Living ~400lbs

Junk Food In Schools Doesn’t Correlate To Fat

Living 400lbs — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 06:54:40 +0000

Remember how banning junk food in schools was supposed to make fat kids thin? Guess what? No, it doesn’t. At least not according to “Competitive Food Sales in Schools and Childhood Obesity: A Longitudinal Study” in Sociology of Education (January).

But of course we should’ve thought it would, right? It’s not like “Snack food intake does not predict weight change among children and adolescents” was published in International Journal of Obesity in August 2004, right? And there wasn’t any studies about “energy-dense snack food” not being correlated with weight gain in adolescents either…right? Wrong.

Once again, America is continuing to do the same thing (that didn’t work) to try to prevent fat kids. And yet, fat kids exist. Time to ban fat marriage?

Filed under: Anti-fat bigotry, Anti-Obesity Programs, Childhood Obesity, Fat Panic

Not News

Living 400lbs — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 06:55:40 +0000

The website Fark makes fun of news stories that are not, actually, news.

Example: Students Discover Desks Have More Germs Than Toilets

Why isn’t it news? Well, it’s a common story that pops up once a year or two, and relies on people not thinking about which is more likely to get janitorial attention.

Today my Google Health section looked a bit like Fark.

First: Paula Deen has diabetes. Because she’s fat and publishes “unhealthy” recipes, she’s being blamed for “bringing it on herself” with unhealthy food. Fat people being blamed for their health problems, gee, where have I heard that before.

( Never mind that Ms Deen is 64 and the American Diabetes Association states that the risk of type 2 diabetes goes up with age — 26.9% of people over 65 have it. Or that the American Diabetes Association states that “Most overweight people never develop type 2 diabetes” and that eating sugar doesn’t cause diabetes.)

Second: obesity rates? Were leveling off in 2010. And 2007. Lots of stories about it in the last 4 years. Um….

Filed under: Anti-fat bigotry, Diabetes, News

Five Things Makes a Post

Living 400lbs — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 06:03:36 +0000

New job! I have a new job. The place I was temping hired me in late December. I’m not doing exactly the same job, which is both “new and scary” and “cool and interesting”. It’s also been interesting to note that the things I was looking forward to ending with the contract (the commute, say) are now things I’m stuck with, and the things I was thinking I’d miss (the walkability of the neighborhood) are now things I get to enjoy longer.
According to the New York Times, my household is in the top 48% for the Seattle-Everett area this year (based on my unemployment for the first 3 months + contract for 8.5 months + signing bonus + hubby’s temp gig.)
Asthma has been kicking my butt lately. My nurse practitioner upped my dose of Advair and OMG I had so! much! energy! this! week! I have been enjoying it but also crashing harder at the end of the day.
A coworker was floored that I am able to pick up my father’s wheelchair and load it into my car. I pointed out that once I remove the back and seat, it collapses into a big flatish bundle. ”But isn’t it heavy?” About 40lbs, really … which doesn’t seem all that much to me. So I guess the weightlifting is doing me good.
I have been reading more about caregiver stress and considering support groups. I feel a bit strange about doing it, since I’m not doing the daily hands-on care. But I am taking him to doctor visits, making medical decisions, getting his mail, managing his money, and being a supportive daughter.

Bonus: The new blog banner is a chocolate doughnut with chocolate frosting and Sounders green and blue sprinkles. These are sold by http://www.toppotdoughnuts.com/ at Seattle Sounders games.

Filed under: Asthma, Me, Stress, weights, Work