ok...

First and Foremost...Scott and I are officially homeowners! Our realtor dropped off our Keys at Scott's office! Woohoo...we are going over there tonight, so I'll try to remember to take pictures (at least of the outside). Wow...we offically own a house in suburbia! Strange.

Ok, so the article that I linked to this morning...REALLY frustrates me. The only reason I even LOOKED at was I noticed it was one of MSN's feature articles. You know when you go to MSN.com and it has that little box that flashes with different links and pictures. The link to this article said "is being fat making the world poor" or something. Anyway.... These are the MAIN things that pissed me off about the article:
1. There was no definition of what "overweight" means. I'm sure they are basing it on the BMI, which as you may or may not know, I think is a load of crap.

2. They go on to state different ways that if no one were overweight how much money it would save the economy. What the hell ever. I'm pretty sure that if no one were overweight, we as humans, being imperfect, would find another way to run the economy into the ground.

3. They use McDonalds as an example of the food that fat people eat. Ok...you are right..fat people do eat McDonalds..and so do thin people, and old people, and young people and LOTS of different kinds of people. Do you want to know the last time I ate McDonalds? Probably three months ago, and it was one chicken nugget. Do you want to know the last time my skinny co-worker who never gains weight at McDonalds? today, and yesterday and the day before. Gah.

4. The whole plus size clothing thing. According to the article, if manufacturers didn't have to make plus sizes, they would have more resources to create a "variety in hip and bust sizes, rather than asking every woman to squeeze into an hourglass shape." Uh....wouldn't having a variety of hip and bust sizes create different sizes.......the same thing now with plus and straight size clothing? Also...not all fat people wear stretch pants people. I wear plus sized clothing, and I haven't worn stretch pants since the 3rd grade..when every girl and her sister, mother and aunt wore stretch pants...BECAUSE IT WAS THE 80's!

5. I also love the point about how American Farmers would cope with everyone being thin. If everyone where "thin" farmers could "... switch some land from fattening seed oils and sugar beets to fruits and vegetables. Or they might grow corn for ethanol, or even open a hunting resort." WHO IS THIS JOURNALIST?!?! Right, I forgot all "fat' and "sugar" are bad....and all "fruits and veggies" are good...FOOD HAS NO MORAL VALUES. Seriously, she should have done her research....the things that contribute to this country's lack of health are pre-packaged, refined, sodium laden junk that we all love. Not sugar beets. Seriously. And don't even get me started on a hunting resort..has this woman even seen a farm? Most of America's farm land is in flat, open spaces...a great exciting place to hunt! "Look Joe a deer! Do you think he sees us?" "Yes Bob, I think he does, because there are no trees, mountains or valleys out here on Converted Farm Hunting Ranch Resort!"

6. Obviously being fat makes you lazy and unproductive at work, because fat people are always sick. Right...do you want to know how many sick days I have taken in the past year? Two. Because I had a cold...that I am 90% sure I picked up at..the GYM!

7. And lastly, it was save money in the Diet industry. "Jenny Craig would be very unhappy" if everyone were slim, says Rand's Sturm. And so she would, along with the rest of the $55 billion weight-loss industry. Trimmed-down citizens would be swapping their diet pills for bikinis and their gastric-banding for nose jobs."
The diet industry would die....if the rest of society didn't put an inherent moral value on fat, and moved towards the much more mentally and physically healthy approach, Health at Every Size. Exercising, and being good to our bodies by eating whole, real foods.

I'll be honest...this article bothers me because it insults me. I am, by societies standards..fat. I weigh 237 pounds (which as more and more people read this, I feel more and more hesitant to say...but it's just a number right?) I wear a size 18/20 pant. My BMI...says that I am obese. But you know what? I can do elevated levels of cardio for an hour, and then lift weights. I can bounce around in a step class. I eat healthy fats, whole grains, and protein at every meal. I also eat 5-7 servings of fruits and vegetables each day. I don't stop my self from eating chocolate cake when I want..but I don't eat big macs. and I am fat, and to be "thin" I would have to be disordered.....and who really wants that?