Perfect timing

A friend linked me to an article, which included the following short movie:





I still can't believe that there is so much sanity, reason and positive attitude coming from Surgeon General of the US. Instead of shaming the fattis into lean bodies, pressuring masses to take on risky fad diets, there is a message that we can be healthy at any size.

you go girl!

body image, modern society and paleo

I am glad that I see some good entries on body size around the paleo bloggers. It is much more common to see entries ridiculing bigger sizes.

I won't pretend I don't want to "look good naked". I want to have athletic body (well,  not like real athletes, but on the sporty side), firm, strong and healthy. With the emphasis on "healthy". Sometimes I think there is a cult of athletic, ripped body in paleo world. I see the dehumanizing pictures of obese decapitated individuals (as if being obese is so horrible we don't want to humiliate them by showing their faces) next to many entries.

Many people come to paleo being obese or overweight. I really understand that they might want and need to reduce their body fat. But too many times I see people in panic because they paused in their weight loose, as if bodies were machines.

Our society worships the skinny, not the healthy. Often we can see people making fun of female athletes that they look "male" (because only men are athletes?), allowing a few chosen ones to be "curvy", which often is still quite slim.
We know about the term "skinny fat" - often common to people who are skinny, but still have quite surprisingly high body fat, their body work is really bad, they eat crap, they hardly exercise and have any muscle strength... but they are still perceived as more "healthy" than a bigger, fatter person. We tend to watch what fat people eat assuming they are lazy gluttons, and somehow looking for proof that we are "right", they they brought it all on themselves. When we see the skinny junk food eating instead of worrying about their triglyceride levels we are jealous, and the person is made to believe she/he somehow reached some kind of moral achievement.

I am a strong supporter of the "Healthy at Any Size" movement. Health should be the emphasis, not size. There are people considered "overweight" who are stronger, more energetic and healthier, than many "skinny" ones. We don't really know exactly what our ancestors looked like. They were probably very strong and healthy... but it might be that they have occasional fat cushions, especially before winter. Women naturally need more fat, and I think a lot of them had more than the minimum necessary in preparation for pregnancy and breast feeding. Still, they were very active, moving around, gathering and hunting. Somehow I can't see any of these very skinny models go and hunt down anything or even gather wood for fire. They simply wouldn't survive. I also don't think it's that much of a coincidence that they are hardly every smiling. In contrast to the lovely ladies on the left.
We need more acceptance of various body types, with emphasis on health, performance, satisfaction. I want to see more photos of ladies looking like that being the models for us and young girls:

just look at these muscles! I am pretty sure she would do as well running around woods or escaping some nasty critter as she does on court!

Now that's my look goal, I would love to work my back and arms to look that way (more push ups in my future!). But I do realize that it's as well, the result of modern society's body image, even if healthier than the skinny one.

And especially as we age, we should work on accepting our changing bodies. These ladies, for example, are called "The strong women's choir".

Jennifer Hudson: "I've lost another 20pounds!"

First - how is that even news to appear on main CNN site? second - why women continue to feel loosing weight is some kind of reason to feel proud? She looked very pretty the way she was, I hate this freaking media.

Today my (male) student commented on a photo of Dara Torres and commented "she looks like someone glued her face to a male body". I so exploded after that. I said: "that is what an athlete woman looks like. that's her abs, that's her beautiful, athletic body. Men are not the only ones allowed to have visible muscles".

Similarly I want to explode each time I see comments about Williams' bodies. That they look like men. People are scared of strong, athletic women and it's truly pathetic and sad.