This was my first knitting project I made for myself. They’re uber soft and warm, I love them!

I’m making Matt a pair of Dashing to match with the same yarn in a blue/green combo.

Next up, we have the first in my new garment line! No, I’m not trying out for Project Runway or anything. And as garments go, the construction of this one is pretty basic. It’s one of those things that is really easy but looks really complicated. Anyway, I call it the Baby Hootchie Halter, although I hear that Knitty calls it Katja. Because, really isn’t infancy the only time that hootchie is cute? 😉

Now, lacking a proper model, I knew I could try to get my cats to model but seeing as I’d probably lose large quantities of skin, I decided I needed to improvise. So Gizmo agreed to step in.

Also shown with Gizmo are the Mary Janes that I am working on to go with the Baby Hootchie Halter. I have this one finished and I’m working on the match. I’m actually worried that these are too small as Gizmo could barely fit them. Granted he’s got giant webbed feet, but still. So I think I’m going to take my needle size up and knit a second pair. That way, the baby that I’m gifting these for will have a pair to grow into!

Katja, the pattern also comes with several different sizes and it was so easy to knit that if Mom and Baby like it, I can keep it growing with her too.

The Next Stage

FYI, Femmeknitzi is now officially an open-comment blog.

Now that I’ve established a reasonable comment policy, I feel confident about opening up the blog to anyone who wishes to post comments.

Keep in mind that comments which violate the policy will be deleted. That includes trolls, diet talk and fat haters. I will also delete comments that raise issues I have already addressed in the Rules section. I don’t like to repeat myself.

So, comments ho!

LA Weight Loss–In or Out?

After the new year, I read many fatosphere articles about how LA Weight Loss Centers were going out of business.

WOO HOO!

Except, twice in the last week, I have heard commercials for LA Weight Loss Centers on TV.  (Heard because at the time, I was getting ready so I did not actually see the commercial).

I’m curious as to why are they still advertising?  Any thoughts?

I can has comment policy?

I can now. Check out the Rules section for more information on fat positive thinking and to learn how to avoid being a troll that must be beaten with my favorite pair of size 10.5 metal knitting needles. G’nite.

GMA and Oprah’s Magical New Diet

Ah, yet again we find the magic of diet marketing. Today on GMA, they had Oprah’s new diet guru, Bob Greene on to talk about the Six Foods you Should Banish from your Kitchen. He even brought a healthy eating contract for everyone to sign. Oh boy!

I found the whole concept hilarious since most of these horrible foods have never been a part of my diet and yet, here I am fat as can be! So let’s examine…

Greene’s six foods to avoid:

Soda is empty calories and sugar, so you have to cut it out. Instead, drink water, low-fat or fat-free milk, or tea. Fruit juices are good too, but remember, fruit juice, not fruit drink.

Transfats. They clog your arteries, they’re high in calories, and they may even make your body store fat in the abdominal area. Aside from being unsightly, it’s also bad for your health. You’ll find these in cookies and baked goods which might be made with margarine.

Fried foods. I mean, even if you use a good fat oil like olive oil to fry foods, anything fried has a lot of calories. Try things that are oven baked instead of fries. There are calories either way, but oven baked has fewer.

White bread. You don’t have to get rid of carbs entirely, but white bread is made from refined grains, which are stripped of their most nutritional parts, so you’re eating empty calories. Instead, we want you eating bread made form 100 percent whole wheat or whole grains.

High-fat milk and yogurt. Use 1 percent or non-fat dairy in their place, which are often just as good, only with lower cholesterol, fat, and calories.

Okay, so let’s see, I’ve never drank much soda, I don’t use margarine in any cooking, I do eat fried foods sometimes when I eat out. I eat out a lot but I don’t get something fried every time, so lets say I eat something fried once or twice a week. Don’t eat white breads or pastas at all and I particularly do not eat any bread with high fructose corn syrup in it. And I either drink skim, reduced fat or soy milk.

So, adding to all that, I eat lots of veggies, drink plenty of water and rarely snack in between meals. By Greene’s and the rest of these deluded diet mongers’ assessment, I should be SHEDDING the pounds, right? Yeah, right.

I’m by no means a paragon of health, but neither do I sit on the couch sucking cheese whiz through a straw. I’m healthy, and I’m fat.

And because I’d much rather have a high eating competence than buy into your concept of health, Mr. Greene (note, not a doctor–or even a fake one), you can take that contract and well…eat it.

Art and Beauty

An amazing thing happened in my life.

I learned to love my body.

And one of the driving forces that helped me to do this was my art. I’ve always dabbled with painting and I am by no means a talented renderer. But I’ve dabbled so long that I finally figured some things out.

I started painting women that looked like women are expected to look. And that was okay. But then I started wondering what other body shapes would look like. And I started painting those too.

It freaked me out at first, when people started asking if they were self portraits, mainly because they are so explicit. They’re not self-portraits–at least not in the sense that they represent anything specific about me. I was not thinking of my vagina when I painted them. But in another way, they are portraits of how I see myself in a positive manner and how I view the beauty standards of the majority of Americans.

My painting lately, much like my writing, is buried underneath my mound of other priorities at the moment. But since I have a lot of new readers lately, I thought I would share my art with you all.

Oh and FYI, my art is generally NSFW! That means don’t click on it while you’re boss is standing behind you. Unless she/he happens to be very open minded.

You can see the whole gallery here.  Please note that I have made this gallery public for a short time only. Go check it out now before I protect it again.

The thing is, we can talk all we want about fat acceptance–and talk we should. But we have to see it too. Not just in ourselves but in others and we have to show others how beautiful we really are.

Less calorie intact + more calories burned = weight loss. Simple?

I got to thinking about the primary argument that anti-fatties make when fat acceptance gurus unload their pile of flaming logic upon them.

Basically, every argument boils down to this: diet and exercise work, I’ve seen it. How dare you say that diet and exercise don’t work!

Okay. So, in my life, the people who make this argument are the very same people who pump hundreds of dollars annually into the diet industry trying to force these things to work for them.

So I have a challenge, if you will. Not an us vs. them type of challenge. Its not a challenge that is about proving anything because its not safe or responsible to diet for those reasons. (I don’t believe its safe to diet for any reason but I’m trying to make this argument from the perspective of those who believe otherwise.)

The challenge I offer is a personal challenge for anyone who believes that diet and exercise are parts of that ever-simple math equation that less calories eaten, more calories burned will lead to weight loss.

The challenge is simple, too. Go on your diets, if you must. But I challenge you to diet without putting a single dollar into the diet industry. This means none of the following:

• Diet books–healthy recipe books are okay as long as they are not published by major weight loss companies such as Weight Watchers or South Beach. But no water chestnut diets, no cabbage soup diets, no self-help books on weight loss, no inspirational weight loss stories.
• Diet websites
• Diet meetings such as Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, etc.
• Special exercise equipment–beyond the simple treadmill, weights etc. I’m thinking of things like the Thighmaster.
• Foods bought at the grocery store that are made by diet companies or marketed specifically to dieters. This includes but is not limited to:
  • Smart Ones
  • Lean Cuisine
  • South Beach
  • Slim Fast
• Exercise videos, health magazines, reruns of the Biggest Loser or any other media that perpetuates beauty ideals

Because if it really is just as simple as diet and exercise, if being fat is really all our faults, then shouldn’t YOU be able to do it without having to put money into an industry that makes its living on telling you you’re not good enough?

And as a discriminating consumer, why would you ever trust any diet industry product when they would make more money off of you if you gain the weight back? Don’t you remember the tapeworms in the diet chews in the 70s? Corporations have no morals and will stop at nothing to make money. What makes you think that they don’t design these programs and food for failure–to keep you coming back.

So, if you refuse to believe that it is far healthier to learn to love yourself as you are and if you refuse to believe that being fat is more than just a lifestyle choice, then I challenge you to reach your own self-improvement goals without the help of the $30-40 billion diet industry.

Because if it really is that simple, then why would you need them?

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No, ya’ll, I don’t really advocate dieting at all, for anyone. This is tongue in cheek. This is an example of how clinging to these ideals of weight loss are so heavily influenced by the diet industry and the media. As much as people believe that it is a moral imperative to hate your body and diet, they also believe that they can’t do it without help. What a racket!

And hey, people are going to diet whether I like it or not. I’d be a lot happier if they would do it without pumping money into the industry.