Healthy B.P.M.

I liked this post Obesity: Fact and Fiction on the blog The- F-word.org.

“Martin poses a provocative question: with its proven high failure rates – a 97 percent recidivism rate, according to Susie Orbach – and overall ineffectiveness (as well as the health risks yo-yo dieting poses), can the diet industry be prosecuted into warning labels and public education efforts the way the tobacco industry has been?”

That’s an interesting question. The diet industry has many takers. You can’t blame manufacturers for coming up with more and more diet products, considering how obese the population is becoming. And yo-yo dieting could lead to eating disorders which could lead to body image perception problems then causing mental health and social ostracism issues. Everything is so viciously connected.
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A lot of the diets out there are difficult to live by. The reason that people gain weight in the first place is that over eating is becoming so easy. Go to the supermarket and load your trolley. Go to fast food joints at any street corner and gain calories. It’s so easy.

What people are looking for is something practical. What can you do to lose weight in a practical way? This is a forever method. There’s no leniency, no reward…I guess being healthy is the biggest reward any one could ask for.

1.Eat lesser smaller portions on smaller plates.

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Blogs are buzzing about Jordin Sparks for more reaosns than her nailing American Idol. Apparently Jordin Sparks is not a healthy role model. She’s being calledtoo fat.I loved this story: Is Winner Jordin Sparks Too Fat to Be the American Idol? NAAO Says Yes!

Plus size contestants like Jordin Sparks and Lakisha Jones seem to be tearing America into two components: the I-don’t care-I’m- fat America and the I’m- famous- and -so -I-should -be -a role -model America.

Check out this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svxLdNsxPSw

What do you think? Does size really matter? Is it fair to judge anybody based on what they look like? Because these are things that we do right from kindergarten.

Jordin Sparks, Lakisha Jones, American Idol, health, obesity, weight loss, size zero, Youtube video

After soda, donuts, French Fries, canned soup and the big bad trans fat, now popocorn is on the health food hit list.Microwave popcorn bags seem to release 200 times as much of the chemicals as does Teflon-coated cookware. Read this.

Popcorn factory workers have a lot to be upset about as the smokey odors of flavored popcorn can cause lung injuries. Read this health alert for more.

popcorn, health, lung injury, teflon, microwave popcorn

I often go visit Isabella Mori’s Change Therapy blog because it’s a great place to learn about ourselves. She says:

Research can be quite futile if we don’t also engage in self-research – soul searching, reflection. a person can be an amazing expert – but if they don’t know themselves, it’s very difficult to make changes. you don’t have to necessarily know absolutely everything about yourself, you don’t need to become a narcissistic navel gazer – but if you don’t know your basic layout, you don’t even know what needs to be changed.

It’s true. Sometimes our basic needs are waiting to be fulfilled.Like food, money, love. Sometimes it’s self-actualization that we are interested in. Coming to terms with yourself has a lot to do with understanding where you are on the need graph.

You’ll really find her article on dismantling an eating disorder from a therapist’s point of view to be quite interesting. Eating disorders spring up from insecure holes in our hearts and the inability to fill some void. It can be changed when we come to terms with who we are and what we need.

eating disorders, anorexia, binge eating, bulimia, therapy

In her Color Me Fit blog Kery talks about how it feels when someone comes up to you and says “You’re so pretty”.

The sad part is that my first thought was to wonder if he was mocking me.

Now I don’t personally subscribe to anyone commenting on how I look. But once my friend did the exact same thing. While I was in college, a friend of mine talked about how she went up to a boy and complimented him on his looks. He looked back at her insulted as though she had said,”You like like dog shit.”

She never saw him again.

Sometimes we can underestimate ourselves so much that we can’t even take a pat on the back without suspicion. Maybe there are days when we look really good, regardless of our size. I’ll say embrace those days and understand a compliment when you get one.

appearance, body image perception

The Size Police come in all shapes and sizes. You meet them in your extended families, in schools, in potential employers….and expectations of the perfect body are flaunted in gossipy magazines and Hollywood drama. Everyone secretly wants to be be perfect looking. Yeah I know they say “I’m happy with my body….” but there are moments when you wish or at least give up on wishing that you were perfect.

How do you deal with the Size Police?

Now if you are a certain size- be it fat or skinny- think about whether you are healthy or not. If not, then you have to work on yourself. Even if you are healthy, there is nothing wrong with leading a sensible enough healthy lifestyle. The point is your size is your problem. And if someone talks to you about the way you look like it’s a random topic(like the weather), I’d say pay no heed.

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Are you shy? Are you proud of it or fed up?

When you are shy:

-Making friends is an effort and it doesn’t come naturally unless you feel really close with someone.

-You want to be invisible in a crowd.

-Doing presentations is a pain. You never get to make the most of an opportunity and prefer to disappear into the background.

-Going to large family functions becomes an obstacle to your happiness.

-You feel isolated and yet you prefer that.

-You prefer to eat alone.

Coping with shyness is an important part of growing up. What can help shy people:

1.Meditation: Looking inward is the best remedy. By realizing your own potential, looking outward becomes easier.

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Working moms have it hard. I liked the way Kelly came to the defence of working moms in her post I’m fat because mommy works. But being a bit of a juggler myself, I think that working moms have a guilt syndrome that they can never quite escape from.

Moms have it in their head that:

-They have to nurture and love their kids. That’s only natural.

-They want to do it by themselves and don’t really trust the help that they get.

-They want to make the money and if they give up their jobs they mope about it or feel worthless.

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This is a great article This Is Your Life (and How You Tell It). It’s the story of how your personality develops from the way you reflect on what happens to you. Different people have different life stories and the way they narrate it determines how far their personalities have changed for better or worse.

What’s your life story? This is a neat six word memoir which I had to share with you:

“Eight thousand orgasms. Only one baby.” – Neal Pollack

You could submit your six word memoir here.

Thinking of your life as a story or a fable really helps you deconstruct your life’s pitfalls and peaks. It’s therapeutic…try it out.

life story, therapy, writing, six word memoir, personality development, narration

Part of leading a healthy lifestyle has to do with being in control of your life. When you are not, you tend to see things falling apart.

One way to be in contol of your life is to quit your addictions. Easier said than done. Meera has written a great post about how she quit smoking for good. She tackled her problem using logic. When you smoke you spend an hour or two on your cigarrettes. That realization changed her approach.

Sometimes having kids is an opportunity to change. If you assume responsibility as a parent then quitting habits like drinking could help. Living with parents on a high could cause stress in children and lead them to pursue binge-drining habits or experience mental trauma later on. Read this.

control, self-control, bine drinking, smoking, addiction, stress, trauma, childhood problems

Yesterday I talked about what burnout is really all about. Sometimes it could be the multitasking you do, sometimes it could be the kind of relationships you are in, other times the kind of compensation you get for the time and energy you invest in your work. All these things can contribute to the level of stress in your life and the happiness quotient you experience.

I would advice any stressed out person to read this excellent article Set Limits at Work to Beat Burnout.

Four ways to beat burnout:

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Job burnout is a common problem that people have to deal with nowadays. Says Shannon in her blog Random Mutterings:

“Work-related stress over long periods places a relentless strain on the body and mind, leading to emotional and physical fatigue. The end result, if not corrected, is burnout. Burnout produces feelings of hopelessness, powerlessness, cynicism, resentment, anger and failure, and results in stagnation, deterioration of quality of work, decreased creativity and reduced productivity.”

Burnout happens when you do more work than necessary and you have impossible deadlines to catch up with. If you feel that your job limits you and lessens your own personal space, you get that listless feeling that is burnout. Some jobs can add to the stress, especially if it’s mandatory to put in long hours. Check this link out.

How do you deal with burnout? More on that tomorrow.

burnout, stress, lifestyle, health, work

“I think that in some cases there is nothing wrong with size zero. If you look good and are perfectly healthly then it is fine to be that size, some people may be naturally small and petite and shouldn’t be criticized as well.”

That’s what Holly said when she read my post Who wants to be size zero?.I absolutely agree. There’s nothing wrong with being smaller and more petite if you are healthy and happy.

But being thin has its setbacks. When you are in school you are called skinnny and flat. Then you when you are in college you wonder whether you should get breast implants and turn all Bootilicious like Beyonce. (more…)

I came across JM’s new blog and she used a phrase “I think I’m reaching rock bottom…” and I started thinking about all my rock bottom days and for me hitting that low means not moving out of my chair and getting the routine things done. It means just sitting and doing nothing. If some unfortunate soul comes before me, I could lose my temper and be unreasonable.

You know you’ve hit rock bottom when you read this.

How can you deal with those rock bottom days?

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