It’s been very hot in the bay area the last couple of days. I know this isn’t the same hot the east coast gets or tropical climates, but it’s hot for us, nonetheless. This sudden bout of heat has made me rethink my day-to-day and focus more on what’s important: Self Care!

I had been struggling lately with eating during the day, I just didn’t want to eat. Yes, I get hungry. But I own/run a  cafe and am around food all of the time. (Luckily my cafe’s focus is offering natural/organic goodies for everyone to enjoy.) This does make for a difficult choice at lunch time when I need to eat! Being broke as a joke leaves me with two options: make myself something here or starve. And for about three weeks, I chose the latter. UGH! It drives me crazy. Last week I vowed, to myself, that I would eat a normal lunch each day. And I did. That is until this little heat wave arrived.

I have red hair and fair skin. I don’t do well with any extreme temperatures. When it’s very hot I don’t want to eat or sleep or anything, I am simply miserable. I must force myself to do the things I don’t want to in order to survive. I have no trouble drinking water, I love the stuff, but reminding myself to stay hydrated can be difficult, too.

So, here’s what I have been doing to take care of myself, even when the thought of it makes me sigh:

1. drink lots of cold water. 30 degrees (F) is ideal, but 40 is fine, too. (And keeping my Brita pitcher full!)
2. buy foods that I’ll want to eat. This week that means watermelon, peaches, apples, bananas, carrots, berries, greens, cold cuts, picnic salads…things that can be eaten cold either together or not!
3. Popsicles! stock the freezer or make a bunch on your own! If you have an ice cream maker, that rocks, too! I just know that I get very absent minded in the heat and need something quick and ready. And smoothies! So easy to make and tasty no matter what you throw in there!
4. cold showers! Maybe my fave part of summer! (or swimming or both!)
5. EAT! Yeah, it’s kind of sad that I have to remind myself to do it, but that’s how it’s been lately. And I’ve been eating smaller meals but more snacks in between, so that helps too.
6. Wear lighter fabrics. It’s simple, I know, but I still grab for the usual things. I won’t even go into the whole sleeveless debate, but if your okay with that, do it! I spent far too much time worrying and far less time being comfortable. Now? Comfort is queen! And besides, you look better when you feel better.
7. Did I mention COLD WATER?! I run a cold tap over my inner wrists to cool down at work. And sometimes I sneak away to the ladies room and splash my face and neck. A quick fix, I assure you! And don’t be afraid to dab your brow if you’re feeling some sweat. I say better that than suffering.
8. Water for everyone! We have a pup & a kitty and have to make sure they are hydrated, too! The pup loves ice and the kitty loves the bathroom tap, so no worries there. Just need to be a little more frequent when it’s hot.
9. Keep the shades drawn & windows closed during the day. This helps keep it cooler & when we get home from work we can open everything up for fresh air!
10. I don’t currently have a fan in the cafe, or a personal one. So I keep the front door open and hope for a breeze. On my way home I roll all of the windows down or crank my car’s AC. At home? We have an AC but it’s not efficient and we’re conservationists. So we stick to more fun ways to stay cool like the above.

My point in all of this is that we’re working and running around taking care of things and often forget to take care of ourselves. No matter what weather you’re currently dealing with, it’s so important to treat yourself right! I think of it like this, you wouldn’t let your best friend or partner allow themselves to be treated poorly or forget their bodies needs, so don’t do it to yourself either!

How do you handle self care? Are you so busy that you forget to take care of yourself? Tell me about it!  =0)

Okay, so on the “Snark” thing, I don’t really want to snark about anything specific, I am just still sleepy and a tad cranky and I just love the word “Snarky!” Ha-ha!

I love this: Your Permission Slip From The Universe

Randomly, I typed “Fat Acceptance” into google and the only ad on the page: Feminist Therapy Associates

Did you know,I Have An Etsy Shop?

It took me awhile to find him, but this used to be the blogger/founder of Fabulon! J’adore! <3 Thombeau!

A friend told be about Questionable Content and now I am obsessed! You have to read it from the beginning. It’s magical! And this sums up how I felt on Saturday night:

My friend Jery has a fab blog about our local arts scene, theater, movie reviews and so much more. He does a podcast, too! Check it out here

What do you like to read about on Twitter? I’ve been on Twitter for years, but rarely use it. I follow too many people to keep up with, but I do enjoy it now. Before I just sort of ignored it. I enjoy posting things, but would love to know what people are looking for there. Thanks!

Have you heard of Current T.V.? One of my fave channels and a lot of viewer generated content. YAY!

I have had the pleasure of getting to know this amazingly talented artist, Carmen Reid. She was at first a customer at my cafe and now a good friend. She is a freelance graphic designer and enjoys taking on new and funky projects. Need her help? Find her here! I also feature some of her paintings in my cafe.

Looking for some cooking/baking inspiration? You gotta check out my friend Steph’s gluten-free blog

This website lets you create a font using your own handwriting. FUN!

Tie your shoelaces in different and fun ways!

Go on, Ask Me Anything!

I bought Linda Bacon’s book “Health At Every Size” a few months ago, but only recently cracked it open for some reading. I admit that I have not read a book in quite a long time. I used to read everyday, now I read the internet & magazines and little else (I mean, catalogs don’t count, right?). Of course I’d heard nothing but rave reviews from all over the FA/SA community, but it still took some self-urging to not only buy it, but read it. I plan on doing a series of posts about the book and my thoughts on certain things therein. I’m only up to the fourth chapter, but some things in chapter three really made me stop and think and reflect on my own life and I have to tell you, I’m floored!

Here is the first part that truly made me stop and think about my life:

“In one very interesting experiment, scientists subjected mice to stress by locking them in a case with a more aggressive mouse. Some of the mice were given standard feed, and the others were fed the mouse equivalent of a processed food diet. The stressed mice eating the processed foods gained a significant amount of weight, much more than the stressed mice fed the standard feed. They also gained significantly more weight than mice consuming the same processed food diet that were not subject to stress. If this translates to himans, it suggests that it’s not just the stress, but the combination of stress and a nutrient-poor diet, that does you in.”

So, full disclosure here: I grew up poor. We didn’t have a lot of food in the house and when we did have food it was generic, yellow boxes of processed things. Fresh fruits and veggies just didn’t occur on a regular basis. I’ve mentioned in a  previous post how I would look forward to our Sunday dinners at my Grandma’s house due to her crisp green salads. Hello? Malnutrition? Yeah, hi! We know each other, remember?!  Wow!
Then when I was 14, I met a guy who turned out to be an abuser. I spent the next five years, basically as a hostage. He beat me up a lot. I didn’t start gaining weight until I was about 15 or 16 years old. I was eating less, exercising more, yet somehow also putting on weight. WTF?! (I never really dieted. I did slim fast a couple of times, but it always made me barf and so I would stop after a day or two.) Can you say STRESSSSSS?! Ha-ha! (Yes, I can laugh about it now, it’s been 13 years.)
So you can understand why that paragraph about the mice really struck a chord with me. Like, whoa!

The book also mentions mothers who diet during pregnancy leading to adults who are “overweight.”  Yeah, my mom struggled with her weight as long as I can remember, so she probably also dieted while pregnant. Just an assumption, but I believe a fair one. And here I am. I have lived exactly the opposite lifestyle as my mother (haven’t seen her since I was 15) and yet I have her hips/ass/boobs/etc. Genetics are some strange things, man.

Also, there are three paragraphs on sleep and sleep deprivation. I won’t recount them here, but I’ve struggled with insomnia since I was 12. I have had some pretty horrible times due to this. You can imagine how enough sleepless nights can affect ones life. Yep! While I have it mostly under control now, it’s never too far away, either. Linda Bacon specifically points to weight gain and sleep deprivation. WOW! You can imagine how much sleep I got during those five years of terrible, right? Barely any! It’s as though those five years of emotional and physical terror were also compounded with my insomnia and poor nutrition. Yikes!

While this may be full of obvious for some, this combination had never occurred to me before reading it. I am in awe of this book. The amount of facts and medical information is astounding. When I mention to a friend how dieting can mess with your brain chemistry so that you no longer hear/respond to your body’s natural hunger/fullness cues, I get the dear-in-the-headlights look.

To top things off there was a couple pages about weight loss surgery. And the facts, side effects, complications, mortality rates and everything else were so much worse than I already knew. What really scares me now is that my dad is being urged by Kaiser (hospital & insurance provider) to get the lap band surgery. While I have a very strained relationship with him and can’t simply say, “OH MY GAWD DON’T DO IT! PLEASE DON’T FUCKING DO IT!” I did ask him if he’s done any research on the subject. He said yes and that he feels the risks are nothing to worry about. And as I’m reading this book, and turn each page to read the next, all I can think about is possibly losing my dad because of a stupid insurance company’s urging him to get this dangerous procedure. UGH! I want to give him this book, but I’m not even sure he’ll read it.

Sorry. I get a bit swept up in these realizations. I probably think too much and too intently on certain things. But damn! I just cannot believe that this is the world we live in. I want it all to go the hell away, like NOW! *sigh* But I get up every day and do what must be done and take care of business. And we all do. We have to. If we let this shit get to us we’ll freak out and that’s no good. Might end up in the hospital for the freak-out and end up getting involuntary WLS! Okay, wow, sorry…carried away! But I also don’t think I’m too far off base here either.

I just don’t understand how anyone thinks it’s okay for health professionals to recommend such things.

But that is our society. Our culture has been usurped by this nonsense. These lies. And it is up to us to try to reverse the damage.

Thank you for reading.

Ask me anything: http://www.formspring.me/notblueatall

Reclaiming the word FAT: http://fiercefatties.com/2010/08/06/reclaing-the-word-fat/

Putting an end to fat talk: http://the-f-word.org/blog/index.php/2010/08/06/feel-good-friday-putting-an-end-to-fat-talk/

Scary facts about sugar: http://www.healthywomen.org/content/blog-entry/scary-sugar-facts-and-findings

Sara Rue loses 50 lbs. on Jenny Craig (insert my booing sounds here): http://tinyurl.com/239ua4g

Fall nail polish trends:http://tinyurl.com/276bedl

Fab new Ikea products (I’ll take one of each please!):http://tinyurl.com/294teks

Trailer for ‘Burlesque’: http://tinyurl.com/2erfof9

Just read this article: http://tinyurl.com/33aj7n9 and as you can imagine, I have some thoughts! Ha-ha! (The first few comments are actually surprisingly not bad at all, the 1st one is rad).

I don’t even need to mention why the photo is all kinds of wrong, right? Okay, it is wrong because it has stolen this woman’s identity by not allowing her to show her face. It doesn’t address the fact that she has a mobility issue and it is no one’s business weather or not she had this disability before she was whatever size she is currently. Or when this picture was actually taken. For all we know she could be quite happy & healthy. She’s out walking for one thing, not sitting on a couch drinking sugar syrup by the jug! Ahem.

70 Million? I am now wondering what this article is using to classify so many Americans as “obese” (scare quotes!). Is it possibly the BMI (body mass index – more badness on that here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106268439&sc=fb&cc=fp)? Because that was adjusted a few years ago and because of this, literally over night millions were suddenly considered “obese” by this newer version of the BMI. But they don’t specify so one can only wonder.

They go so far as to ask, “Is anybody listening” to the whole “OMZFATWILLKILLYOU” message. Um, everyone is listening. It’s hard not to hear it. It’s everywhere! We are inundated with the whole fat kills message anytime we leave the house, go online, turn on a t.v., watch a movie, read a magazine, etc…America hates fat, we know this. Yet, we’re all fat? Hmm…We’re a bunch of self-haters, yes?

They say that losing weight isn’t impossible and then include a link to a bunch of their past “success” stories. When you actually read each individual success story, most aren’t about someone who yo-yo dieted or other typical issues with weight loss. It’s mostly, “I stopped drinking soda” or “I started walking.” Nothing shocking. But that doesn’t work for everyone. Nothing works for everyone!

The article specifically mentions minorities and non-college educated people as being the most at risk of “obesity.” Funny, that. It’s not the fat that’s keeping us out of college, it’s the damned tuition (and I didn’t have to go to school to figure that one out)! I grew up very poor. Fresh fruits and veggies were serious treats to us. When we’d go to my grandma’s for dinner on Sundays I always looked forward to her fresh, crisp, green salads! Not candy or ice cream…SALADS! Because my family just couldn’t afford those kinds of foods on a regular basis. We ate generic, yellow boxed things that could provide sufficient nutrients so we wouldn’t fucking starve! And don’t get me started on my free hot lunches at school! We’re talking about lower income groups who simply can’t afford to buy healthier food. Watch the documentary Food Inc. and you’ll understand and see exactly what I mean and why.

I have done just about everything in my power to not look/end up like my birth mother. Genetics, you bastard! I am active and healthy and still have hips that could pass a watermelon (heaven forbid). I ate very healthfully and consciously for a very long time, nothing changed. I gave up soda, my co-workers lost weight, I did not. I became a vegetarian and gained a little weight. Now that my weight has stabilized, and I am broke as fucking hell, I can’t afford all of those gorgeously organic crunchy things I so love and crave. I buy when I can and make do when I can’t. Such is life!

I find it extremely problematic for someone like Michelle Obama (Rich!) to make it her personal mission to rid the country of fat people by 2025 (or whatever she said, sorry, it’s ridiculous and I don’t care). Talk about privileged?! Yes, she’s a minority, but she’s a special kind of upper class minority. I doubt she’s ever had more than an extra five pounds on her frame and seems so driven and confident I doubt even that is true. Not to personally attack her, I find her pleasant and smart and a great role model for the most part, but…obesity? Ugh! *sigh*

There is no one solution. There is no diet plan for the masses. There is no universal success story. I mean, shit! If Oprah can’t do it with all of her wisdom, fortune and fame, what hope do the rest of us have? Huh? Yeah, exactly! I am sick of the mainstream media telling everyone that my fat is going to kill me. My fat is not a damned disease. It’s just fat! I don’t have diabetes, or hypertension or any other fat related illness. I am not doomed. I am not a stereotype!

I don’t believe that the government should be telling us how to live our lives. I do think it should start at the source and go directly to the companies that manufacture all of the over processed foods. And aspartame should once again be classified as a bio-weapon! Diet drinks should simply have less sugar or another natural sweetener. We should not have to fear for our lives with every sip or bite we ingest! We should educate on nutrition, not calories! We should focus on activity, not exercise. We should celebrate life, not loss. I am just so very sick of this old rhetoric. It’s bullshit, but somehow no one seems to know it! Ugh!

Okay, I’m done for now. *steps off soapbox*

Thank you for reading & commenting. You’re amazing!