2008-04-07 [sequeena_rae]: Do you get asthma and hayfever too? O.o I've got dermol 500 in place of shower gel and soap, Epaderm and oilatum cream as moisturisers and a load of creams I can't remember the names of. Also immunosupressants, which really help. :D

I have asthma :D

I actually got Squee lots of things out of there for her birthday because her health has been worrying me so much :P

Stuff to strengthen bones too plz! lmaooo I am in fact a walking plague!

2008-04-07 [Saray]: Oh noes, a walking plague! :P

2008-04-07 [sequeena_rae]: You better believe!

2008-04-07 [Delladreing]: That is included :P

2008-04-07 [sequeena_rae]: ILU <3

2008-04-07 [Delladreing]: <3

2008-04-07 [windowframe]: Do you get asked that question a lot, too, Squee? :P Practically ever doctor I see asks me it.

2008-04-08 [sequeena_rae]: About asthma? Yeah!
"Do you have asthma?" Look at my notes you fool.

2008-04-08 [Delladreing]: Almost as good as my friend who went for an abortion. One of the nurses asked her "have you ever had sex" *doh*

2008-04-08 [sequeena_rae]: ...Bwahahahaha.
Why no, I don't even know what the word means.

2008-04-08 [Delladreing]: She obviously meant to say "unprotected" sex, but still, in an abortion clinic booking the termination date. "Have you ever had sex?" "No I just don't want Jesus enough to have him"

2008-04-08 [sequeena_rae]: Oh Dela, stop making the sick side of me piss itself laughing.

2008-04-08 [Delladreing]: :P

2008-04-14 [Jitter]: http://elftown.eu/stuff/Theme%20delusion%20colored%20alt.JPG by [Galatea]
*respect*

2008-04-14 [Azuri]: :D I like that one ^_^

2008-04-14 [Jitter]: Same here! It's truly exceptional!

2008-04-14 [Azuri]: Shes a great artist ^_^

2008-05-07 [Delladreing]: I've often wondered why I'm not dead yet from my massive sugar consumption.

Well it would seem my fat ass and round little tummy are saving me:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24501877/

So it would seem the fat around my hips is not only saving me from heart disease but diabeties too...

Girls, I think it is time to shake your healthy butt XD

---

^{x-posted to various places.}

2008-05-09 [Cyrano meets Merso]: I my self am sick of all the sickly skinny chicks(because most of them have chicken brains too) around me (especially since I started listening to Ice Cube::))
If you feel good,great,if you feel that you can carry all the weight around its ok...people should think of weight more from the health aspect...*realizes that he is the only male in the room and slowly exits the room*ups...

2008-05-09 [Saray]: I completly agree on the health aspect. I've just started a fitness-suscription for the entire year because I felt is was time for me to get into shape - not because I want to be thin, but because I run out of breath if I run for more than 40 seconds. Actually, 40 seconds is pretty long.
Next to that I've got the problem that I have to sit around a lot behind a computer for school, and that really doesn't help your flexibility.

It's fun, I enjoy going, it feels good and it gives me energy. I can recommend it to anyone who feels a bit sluggish :D

2008-05-09 [Cyrano meets Merso]: Its actually a addictive...since I started martial arts I get really nervous if I don't work out for more than a few days...

2008-05-09 [sequeena_rae]: I just started a diet - go me!

2008-05-09 [Cyrano meets Merso]: dunno,dieting, what I did years ago, stopped eating dinner...and it works...there is also the meat diet if you dont mind the toxins in your blood::D
But I'll choose working out over diet...

2008-05-09 [sequeena_rae]: I'm not missing out meals, just cutting down on shit and putting in the good stuff :P

2008-05-09 [Delladreing]: Which is the only kind of deit that works when combined with work outs.

2008-05-09 [sequeena_rae]: aaaaye I have enough working out :P

2008-05-09 [Delladreing]: That you do.

2008-05-09 [sequeena_rae]: I walk for around 4 hours a week (to and from work not including when I'm there and when I'm doing whatever else) but it does not seem to be working xD

2008-05-09 [Cyrano meets Merso]: dunno, dinner as a meal is not good all together, fruit ok, but anything else...and just exclude bread you'll shave those pounds in a hart beat...when I was a vegeterian I got to 110 kilograms, because I ate lost of pasta and bread,now Im 97kg and going down a few more hopefully::)

2008-05-09 [sequeena_rae]: Bread or carbohydrates in general make up a lot of my meals....I don't know if I could just stick to meat/veg/fruit it will drive me mad o.O;;
And thankfully I usually only drink once a month - and I am not cutting that out for anyone!

2008-05-09 [Cyrano meets Merso]: lol just avoid bear and you will be ok::)
well diversity is the key,but carbs are the killers generally,but the summer is coming so you will probably not have 
the craving for them.

2008-05-09 [Delladreing]: Pfft if I had my way I'd eat nothing but bread. The key to everything however is moderation, you can pretty much eat whatever the hell you want so long as you don't over eat on it.

2008-05-09 [sequeena_rae]: We don't often get bear here down in Wales :P Undercooked drug dealer perhaps, but not bear.
Nope, I'm already on the salads because it's so hot.

2008-05-09 [sequeena_rae]: That's the problem though Dela :P

2008-05-09 [Cyrano meets Merso]: yeah, well I'm all for moderation, its all about balance...we should actually eat as our elders did when they lived in villages, just like 5 times less...

2008-05-09 [Delladreing]: Ech I know. But once you learn not to just eat for the sake of eating it gets easier.

2008-05-09 [sequeena_rae]: That's what I'm trying to do now xD

2008-05-12 [Saray]: Moderation, balance, both are the keys to a healthy diet. I could live on fruit if it was possible, I love it so much! And bread too, if I could pick. I love bread. And crackers. I don't like sugar anymore. I've kicked off from that now, and I actually had an ice cream this weekend, but I didn't like it that much at all :(

Veggie food is wonderful though, I love quiches and veggie-burgers :)

2008-05-13 [sequeena_rae]: Quiche is bleeegh, smells like armpits to me XDD
I like veggie burgers though (not the stuff with tofu just a literal vegetable burger). I don't think I could give up my meat.

2008-05-13 [Azuri]: Heh I doubt its healthy at all but I've developed a love of Lemon Tarts <3

2008-05-13 [sequeena_rae]: Banoffee pie O_O

2008-05-13 [Azuri]: Wahhh?

2008-05-13 [sequeena_rae]: http://www.nestle.co.uk/OurBrands/Recipes/OldFavourites/UltimateBanoffeePie.htm

2008-05-13 [Azuri]: O.O Want

2008-05-13 [sequeena_rae]: MINE.

2008-05-13 [Azuri]: Awww!

2008-05-13 [Jitter]: Dude... some of us are trying to get back to healthy weight xD

2008-05-13 [Delladreing]: Mine is infinately better :P

2008-05-13 [sequeena_rae]: Fuck healthy weight when there's banoffee pie xD

2008-05-13 [Jitter]: ahahaha

15kg to go *sigh* (It'll still be unhealthy but at least my clothes will fit ;p)

2008-05-13 [Delladreing]: Dudette didn't you like just have a baby :P Fuck it you're allowed to be overweight for a while when you go through that XD

2008-05-13 [Jitter]: xD

Actually only 3 of those 15 are pregnancy weight so I have no excuse :P And I want to lose weight fast enough so I can gain it all back because I want another baby soon :P :P

2008-05-14 [Azuri]: I want a baby in general, I cant seem to get pregnant though and I've been trying for 6 months now >_<

2008-05-14 [Saray]: Check out www.tastespotting.com they have awesome (and a lot of healthy ones too) recipes and stuff :)

I've never had bananoffee pie!

2008-05-14 [sequeena_rae]: You should try it, I swear it's a little piece of heaven :P

2008-05-15 [Jitter]: [Azuri] You just have to have carefree sex. That's the key ^^ (That and knowing your ovulation and all :P) And six months is ok. Most couples need about a year of trying before getting pregnant :D Check babycenter.com and ladytimer.com they might help you :D

2008-05-15 [Delladreing]: My mother took 17 years to get me. And it was only because she stopped trying XD

2008-05-15 [Jitter]: 17..? OMG I would have stopped trying much earlier xD

It took me around 6 months of unprotected sex to get prego :3 But I quit coffee and lost some weight to make my chances better

2008-05-15 [Delladreing]: Welp she wanted us (myself and Adam) it was only after she went a bit loopy and realsied she didn't like children. Heh..

Eh I can't give any advice, most of the time my effort goes in to not having little sprogs :P

2008-05-15 [Jitter]: And I can't say I'm an expert. Just lucky :P

2008-05-15 [Delladreing]: You're a mommy :P ranks you several stages of expert above me XD

2008-05-15 [Saray]: I hope I never get pregnant.. sounds really harsh, but I'm just not the type for kids. Maybe I'll think differently in 10 years, who knows, but now, nope.

It's a beautiful thing though, pregnancy and birth. (only not the giving, my mom told me horrorstories, lol)
Pregnant women often shine and look soooo alive :)

2008-05-15 [smakeupfx]: we'll just have to have you cloned then

2008-05-15 [Jitter]: Haha I didn't even want to hear about getting married or having babies 4-5 years ago :P

Pregnancy is not harsh at all. At least it wasn't for me. It has been one of the best periods of my life: Everyone is taking good care of you, I didn't get morning sickness or gained loads of weight and my feet and hands only swelled a teeny tiny bit. That's me the 6 hours before giving birth-> <URL:stuff/IMGP1387s.JPG>

The birth was easy as heck and mine was supposedly hard too. The midwives went through the whole trouble because the baby was wrapped in the umbilical cord and it took me 3 hours but I didn't understand anything as if I was drugged (which I wasn't since I didn't even have an epidural). I was even sleeping between contractions ;)

2008-05-15 [Lord Dog]: Azuri, something most people don't think of and even the media is just starting to pay attention to, is the male. Trouble with pregnancy sometimes relies on the life style of the male, which affects his sperm count and sperm vitality. Another factor that they have some evidence of is the effect of smoking on gender, my wife and I are actually semi proof of it. We both smoked the first daughter and she quit smoking during the second daughters pregnancy and the third pregnancy when only I smoked we had our boy 

2008-05-15 [Azuri]: Well I don't smoke or do anything bad like that he smokes and is if anything a bit underweight due to his uberly high metabolism that hes always had. I'm trying to loose weight right now and hes promised as soon as he finds out I'm pregnant hes going to just straight quit, hes working on it right now though so its not as hard as cold turkey.

I wouldnt hear about having kids like a year ago! I wanted to wait till I was done with college and all that but my maternal clock just kicked right in and said "OMG BABIES NOOOOOWW" that and he wants kids because his family doesn't exactly have the best track record of long life :(

We both figure if a year goes by and I haven't gotten pregnant its off to see the Obgyn we go even though I want to go now since Its about time for a check up anyway. I'm not too worried since my last one didnt come back with anything bad on it .

2008-05-21 [sequeena_rae]: Thought I'd let you know that this diet (I'm trying not to think of it as one!) is really hard :( I'm changing my diet and my lifestyle, but all I seem to be doing is cutting literally EVERYTHING out.
Pour example; Today I ate bran flakes with semi skimmed milk then at work I had a watercress and egg sandwich (avec lots of water). Since I've come home I can't face eating anything (damn grease and other yucky stuffs at work).

I wish I was naturally thin! *is struck down* :(

And to top it off I can't find my cat. Though I did just see a cat that looked like my cat take a dump on a shed but it wasn't my cat.

2008-05-21 [Delladreing]: I know you're being serious, but that last time just made me snort so hard my own cat shot off the bed and is hiding in the wardrobe.

It takes time to change your eating habbits, if you are doing it safely it can take a rather long time. But with that, comes the long term effects of having done so.

2008-05-21 [sequeena_rae]: it was funny LOLZ.

! >_< I just want to cut down on bread and food from greggs. And maybe the chocolate should be cut down to. URGH.

2008-05-21 [iippo]: My approach is just taking it one step at a time. I've learnt over the past few years to drink a lot of water, so much so that it's become a habit. I just swapped from drinking fizzy to drinking water. Back home we always had fizzy drinks around, so it was more of a social habit: I'll have a fizzy drink, sit around with the family watching TV - that sort of setting. So I just taught myself to replace the pop with water. And now it's natural, in a restaurant or vending machine or other 'drinking out' -situation I'll just have water, or orange juice at best. And I don't even buy drinks to my house anymore.

Currently I'm trying to work out this five-a-day -thing (my norm is none-a-day >.<) and once I get that one to be a habit, I'll see what I can do about chocolate/white bread/whatever. But I couldn't take it all at one go, because I'm slow and prefer gradual changes rather than radical ones. My main problems with fruit and veg are the fact that they go off and lazyness when it comes to cooking. Some of the solutions I use are buying small portions of fruit at a time (so I'll manage to eat them all before they go off) tinned fruit (they won't go off! woot!), and veg that can be eaten raw, like carrots (no cooking involved!)


I don't particularly care about the thinness-fatness factor (I'm tall and don't gain weight easily anyway), but I can tell that a bad diet is affecting my health (I get infections and such), so I wanna fix that.

2008-05-21 [Saray]: I can't even drink fizzy drinks :( Gives me stomach cramps :(
Slow change and making things a habit is good, you need patience and willpower to make it all work. But it will all pay off in the end!
I had to cut a lot of things from my diet simply because I can't eat them; they give me stomach pains :( I've had that problem for over a year, and I think I either have sensitive stomach/something or food allergies, because certain types of food just make me sick right away, like paprika. Not just the veggie, also the powder. Hence I can't eat chips with that taste, or anything that has paprika powder. I can't eat a lot of pasta or plain dough, gives me paiiiins, ugh. I can't eat spicey food, pesto, curry. I can't drink milk, alcohol will make me sick for a week and I think that's about it.
It sucks because I loveeee pasta, and spicey food.

I also drink a lot of water, or fruitjuice. Or tea :) nothing else.
I'm also looking into vegetarian food because I'm just done with meat. I rarely eat it, I prefer fish.

2008-05-22 [Azuri]: I've given up most soda, I drink mostly water these days and I try to not eat too much and to eat mostly healthy things, I'm one of the few who would rather have a orange than chocolate

2008-05-22 [sequeena_rae]: I've started drinking water and juice at work, but if I'm working a late shift the canteen is closed and the only things the vending machines have is fizzy drinks - which I'm a sucker for. I'm too lazy to bring my own stuff XD Though I know I should because it will save me money too.

Food wise I'm using the 'trick your mind' thing where you put the food on a smaller plate so that it looks like there's more there. It seems to have worked, I now don't eat as much before I get that bloated feeling.

I never understood the five a day thing either. They say a portion is the size of your fist...Heh o.O The only time I really get veg is on a Sunday, and if I pick up a random grapple bag at work XD

2008-05-22 [Delladreing]: Smoothies are a wonderful thing as part of your five a day. I live off them. Although the fruit sugar acid will start destorying my teeth soon no doubt. But apparently eating some cheese right after a lot of fruit nulls the acid effect. Oh its all so much to remember :P

2008-05-22 [sequeena_rae]: ...I will give it a go...
Or just eat a lot of cheese >.>

I heard you're supposed to eat a bit of cheese after every meal...can't remember why, and you have to wait 15 mins after a meal before brushing your teeth xD

2008-05-22 [Azuri]: Ick, I don't like cheese. I ate too much of it growing up so I only like a few things with it and never by itself. When at work I eat little tv dinner things which I know aren't the greatest for me but there isn't a ton of food in them and I always buy a orange so I have a serving of fruits in there since it comes with vegs.

2008-05-22 [sequeena_rae]: At work I always have a sandwich tray which includes; Salad (tomatoes, cucumber, green leaves (not lettuce), 1 round of whatever sandwich and a small packet of ready salted crisps. It's awesome and keeps me satisfied ^^ Before I started having that I would eat crisps and cake :[

and you blasphemer for not liking cheese!! :O

2008-05-22 [Azuri]: XD Hey I used to eat it all the time as a kid and I don't hate all cheese :P

Being a employee in a bakery is bad for your diet, whenever we get new things in we sample them and if there are left overs we are aloud to eat them >> I try not to but they are so good >_<

2008-05-22 [sequeena_rae]: I eat it all the time now! :O

Lmao same with me :3 except we're not supposed to eat but err >.>

2008-05-22 [Azuri]: Shhh neither are we really >> but our dept manager lets us. Once the wall that hides the back half of the bakery comes down we wont be aloud to do it anymore

2008-05-22 [sequeena_rae]: Aww :(

2008-05-22 [Azuri]: I wont be working at that one when that happens anyway. I'll have moved. I hope when I move I can get into being more active outside since there are a ton of things to be done in Florida

2008-05-22 [sequeena_rae]: Ah well that's fair enough really :P

2008-05-22 [Azuri]: This all just completely reminded me to call and check in on my transfer whooo for usefulness XD

2008-05-22 [Jitter]: <-is about 3 kilos away from fitting into her pre-pregnancy clothes ^^

2008-05-22 [Azuri]: Yay for you !

2008-05-23 [sequeena_rae]: Go Jitter! :D

2008-05-24 [Ssapzyne Del'Armgo]: Hey guys, I need some advice. My best friend since 1st grade has recently become really self-concious about her weight. However, she's one of the healthiest people I know. She lifts weights 3-4 days a week and on the oterh 3-4 days she runs for about 2 miles (she plays soccer and lacrosse so she does those in the off-season to stay in shape). She is of a shorter and stockier stature (She's 5'2 135 lbs). Now she's been dating this guy for a year (he's a nice guy surprisingly) but honestly he looks like he's been recently released from Auchwhits. He's about 6'2 and he's naturally rail-thin. Now, my friend has stopped eating lunch and, obsesses over calories, and thinks of herself as fat. Her boyfriend, my friends, and I have tried to convince her she's not, but she just gets pissed off at us. I'm just afraid she's going to turn bulimic or anorexic and it'll be too late then. Any suggestions as to what I should do?

2008-05-24 [Cyrano meets Merso]: If she practices that hard, she will soon fell that she needs to eat more...you could give her hugs...but sometimes hard love is needed too...and if that doesn't work,make her listen to rap::D
Sir Mixalot moslty::)










about the changing...slow is the best...I was and idiot and from a hardcore carnivour became a vegy,for 1 year and 11 months...and then back again...my stomach rumbled like a hotrod!I felt the reprecussions for at least 2 years after that...idiot...but quiting fizzy drinks and (lovering) chocolate shouldn't hurt so much...its just sucks::D

2008-05-24 [windowframe]: Her problem may be that she's looked at her BMI - for her height her weight is right at the top end of the "healthy weight range", bordering on "overweight". However, the big problem with those calculators is that they don't take account of whether the weight is muscle or fat. If she does as much exercise as you say, then she's probably got far more muscle than fat (and muscle weighs more than fat). So BMI would be really unreliable for her.

2008-05-25 [Ssapzyne Del'Armgo]: I agree with the BMI thing. I think a lot of this started because her doctor told her she was overweight and her mom started getting on her back about it. The only way I can insure she eats is when we hang out, especially at restaurants, I order a dessert she really likes and pick at it. She hates to see food go to waste and 9 times out of ten eats it. Or, I try to stuff myself in front of her so when she eats normal portions it looks like she's eaten a lot less than she is. I've got the metabolism of a shrew so I can take that. I compliment her on her clothes a lot telling her she looks nice, they're honest compliments, but could this be backfiring and making her eat less?

2008-05-25 [Cyrano meets Merso]: You can generalize on this answers,it's really a question of a persons mental chart,how she reacts to the stuff you do for her...You could try the harsher way but it depends how well you know her...
and I still think that you should try rap::D

2008-05-25 [Delladreing]: Not wishing to be negative here, usually when a doctor tells you you are overweight you are. Even if only slightly. They do tend to take in to account muscle weight when using a bmi. At 5"2 her weight although still healthy is still slightly unhealthy in terms of BMI, but without knowing her or having acccess to scales I would have to say I don't know how much of that is muscle or actual fat.

Even if she was slightly overweight , her mother shouldn't have gotten on her case. That kind of thing can really get in to a person's psyche and fuck them up. As can over emphasising that they are "fine" because then they can start to believe that people are in fact just saying that.

It's a delicate thing to try and handle. I personally wouldn't recommend rap, but that is because I think it's the worst thing to happen to music since ever :P But I would recomend making food a comfortable situation. In that you should not pressure her in to eating, as it is another form of negative enforcement.

2008-05-25 [windowframe]: If your friend is determined to loose some weight then it might be better to help rather than hinder - find out what weight she wants to get down to first, so you know it's not a dangerously low weight, then help her to diet properly, rather than trying to do it the anorexic way. Ordering desserts might not be teh best way to help her - by feeding her things she knows she shouldn't be eating if she wants to loose weight you could be causing her to feel guilty (which could in turn either make her try and throw it up, or cause her to eat even less at other meals to make up for it). Make sure she eats good amounts of healthy food.

2008-05-26 [sequeena_rae]: Not to throw a dampener or thiss...but I lost more weight :D

2008-05-26 [Delladreing]: Yay for you :)

2008-05-27 [Azuri]: My friend Dustin who went from over 300 lbs to 260lbs pure muscle said that in order to really do what you want you need to cheat on your diet, pick one day and allow yourself something that you want and then the next day go back to it but only do it once a week as sort of a reward for doing well.

2008-05-29 [Saray]: You should NEVER award yourself with bad food for "doing good" in a diet. In fact, just don't diet :P
If you start to think "oh, I can have this pie because I've lost this many pounds" it's a lost battle. Eating is about balance. Of course you can have a cookie or a piece of pie once in a while, so what your friend says about once a week is smart.

I want to bitch about the fact that my family is on some kind of stupid "Sonja Bakker" diet, which makes them cook HORRIBLE, uninspired recipes and kind of makes them hunger themselves, which I've tried to explain them. I've lost about 9 pounds WITHOUT any kind of diet, just by finding the balance in what I need and what I want, because that's what it's all about: what you want isn't always what you need to eat. Listening to your body and making rational choices will absolutely help you.

2008-05-29 [sequeena_rae]: My body tells me drink sex on the beach. I assume this is a bad thing.

2008-05-29 [Cyrano meets Merso]: ok ok
number one!stop dissing rap!please,stop dissing rap!
number two Saray is right,the ''rewards'' thing sucks...but you can eat a little of chocolate every day,as long as its little,but with most it leads to not so little...
in the end,you should open your friends eyes,and yours if they aren't and see that there are millions of problems in the world,and that how your body looks isn't all that important,since we are all going to and up green,puffed up and stinky...or cremated::)

2008-05-29 [sequeena_rae]: Nobody is dissing rap :P

2008-05-29 [Cyrano meets Merso]: And I quote:I personally wouldn't recommend rap, but that is because I think it's the worst thing to happen to music since ever :P
::)



I never tasted sex on the beach so I cant judge...I drink real alcohol::)

2008-05-29 [sequeena_rae]: ...Right.

It's not dissing, it's called having an opinion.

2008-05-29 [sequeena_rae]: Oh, and I suppose you drink 'manly' stuff like whiskey and scotch. Pfft, been there done that.

2008-05-29 [Azuri]: Personally if you want to loose weight and keep it off a diet is not for you its more of a lifestyle change and if you keep on it all the time your eventually going to get frustrated and binge. I never said it had to be something horrible or bad for you. But alas Diet is really the only word that covers such things and since I've seen it actually work considering Dustin has been on his "Diet" doing that for the last two years now I think its safe to say its doable. As always exercise is recommended of course in there with it, your not really getting anywhere without it, especially if you want to loose a good bit of weight.

As for diets in general, I think they are bullshit as most people end up gaining back the weight they lost in the first place after they get off their diet and then get really frustrated because they cant keep it off. So yea wanna loose weight, screw diets.

2008-05-29 [Cyrano meets Merso]: yeah...the only ''diet'' thing that I did was to abandon dinner...

2008-05-29 [sequeena_rae]: You're not really supposed to eat after a certain time anyway. Your metabolism is lower :p

2008-05-29 [Lord Dog]: Diets are overrated, usually taking advantage of a body's normal function to an extreme. Figure even the two most well known diet plans WW and JC are even starting to pimp out the Exercise and Moderate Portions mantras, rather than saying skip two meals by drinking this crap and eat one full meal. I have noticed with myself that since I have decreased my recreational activities due to work demands I am starting to put on the pounds 

2008-05-29 [Delladreing]: I'll dis rap all I want, because in my opinion it is shite. You are entitled to your opinion that it is actually music and not just noise. < /old lady moment.>

And "diets" only work if it is a continual healthy thing. And by that I mean a complete switch around from unhealthy to healthy, which does not mean not eating the things you like. It just means not over eating in them. I have my five portions of fruit and veg a day, I try to eat 3 meals a day and snak on natural sugary things throughout to stop me craving a quick fix via chocolate. But if I want chocolate, I will still have some. I just don't binge on it till I throw up (anymore)

But I also don't deny myself food either. If I am hungry (like now) I will eat (yay noodles and stuff)

There is no point to denying yourself things, because then you will want it even more. It's easier to just eat all the things you normally would (provided that does not entail lard and or pure junk food) but to stop eating when you are full.

One of the things noted about American culture (and now here too in Scotland) is that the larger the portions of food, the more people feel they have to eat. I know for a fact that when I am in America, the portions of food make me ill. I can only eat so much before I am full, and when I eat out there I usually have more than half my meal left by the time I reach my "Oh god full, can eat no more" stage. And it makes me feel bad because there is still all this food in front of me. And the problem with that is, people are eating everything because they can. There is no shortage of food in richer countries, so they are super-sizing this and super-sizing that, and they forget what actual hunger is. I'll wager half the American population wouldn't know a hunger pang if it jumped up and punched them in the stomach. And the same is true here. I don't know the figures for the entire UK, but I know for a fact that Scotland is the leading capital of heart disease in Europe due to our eating habits. Which when you consider our tiny population in comparison to everywhere else, is terrifying. There are only a handful of people left up here, who are a healthy weight. The rest are either slightly overweight or clinically obese.

It is tricky though, finding a balance. People who actually need to loose weight and have a problem with over eating, need to relearn what hunger is. They need to relearn how much to eat and when to stop, because all the over eating is destroying them. Equally people that think denying food are depriving their bodies of the things they need. Your body needs natural sugars and natural fats to keep on going (which btw, fruit and nuts are very good for).

But we are no longer restricted to these things, and our sweet tooth now crave quick fixes found in sugary pop drinks and candy. So we are filling in the cravings, but still denying our bodies the things we need. There was a thing on TV not so long ago, about a woman who was clinically obese, but was technically malnourished because although she was eating three times what she needed, she was eating just junk. She was eating sugar for quick fixes, but her body was still desperate for proper fats and sugars.

And of course there is also the big factor, that not enough people get up off their asses and do things. Healthy eating only works, if you don't just sit on your todd. I know a lot of people who say "I don't have time to go to the gym" to which my reply is "you don't need a gym" I don't go to a gym (apart from when my yoga class is held in the university gym) I walk places. I take the stairs rather than the moving stairs or elevator. It's simple things that make differences. You don't need to run a marathon, you just need to move.


Oh and for the record I also hate hip hop and R&B. Damn whipper snappers wouldn't know real music if it ran past them naked with their underpants on their heads ;)

2008-05-29 [Cyrano meets Merso]: Oh and for the record I also hate hip hop and R&B. Damn whipper snappers wouldn't know real music if it ran past them naked with their underpants on their heads ;)
I suggest you try Gurus Jazzmataz










Just eat cooked meat(boiled not grilled) and lots of veggies...and it will be ok,say no to fast food and fizzy drinks and presto!not much science there...

2008-05-29 [Cyrano meets Merso]: If you want to try offcourse...

2008-05-29 [Delladreing]: I have done. I can assure my taste in music is well educated. And to me Gurus Jazzmataz sounds like noise.

No you don't "just" have to eat anything. The point is you can eat what you want with moderation.

2008-05-29 [Fireblade K'Chona]: And this is why Buddhism is awesome! One of the main tenets of Buddhism is, "Moderation in all things." The middle path, wooo!

...

Er, yes, that's my 2 cents. -cough- I'm in a weird mood, don't mind me.

2008-05-30 [Azuri]: I agree, I don't follow any strict plan, I just eat lunch and dinner and try to eat breakfast when I can because its actually really bad for your body to miss any of those meals because it will then go into a mode where its actually harder to loose weight because your bodys trying to conserve it and make your body fat last as long as it can. My husband also is trying to help me by keeping the meals fairly healthy, every once in awhile we will do something that might be less healthy than other meals but like Dela said, if you just keep yourself from it youll want it more and end up binging which is even worse for you.

In the last few months since I have tried to do this and started drinking more water and drinking less fizzy drinks I've dropped 20 or so lbs. Could be more now, I tend to shy away from scales but I know I need to get one because I am in need to loose at least 60 or so more lbs before I am of a healthy weight.

On the subject of Americas portions they really are fucking huge and I try my best not to eat that much O.O I will eat till I'm happy and full not till I'm stuffed If I happen to get hungry later maybe a snack or something I really wish fruit and things like that weren't so expensive so I could have them instead of some junk but unfortunately anything sorta decent for you here is expensive as all hell.

For exercise I know its not much but theres this big hall(its the length of the entire store and I work at a Walmart Superstore) that we have at work that I go up and down at least 4 or 5 times a day I tried to power walk or run it both ways each time since I don't have a lot of time before or after work to do anything else so I try to do things while I'm at work, I'm really sure it helps that I move around a ton during work even if my body will eventually get used to it.

2008-05-30 [sequeena_rae]: Everyone says how big American portions are, I just can't imagine them being that big...you must have giant plates or something...

And there is only one good thing about smoking (Yeah I know Dela, don't give me that look!) you're not as hungry :P *waits for it*

2008-05-30 [Azuri]: Yeaaa didn't I show you once what they look like? If not here,http://fatzcafe.com/menu_dinein.php?a=burgers_sandwiches. Also you know my husband says the same damn thing, horrible part is he needs to eat more to gain some weight -_-'

2008-05-30 [sequeena_rae]: Oh my god my arteries hurt from looking at those pictures :x

edit: Fatz cafe...XD

2008-05-30 [sequeena_rae]: Also, my foot was itchy so I scratched it and now there are bumps on my foot. WTF!

2008-05-30 [Azuri]: XD yea i know i know XD We have one in town, people say their food isn't very good.

2008-05-30 [sequeena_rae]: It sounds nice :P

This is where I went last night http://www.harvester.co.uk/

2008-05-30 [Azuri]: Ooo that looks nice, I'm particularly fond of Logans steakhouse.

Does it mean I have a problem when one of the first places I looked was the drinks section >> XD

Edit: meant roadhouse http://www.logansroadhouse.com/Default.aspx

2008-05-30 [sequeena_rae]: I must have a problem too then xD

http://www.logansroadhouse.com/images/plate_of_food.png size on that!

2008-05-30 [Azuri]: XD yay I'm not alone!

Yea I know, i can't ever eat it all. Usually goes home with me, which is great when I'm hungry again later that night XD

2008-05-30 [sequeena_rae]: lmao!

There's something about eating out that bloats you to fuck :[

2008-05-30 [Delladreing]: You're not as hungry because you're killing your ability to smell and taste :P or something like that. Oh, and breathing in poison.

And so you see, the massive sizes of STUFF :P
It truly is huge in some restraunts.

2008-05-30 [Cyrano meets Merso]: On the subject of Americas portions they really are fucking huge
On that account,I compared it with ours(Serb-Bosnian) food,they are not that big...only the coke portions are a little bit bigger but the other...especially McDonalds stuff...
Jazzmataz sucks?common...ok ok,free country and stuff...but...aaaaaah never mind...

2008-05-30 [Azuri]: I don't like McDonalds too much, I guess that comes from working there twice but yea >>

Then again Id prefer home cooked meals anyday since my husband is a wonderful cook and all.

2008-05-30 [Cyrano meets Merso]: Home cooking rules!I usually avoid fast food,but since I'm a student I do eat there sometimes,but we don't have McDonalds here,and I'm glad we don't,so it's more traditional not so fast food like pies,and the usual pizza and similar stuff

2008-05-30 [windowframe]: I had a McDonald's a few weeks ago for the first time in years, and it was foul. :S the chips were just chewy and tasteless and... icky. It still smells really nice to me, though, which is even more annoying, it makes me hungry, but I know it tastes shit. ._.

2008-05-30 [Fireblade K'Chona]: Dela's right. I live in America, the portions are fucking huge. I know someone who, when she goes to restaurant, orders an appetizer for her meal and cuts it in half before she eats it. It serves her well.

I personally prefer buffet-style restaurants, because then *I* control the portions. Either that or I order something like a baked potato which they can only make so big.

Alternatively you can order a pizza with a group and eat one or two slices.

We learn to deal with it. But holy crap, sometimes I go to restaurants and get served and go O.o "holy shit mister, box up 3/4 of this and send it to Africa, this could feed Uganda for a week!"

...okay, so it's not *quite* that bad. :P

It'd only feed Uganda for about two days.

2008-05-31 [iippo]: Hmm, yous kinda remind me of this book I'm reading at the moment, called In Praise of Slow by Carl Honore. It's basically saying "hang on, stuff should take the time it needs, otherwsie it'll suck and we'll all be much worse off for it." And it has a chapter on fast food vs. slow food, benefits of home-cooked meals and eating without the hurry and so forth...

I haven't finished it yet, but since I am slow by nature, I'm quite liking it. Agreeing with the philosophy and such-much.
http://www.carlhonore.com/?page_id=6

2008-06-12 [Trist]: i have something to contribute to this, i think.

2008-07-21 [BarleySinger]: As for portion sizes and McDonalds and all that, in the US when you go out to eat any place (except for the snobbery places) portions are much larger than one needs (huge).

At McDonalds in the USA it is far worse than at normal places. Todays small fries and small drink, are the large size they had in the early 1970s. The shakes contain no dairy (or anything natural) at all. The beef has hormones in it that are illegal everywhere else in the world. The sweetener used is usually modified corn syrup, which is in a lot of junk food and has been shown to be both physically addictive and to cause insulin resistance (the back door to diabetes).

They (and other fact food outlets in the western world) use fungicides (and other stuff) in their buns that have been shown to cause aggression and violent behaviour in children. Then their is the favourite diet sweetener. Aspertaime is bad news. The more you have, the thirstier you get (so it is a perfect teaser for diet soda buyers). It also turns (as you digest it) into wood grain alcohol in the body. Apertaime receives more complaints at the FDA than any other product. There is a natural diet sweetener that comes from a plant. Stevia. It was outright banned (due to lobbying from the artificial sweetener makers) for quite a while (mostly the neutrasweet company got that done). It is still illegal in the USA to claim that it is a sweetener, but here in OZ we buy it labelled as one.

2008-07-21 [Azuri]: Yeeeaaa, its crazy whats in fast food, which is why I don't eat it (save for subway and its not really fast food persay)since I started just eating home cooked food I've lost 15lbs, this of course is coupled with walking about a mile when I can, usually every other dayish.

2008-07-21 [Delladreing]: On the rare occasions when I do eat junk food like that I find that my weight goes up almost instnantly. And feel very very ill after. I'm beginning to think it's my body's way of going "NO, YOU KNOW WE ONLY LIKE ORGANIC/AS FEW ADDITIVES AS POSSIBLE!"

And for the record. Home made popcorn with garlic salt is delicious :3

2008-07-21 [Azuri]: Heh your body is spoiled in a good way then XD

That is so true. Garlic Salt=<3

2008-07-22 [Fireblade K'Chona]: I like lemon pepper, myself.

2008-07-22 [Saray]: Anyone want to trade intestines? ;___;

2008-07-22 [smakeupfx]: is that some sort of innuendo? ;-P

2008-07-22 [Saray]: LOL, hahah!
No, it's a serious request. Mine are being very bad boys.

2008-07-22 [Azuri]: Mmm lemon pepper, we have a bottle of it in the cabinet and I always use it on my fishies <3

2008-07-23 [smakeupfx]: evil bad intestines.... they need a good talk'n too.  they took all of mine out when I was in the hospital for months a few years back... they must have put them back wrong because ever since i've had a glass tummy. I still like HOT food and spices but give me just a bit of meat (acidntaly getting a bit of lard for cooking or meat base sauce... i'm sick as a dog. 

2008-07-23 [Azuri]: Suckage

2008-07-23 [Cyrano meets Merso]: My stomach isn't the same since I quite being a vegy... But I guess that it wasn't a good idea for a first non vegy meal to take the fattest piece of meat that spend the night in the fridge...O.o
My stomach sounded like a hotrod for the next 2 years...

2008-07-23 [Lord Dog]: Any meat Smakeupfx? Or just Red Meat? Both my sister and wife can eat chicken and fish and even Pork as long as it is not greasy without distress but give them any red meat and they are bad shape

2008-07-23 [Cyrano meets Merso]: I can't eat hamburgers...else goes...strange...

2008-07-23 [Lord Dog]: get that way ...I think... with McD's and Booger King not so much Wendy's or Arby's (my personal fave) but not at all at home on the grill...

2008-07-23 [smakeupfx]: pretty much anything.... i haven't eaten meat for 20 years .. seems my body forgot how ;-)

2008-07-23 [Fireblade K'Chona]: my mom's a vegetarian. I know that I could eat vegetarian the rest of my life...but I like meat, damn it!

2008-07-23 [Cyrano meets Merso]: I dont have the money to be a vegy...but it would be hard to start again...

2008-07-23 [Lord Dog]: Yeah Even with eating healthy omnivore style it is expensive it's cheaper to buy battered mystery fish then fresh salmon

2008-07-23 [Cyrano meets Merso]: Yeah! And the meat is comparing to vegys really cheap and it fills you up easyer...

2008-07-23 [Fireblade K'Chona]: Speaking of food... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBjLW5_dGAM

It rocks. Just watch it.

2008-07-25 [Asrun]: I'm taking a really interesting course right now called Sociology of the Body. It deals will all of these issues.

Anyone interested should read the writings of Susan Bordo.

2008-07-25 [Cyrano meets Merso]: My opinion is that we should eat as our elders did ( but for the most country the organics are too few) , but in a smaller dose, since they used a lot more calories than we did while working in the fields, farms and the woods...

2008-07-25 [Fireblade K'Chona]: I agree, Cyrano. We do happen to have evolved to eat what they did, so, y'know, it's better for us.

Though milk should be pasteurized, I still believe. Food poisoning really, really sucks.

2008-07-25 [Cyrano meets Merso]: Well yogurt is better than milk, especially for the elderly, but milk isn't bad too...and the cheese, only kind that our metabolism can use is the the one with the fungy::)The stinky one::) Since the fungy desolve the lactosys( I think )...
And now I agree with you, it sucks BIG time::)

Sorry about the spelling...

2008-07-28 [BarleySinger]: Food Poisoning does suck. However in a world when people raised their own animals, their milk was very fresh every day. You didn't get milk from a filthy farm animal (one of thousands of them), which is well over a week old before it gets to the store. You cannot keep a huge number of animals in the kind of state that is necessary for non-pasteurized milk to be safe. The work would be impossible. Mass production makes pasteurized milk necessary because of the condition of the animals and the length of time the milk stays on the shelf. On the other hand, pasteurized milk contains almost none of the important enzymes in milk that make it a good food. The heat destroys them and without them, the milk does not digest as well (especially in those of us who are *NOT BABY COWS*) or yield the same health benefits.

also...a huge number of people have reactions to milk that they are unaware are related to milk. The most common one in kids is ongoing ear infections.

2008-07-28 [BarleySinger]: As for it being less expensive to eat mystery food. Yes it is. BUT - did any of you see the Jamie Oliver show on eating yourself to death? It included a lot of information on the way that pre-packaged food has changed over the years, with sugar and salt several times what they were back in the 1950s. In pre-packaged meals the sugar and salt content (and the amount of fillers) goes up to make up for the low quality of the meat being used. The lower the cost of the meat, the less good for you it is. The more fat it has, and the more chemical garbage has been added, the more sugar and salt are added- all so that the farmer can run 1000 birds in a space that should contain well less than half that number. Mr Oliver did a second show called "Foul Meals" that showed people what has been happening to the poultry industry. The consumers (us) are so obsessed with eating more than we need to (partially due to the low nutritional content of our food), and with buying toys we do not need...most of us are stingy on our food budget; meaning that people buy 2 birds for 4 pounds (with the farmer making 3 pence on each bird they sell). The farmers want to do it differently, but as long as people will buy garbage birds that only take 30 days to raise from the egg to the table at 1000 birds to 4 square meters (the US super bird) instead of properly raised animals that take 2 to 4 times as long, raised where they can move around...then the farmers have little choice if they want to stay in business.

WE the consumers need to invest our money in decent food, instead of in stuff we do not need. We need to food to stay live.

At the end of one of his show on eating yourself to death, they showed an autopsy of a man who died of a life time of eating bad food. His liver (and that of one of the participating audience members) was like that of a goose raised for pate, which is done by force feeding the animal (so full of fat that you could spread it with a knife).

What we eat reflects in our health very directly and we are living in a time in which most people do not know how to cook. Houses are being built without proper kitchens because most people don't use them (they eat "take out"/"takeaway" or "ready made frozen meals"). The thing is, eating that way kills people. We have a huge obesity problem because of that.

I have eaten both a "fast food" diet and an "all organic" diet. When I switched to all organic, other than the food tasting like real food, the fat melted off of me, and I stopped being severely hypoglycemic. My problems were in large part from my food, and the pollution where I grew up.

These days I have a very tight budget (2 people on disability pensions and a kid). We still manage to eat all organic. We don't really have a choice in eating any other way now...but I would not want to go back. The fact is that it CAN be done. It is all a matter of where you put your priorities. Most people put their priorities on having a nice care, better clothes than we need, a cool cell phone, an X box, and TeeVo...not on eating healthy food. 

We (all of us) make a lot of choices every day that reflect directly back on our bodies and our planet. Healthy people who treat food as a fuel, and who try hard to eat what is healthy, not just what is easy, look good. Health tends to be attractive.

One example from the show on eating yourself to death, was a female dancer. They did a food diary with her and found that she was in the habit of having "one latte a day" more in calories (each and every day despite the regular dancing) than the amount that her body burned. They showed her via CGI what she would look like if she continued to drink the "one latte a day" more than her body burned. Over just 18 months time she was going to put on a HUGE amount of weight. People just don't tend to think of the ingredients (the whole cream) in something like a latte. It was only going to take a short period of time before this woman, who was only at the upper end of the healthy range, was going to be far into obesity and at risk of serious complications like high blood pressure, liver disease and diabetes.

It does not matter if the problem is one of eating junk food, or eating too little, or eating too much - it is all bad for us and will haunt us. It really does not take that long of refusing to eat (because you are certain that you are fat) to permanently injure your heart. It doesn't take that long to go the other way on junk food and get diabetes either. Most pre-made food it very high is salt, sugar, bizarre additives, and is often sweetened with modified corn syrup (high fructose corn syrup) which is known to be physically addictive and to CAUSE insulin resistance (the rapid back door to diabetes).

Yet people keep eating in all these ways...starving themselves...junk food...premade meals...and it is the largest factor in all of our largest causes of death in the developed world.

One last thing in this huge comment. What the hell is going on with doctors. I know most people don't go in as often as they should (it is annoying) but when they do, a doctor can see a patient who is _W_A_Y_ underweight and starving to the point of injuring their heart, or obese to the point of high blood pressure and diabetes risk, and most of the time they don't say a word about the persons diet/eating habits. They won't look into the causes. They won't see if the person is aware of their health risks. What the hell is with this? I was really overweight for years because of underlying health issues (that the docs knew nothing about) and they never said a word to me. Not even about my high blood pressure (which I needed medication for).

Are we so hyper conscious of comments about weight and eating that doctors won't even tell their patients when their lives are at risk?

I know it sucks to be judged based on weight. I had it from age 10 to 12, and then from age 24 on up. As a person who was overweight for most of my life (I could still stand to lose 25 lbs), I know what it is to be persecuted because you are fat. When I when buff from lifting weights I got fawned on, when I was fat I got treated like crap. When my wife was underweight and dying from being unable to keep food down she got COMPLIMENTED on her figure and looks! People are weird about this stuff, but it is the doctors job to talk about it.

2008-08-11 [Saray]: I can only so much agree with the above story.
It's insane what's put in products; people don't think what their enigmaticly shaped cakes and fried chicken might contain; they just bite down.
It gives me the creeps, that hidden containt and that story about the latte, *brrrr* but it's true, if you look at how many calories you burn with an hour of running, it isn't that much. One freaking Magnum icecream requires 4 hours of running!

Same goes for the image people have that thin people are more beautiful. Of course, there's personal taste to consider, but the majority of men and women BELIEVE this to be the utter truth.

Thinking about eating junkfood makes my stomach tie into a knot, I've stopped eating that crap years ago.
Right now I only eat natural foods that I'VE processed, and hasn't been added with weird additives.
I grow my own herbs and tomatoes and cut my own potatoes. I make my own sauces out of fresh ingredients, so I know exactly what goes into my body.

I swear to god it has made such a difference on the level of health; and it tastes twentybillion times better!!

I vote for stopping the production of mystery foods!

2008-11-20 [Silver Moon]: I second that ^-^

2009-01-28 [Jitter]:

2009-02-16 [Jitter]: http://boneskine.deviantart.com/gallery/ Scary

2009-02-16 [Janouk]: The artist says she doesn't suffer from anorexia but that doesn't make it any less shocking to me. It makes me sad in some kind of way...

2009-02-16 [Lord Dog]: That comment reminds me of a line I heard once "Do you suffer from dizzy spells?" "No" "Me neither, I find them relaxing"
Obviously she doesn't suffer from Anorexia but enjoys it

2009-02-16 [Saray]: Oh my god! "Thank you for you worries, she eats regulary and is fine"??!?! You can't possibly tell me that someone who looks like this eats AT ALL. The girls on the pictures look diseased and DEAD. They have tired faces and oh my god.... I'd be affraid to break them if I'd even shake their hands... I'm not going to post on that person's gallery, the less attention that gets, the better. Ugh.

To make it all better, here's me shaking my bootay on stage :P
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5ZmEICcmWo&feature=channel_page
This is a giant victory for me, I'll NEVER in my life be affraid to walk around in a bikini!

2009-02-16 [Lord Dog]: Very Good [Saray], Lovely Dance

2009-02-16 [Jitter]: That gallery makes me sad
-

Shake shake shake that thing Saray!
By the way you have such a nice figure! I wish I looked like that! I should start working on it again but I just eat eat and eat candy which makes me HUUUUGE >.<
I can't dance to save my life :C

2009-02-16 [Azuri]: Wow [Saray] That is sooo cool! I've always wanted to learn to do that :D Also you look amazing up there and you should go buy a bikini cause youd totally rock it :D

2009-02-16 [Saray]: Thank you!! :)
And my figure... I lost like 12 kilo's over the last year because I have Irratable Bowel Syndrome which causes me not to be able to eat a lot of things, which drives me crazy at times, but it balanced out my diet very nicely; I have to eat certain amounts of veggies, grains and fruities otherwise I get sick. It's no fun when I do get sick, so I have double feelings toward it.

And if you don't like working out, start by walking a lot. Walking at a nice pace will burn more fat than high intensity work outs (it's weird ain't it?) and is enjoyable :)

2009-02-16 [Saray]: And I got myself this bikini:
>:D

2009-02-16 [Fireblade K'Chona]: The dance was awesome, Saray! :D Wear that bikini with pride. Dance in it if you are so inclined.

2009-02-16 [Jitter]: I want that bikini!

2009-02-17 [Lord Dog]: That is a pretty sweet bikini. Wonder if I could get Mrs. Dwarf to wear it.

2009-02-17 [Azuri]: That is a AWESOME bikini :D

2009-02-17 [Saray]: Haha, thank you! And it fits, that's really nice :D

2009-02-27 [smakeupfx]: what happened to your arms and head!

2009-02-28 [Saray]: lol :P
I is a zombie!

2009-03-02 [smakeupfx]: and no way to eat yummy brains!  you poor zombie you :(

2009-03-03 [Saray]: That's a pretty sad zombie :P

2009-03-03 [smakeupfx]: That sounds like a children's book title,  "The pretty sad Zombie" XD

2009-03-03 [Saray]: ahhhw, that could actually be adorable :P

2009-03-03 [smakeupfx]: Project! (and of course we'll use it to promote a healthy body image (have to try and get back on topic here)

2009-03-03 [Linderel]: But would that be 'The Pretty, Sad Zombie' or 'The Pretty Sad Zombie'? :P

2009-03-03 [smakeupfx]: well, it's [Saray], so pretty for sure ... and maybe more melancholy instead of sad, Melancholy in a cute way ;-)

2009-03-04 [Saray]: Ahw, heehee :) *blush*
But zombies are kind of... ickish most of the time :P

2009-03-05 [smakeupfx]: OH that's just what the mass media wants you to think... i've been thinking of starting a wiki for Healthy Zombie Image!  they're just misunderstood XD

2009-03-05 [Lord Dog]: The zombie weight loss plan would be a big seller "watch the pounds just melt away"

2009-03-05 [smakeupfx]: With my luck i'd only like brains with extra cheese ... and deep fried ;-)

2009-03-25 [Rondel]: Given that this wiki is a) on an art-oriented site, and b) about body image, I've been meaning to ask here -- has anybody either dealt with their body image issues by doing self-portraits (life drawing type, possibly even nude studies), or had doing such artwork raise those body image issues, such that one then feels a need to deal with them? I've had both coming about for me, at various points, and I wondered if anyone else has encountered this issue, and might be willing to share some views or feelings on it.

None of which is meant to detract from the thread on children's books about the self-image issues of melancholy zombies, though... ...I enjoyed it far too much to want to quash it, even though I know that bringing up this sort of thing has a tendency to completely kill all conversation in the wiki. Still, it's something I'm interested enough in to be willing to take that chance, at least at a time when the conversation here is already slow. LOL

2009-03-27 [Lahali]: [Saray] that bikini is fantastic!

2009-04-23 [Saray]: @ Rondel: I used to have that. When I was younger and dreamt of being something I was not and now never want to be. I'd draw self-portraits of a girl that was thin, very narrow waists and thin arms and legs.

If I were to draw a portrait of myself now, I know I can be honest with myself and the viewer, and I'll be proud to do so. I definately think that perhaps showing someone with issues the beauty of the body (whatever shape it be) through art could help, I found the Ruben's women (Peter Paul Rubens is famous for the fullfigured lovely portraits of various women) very beautiful :)

I wanted to share this article with you all, and I hope you'll all read it and know that you are all beautiful!

http://www.blacksheepbellydance.com/writings/files/doyourselfafavor.html

2009-04-23 [Lord Dog]: y'know, I know most people think about this in terms of females but, my brother and I both had to deal with a form of body image growing up. He was the uber athlete in High school and was always doing stuff to drop or stay in a certain weight class ..chewing , starving and all. And I swam alot and felt I had to maintain a certain build, so I lifted weights and started smoking rather than eating to look that way. We did the exercise thing but still couldn't get the build we were supposed to have. It affected my brother worse than me. I was happy with my dwarven build

2009-08-22 [Rondel]: Thank you [Saray]! That's a wonderful article -- and reminds me so much of what I love about belly dancing. Even if it was one of the places that made me *DIS*like my body back when I was unwillingly underweight. LOL It's really hard to belly dance when you don't have a belly... *chuckle* ...or much in the way of hips, either, for that matter. But, now, I'm really looking forward to getting back into it. And in the years in between, it's been one of the things that has helped deal with muscle wasting issues in my back and belly both -- a benefit I wouldn't have had if I'd let body image stand in my way. There are so many things like that, I don't want to be saying "that I don't have, BECAUSE I let body image stand in my way" about -- I have enough of those already. I'd rather add to the former column.

So, anyone here ever watch the TV show "How to Look Good Naked"? I love the way that the biggest piece of the show is always teaching the people to re-think the way that they look at themselves, and see the beauty that was there all along, ALONG with learning how to best present and show that beauty off. :)

And yeah, [Lord Dog], I know that this stuff can really get to guys -- in part because I spent the first years of my marriage and relationship with my husband repairing his self-image. It took me a long time, telling him, and SHOWING him, what I saw, before I could even begin to undo the damage that had been done to his self-esteem and self-image by others. I know that pieces of what I was dealing with in him came from inside -- but I also know that I knew the origins (by name and date) of FAR too many of the bad messages kicking around in his head, and it made me want to do some "kicking around" of various people's heads, of my own. 

We have GOT to find a better way of dealing with our own feelings of inadequacy, as a society, than by putting down other people so that we'll feel better about ourselves -- whether we do it to their face, or behind their backs. Hubby's ex, alone, left so damn many "land mines" in his psyche, in the months before she finally admitted that the relationship wasn't working, and they parted ways... *sigh* ...and mothers do more of it, in my experience, than most of us would ever think of them as doing. 

I think it's partly fear for their kids, and partly the fact that just as their daughters are starting to look curvy and attractive, a lot of women are starting to slip a little on their time for self-care, level of exercise, health, and the way these are all reflected in our appearance. 

My own daughter is just hitting puberty, and I know how sensitive she is to ANY message about the way she looks -- at the same time that I'm having to make sure that she knows things like proper bra sizing for health and well-being.

2009-08-22 [BarleySinger]: I watched that utube video. The very idea that a person who is so obviously smashingly lovely, with a beautiful face, nice curves and all that, yet who could hate their body (or some element of it), it seriously saddens me. But then I see it all the time. I had the same problem myself and I spent most of my younger years being actively chased by both females and males from toddler-hood onward - and from around age 9 upward I was still convinced that I was ugly.

There are a huge number of people our there who have no clue how good looking they actually are, and who spend their time and energy on self hate, despising their own bodies. Those who -DO- manage to get over this at all, spend years that they can never regain, often the years in which they look the best that they ever will, living in fear of showing any skin; never a skimpy bikini on the beach, never tight jeans or shorty-shorts, with exaggerated problems of modesty guilt - all the while envying the people who have the guts and the bodies to wear the sorts of things they feel that they cannot. 

Men and women both have these problems, and a lot of it goes back to people being mean to them back when they were kids (other kids and adults as well). They insult the cute person by saying that they are ugly, the smart ones by saying that they are stupid...because they themselves feel somehow threatened (and lessened) by another persons innate qualities. And those who are hurt by all this tend to go through life with feeling of being worthless, making no effort to dress themselves up, but instead wearing baggy clothes (covering up from head to toe) - clothes that make them look bad - wishing the whole time that they had the body and the courage to wear the things that other people do.

So sad. I wish myself tht I could shake off my illness, drop the weight and get back my muscle, and do some nude figure modeling. I have no problem with that idea *NOW*...but now I am very ill and do not have that body anymore.

2010-03-19 [Mortified Penguin]: Yo, yo, yo, yo, embryo! ...*eats ramen*...

2010-03-19 [Delladreing]: Thank you for that insightful comment Penguin.

2010-03-19 [Mortified Penguin]: Of course. Anytime.

2010-03-19 [Delladreing]: Ran out of ramen?

2010-03-19 [Mortified Penguin]: Yes, I suppose I have... *eats ramen*...