Fat and Stuff

I've been thinking about a post about the Fat Acceptance movement for a while now, because there is something that has bothered me about a lot of things associated with that movement. Reading stuff in the Big Fat Carnival makes me feel that now-familar feeling that I must be missing something, that I need to read more about it and listen more to that community, because I must just not get it.

But then I read this post over at peggynature's blog, and a lot of my implicit concerns get spelled out and even solved, really, by her insights:

Thing is, there are extremely fat and healthy people out there. That's how the fucking bell curve works. No, you cannot be healthy at every size. But we can. Here's how:

You eat well. This is not a moralistic determination, nor is it the same from person to person. There are general suggestions that most people can safely follow, but the most important is to learn to listen to your gut. Try to resuscitate the cues that a lifetime of dieting and an eating-disordered culture have probably killed. If you can't do it on your own -- and many can't; it's hard -- get someone to help you. Size-friendly therapists and dietitians exist, and many of them believe in an empowering philosophy of health promotion, which in English means: you get to make your own choices. You get to figure out what is best for you. Because even scientists can't tell you how much goddamn calcium you need.

You move well. This is also hard to figure out, and I'm currently doing battle with it myself. Kell has some good ideas. Like we all have an appetite for food, I think we all have an appetite for movement. Think back to the way you might've played as a kid, the times you got restless from sitting still for too long. Try to remember a time when being sweaty and out of breath meant you were having a fucking awesome time (if you're lucky enough to have such memories.) Think back on those times, and try to come up with creative ways to have fun now. REAL fun, like the kind of fun you had when all you needed was a hot day and a sprinkler in the yard, or a jump-rope, or a piece of chalk and a stretch of concrete. When did adult movement become so boring and medicinal? Who says you need to have 'proper footwear' or a gym membership or all sorts of ugly spandex clothing in order to get a little hot and sweaty? If you're into that kind of thing, cool; you have that many more options than the rest of us who hate all that shit. And if you hate it, take heart: so do I. But I won't be disingenuous and pretend that physical activity has no bearing on our well-being. Neither will I deny that it's more than possible to go out and find ourselves a bit of fun.

Third, you learn to deal with your body. Whatever size it's at, whatever health conditions you might be facing, whatever colour it is, however big your butt is, or small your tits are, or anything. You take what God fucking gave you, and you make the best of it. You do the treatment for any health problems by focusing directly on the problem itself, not by buying into the cultural fantasy that, if you lose weight, you'll magically lose any physical and/or mental illnesses along with it.

What I like about this isn't just that she explains pretty clearly why thinking that one could be healthy at any weight is just as silly as thinking that one is automatically helathier if one has less fat on one's body than previously. It's also her enthusiasm for health, in its various guises. It's pretty contagious, frankly.


Filed under:Health