Showing posts with label health at every size. Show all posts
Showing posts with label health at every size. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 8, 2023

Peace Not Perfection

  

Resolutions by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash


Making a resolution to set yourself up for disappointment year after year is the definition of both insanity and stupidity.

small changes are best

don't set yourself up to fail

peace, not perfection

notes

https://chevrefeuillescarpediem.blogspot.com/2012/11/carpe-diem-special-6-issa-years-first.html

This post discusses the work of Kobayashi Issa (1763-1823) and talks about reverence for the new year in classic Japan.

https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/2023-november-pad-chapbook-challenge-day-8

Today's prompt asks participants to write a sentence poem. It has been quite a while since I wrote a One-Bun. This piece came to me like a flash--like a vision. I just wrote it down. Then I chose an image from Unsplash. Then I added text art to that image using Pixlr. You are welcome to share the image, but please credit Cara Hartley/Ornery Owl if you do. A link back to this blog would also be appreciated.

Over the years, I may have given the impression that I'm opposed to making New Year's resolutions. I'm not. I'm opposed to making stupid New Year's resolutions that benefit no one but the multi-billion-dollar diet industry. Stop giving those devils your money for crappy products that don't work. As for signing up for a gym membership, I'm all for trying to improve or maintain your fitness levels. Just do it for the right reasons, not to conform to a narrow standard of attractiveness. 

~Ornery Owl Has Spoken~


Ornery Owl
"I resolve to keep improving my cooking skills in 2024."
Free use image from Open Clipart Vectors



Hangry Wyrm
"I resolve to be your taste tester!"
Free use image from Clker Free Vector Images







Tuesday, October 17, 2023

Not Here to Please You

 

Image by Dina Dee from Pixabay


If you have a problem with my shape
I am here to tell you my body is not your business.
If my body is not pleasing to your eye
You are more than welcome not to look,
Or you can just fuck off.

notes


For today’s poem think about transformation: physical, situational, or otherwise.

I have an assortment of health problems, and my appearance is quite far from the socially prescribed ideal. I tried to hate myself thin for 33 years. Fortunately, I discovered size acceptance and the principles of Health at Every Size. 


These concepts helped me make peace with myself and encouraged me to take better care of the body I have rather than trying to force it to become something it will never be.

The attitudes society encourages towards larger people sicken me. 

Do you really think you're helping anyone by shaming heavy people?

Or are you just looking for a scapegoat?

If you weren't able to hate on fat people with impunity, who would you hate?

~Ornery Owl Has Spoken~


Hangry Wyrm
Free use image from Open Clipart Vectors

"No more starving ourselves, Owl! When's dinner?"


Free use image from Open Clipart Vectors

"Right now, Hangry. Dig in!"










Saturday, October 7, 2023

Inside the Monster

 


Free use image by Artiane on Pixabay

Never been hip, but never conformed,

Been lusted for but never loved;

I am both monster and victim.

Nobody sees me when they look,

They only see someone they've agreed

It's acceptable to throw stones at.

notes

Prompt used:

https://experiencewriting.com/2023/10/07/oct-7-prompts-fear-is-a-monster/

Form used:

https://playground.poetry.blog/2019/10/07/invented-poetry-forms-the-lewis-carroll-square-poem/

I've written a lot about being scapegoated, in this case, for having a large body. If you think it's okay to treat people like trash because they're bigger than you feel they should be, that's a you problem. You need to take a long, hard look at yourself. I spent too many years apologizing for my age, appearance, size, social status, trauma, and everything else. I won't do it anymore.

We know about bullies. Let's talk about concern trolls.

A concern troll is someone who bleats, under the guise of "caring about" another person, "but it isn't HEALTHY for you to eat that/weigh so much." As someone who has endured this kind of shit for decades, trust me, it's never about health.

And now, Ornery Owl teaches you the trick to creating a happier world.

By using the right tools to stop being a tool, the world becomes a better place for people of all sizes! 

To learn more about why size shaming and concern trolling make you a tool, start with this.


When you realize it's time to stop being a tool, move on to this:

If you're tired of being a tool to yourself, read the above, and also get this:

People being happy and not hating themselves for silly things like not being an arbitrary "perfect" size makes a better world. That's a real treat!

~Ornery Owl Has Spoken~

Image by Jo Justino from Pixabay

"Who should we play tricks on tonight, Owl?"
"I'm thinking bullies and concern trolls, Witchy."



Hangry Wyrm
"Woo-hoo! Girls night out!"

Free use image by Clker Free Vector Images on Pixabay












Wednesday, October 25, 2017

The Cheese Grates It + OctPoWriMo 2017: Day 25: Don't Buy the Bullshit

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~