Weight Stigma Awareness Week Day 5

Today we ask you to host a  "YOU" day.    Celebrate your relationships and experiences.     Celebrate who you are and what you have to offer.   Celebrate the steps forward you've made by recognizing, expressing,reclaiming, and recomitting to make a difference and bringing an end to weight stigma.

WEIGHT STIGMA AWARENESS WEEK FACTS Did you know?   The health consequences of weight stigma are dire. The result is maladaptive eating behaviors and food as a coping mechanisms, such as binge eating unhealthy weight control practices increased intake of food      Haines, et al., 2006; Neumark-Sztainer et al., 2002; Puhl & Brownell, 2006, Puhl et al., 2007; Puhl &Luedicke, 2011

Weight Stigma Awareness Week

Here are days 2 and 3 together - thanks to a wi-fi modem on strike!

Day 2

EXPRESS your internal stigmatizing thoughts about yourself and others.

Day 3

Reclaim your thoughts about yourself and others. You can create your own body love and esteem now.

Weight Stigma Awareness Week

This is a US organised awareness week, and my posts will be one day behind theirs, due to the time difference.

Day One:  Recognise your internal stigmatizating thoughts about yourself and others.

Think about all those nasty things you say about yourself, and the preconceptions you have of other overweight/obese people.  Reflect on the invalidity of classifying someone solely by their weight.

There is a great deal more information and some tools on their website. http://www.bedaonline.com/

Make this an aware week.

Good news for me and good news for you

Happy Friday everyone.  I have been incommunicado for a little while.  I had a short break in Daylesford (lovely country town) with a good friend.  The house we stayed at had no internet connection, so email was out of the question.  Also my mobile phone had no bars, unless I went up the hill to the Botanical Gardens, then climbed a dark and dirty tower, then stood on tippy-toes and held my phone up at arms length.  Only then was I able to get my messages, but not make any calls.  Well, climbing the tower was good exercise, if nothing else!

The point being....the good news for me was having a break from the usual routine, in pleasant surroundings with good company.  The good news for you is that during that time I started reading a "diet" book I picked up at the Op Shop.  Its called "YOU on a diet" by Dr Michael Roizen and Dr Mehmet Oz (yes, THAT Dr Oz from the TV).

Why is this good news for you?  Because I am supporting their approach for a variety of reasons.  Its not really a diet book at all.  Its a healthy lifelong eating plan.  Its not dramatic or dangerous and is backed by science.  It talks about the types of processes that go on in the body in relation to visceral fat and the effect on the brain of the consumption of certain foods.  And they debunk the myth (as do I) that there are "good" foods and "bad" foods.  Roizen and Oz also explain in great detail how low calorie diets are useless and ultimately counter-productive, and why we blame ourselves for dietary failure. And they talk more about waist measurement as an indicator of health rather than overall weight.

The crazy illustrations in my edition of the book have to be seen to be believed, but overall good sensible information and a reasonable argument for dieters to forgive themselves and forget the past.  So don't "waist" any time - have a look at the book on Amazon or Google the guys.

Slim Right....Slim Wrong!

I just saw an ad on television which will get people running to the shop.  3 super-hot women in bright red skin tight clothing - always an attention getter.  

Then the pitch - lose 2kg a week with 1 main meal, 2 (purchased) shakes and 3 (purchased) snacks a day.  How many dollars a day?  Why wouldn't 3 meals and 3 snacks a day achieve the same result, without the expense?  And who wants to walk down the street in high heels and a swimsuit?

Just wondering....