This image was found in multiple places and I am unable to determine its origin.
If anyone knows the origin of the image, I will be glad to properly credit its creator.
Don't Buy the Bullshit
Nobody
Has the right
To make you feel
Bad about your body
Never apologize
To anybody
For your body
Those busybodies
Who think it's okay
To belittle others' bodies
Need to take a long walk
Off a short pier
Into shark-infested waters
With raw steaks
Tied to their bodies
The Cheese
No Longer Apologizing for My Body
Note:
I am not officially participating in today's OctPoWriMo prompt, although I did create a poem in spite of the fact that I initially wasn't going to because die-t talk is such a turn-off for me. However, I have to keep in mind that many people haven't been lucky enough to find Size Acceptance and Health At Every Size as I did. This is why I share here my response to this prompt.
If I hadn't found size acceptance and health at every size at age 45 (seven years ago now) I would be 52 and still hating myself and calling myself horrific names like "fat pig" and "disgusting land whale." Thanks to my myriad of endocrine problems plus DNA (my mother's side of the family tends to be heavy, and to have endocrine problems) I will never be thin unless I develop a deadly disease such as acute myelogenous leukemia as my great-grandmother did. She went from 300 pounds to 95 in the space of a year, and then the disease killed her.
It isn't being a "foodie" that determines a person's body type. The multi-billion dollar die-t industry has doctors and the FDA in its pocket. Most so-called diseases of obesity are actually diseases which become more likely with aging in people of all sizes.
I worked with the elderly for close to 25 years. There are elderly people of all sizes. The idea that there are no fat old people is a fallacy. Fat old people are no less healthy than old people of other sizes. In fact, many of the fat older folk that I worked with were reasonably healthy. There was one portly gent in his nineties who was a diabetic and still taking care of himself. I worked night shift and only heard from him on one occasion: when he hurt his hand.
Nobody needs to apologize to anyone for their body type. It's really not something we can help and trying to change it tends to result in temporary weight loss with more weight ensuing. Dieting is horrible for the metabolism.
I am not the best person to explain the science behind this. I recommend these blogs:
Ragen Chastain, the blogger behind Dances With Fat, is a competitive dancer who participates in marathons. She is five foot four inches tall and weighs 280 pounds.
For my own part, I sometimes can't afford more than one meal a day and I work a very physical job. Still fat. However, unlike in the past, I don't give myself added stress by hating myself for my weight.
I hope you'll consider my thoughts. Too many people hurt themselves hating the bodies we were given to live in. There's nothing wrong with your body or your love for good food.
Here are some bodies that people have been shamed for having.
Too short and skinny to be "manly"
In good health for someone in his age range
Too short and skinny to be "manly"
Terminally ill/multiple health issues
Too fat to be "attractive."
In good health for someone in his age range
Too short and skinny to be "manly"
Died from stomach cancer at age 67
Too fat to be "attractive"
Shot to death at age 24
Too short and skinny to be "manly"
In good health for someone in his age range
Too fat to be "attractive"
In good health and putting up with no bullshit from haters
Dare you speak ill of the Queen of Soul?
I wish there had been a Beth Ditto around when I was younger
Maybe I wouldn't have abused my body with years of dieting and myself with years of hate for "failing" at dieting
When I opened this photo of Adele, one of the first suggested searches that came up was "flattering hairstyles for overweight women."
May I just say, fuck that shit.
Fuck "flattering," and over what weight?
The B in BMI stands for Bullshit.
The BMI is an actuarial tool. It was never meant to be used as a measure of health.
We need to stop conflating our worth with a number on a scale.
~The Cheese Hath Grated It~
