Friday, July 13, 2012

Happy Place

Back in the pool. Second day in a row. My knee feels better than it has in months. It says a lot because it's a cold wet day in the city and usually I'm curled up in a ball of pain on these kind of days. I do have a pinch and jab here and there but so much less. Hafta wait till Tuesday to swim again but I'm feeling so blissed out at the moment kinda don't care. Tired ready for sleep but it's too early and I have a lovely article by John McPhee to finish.
Friday night.
Already in my jammies.
My life is just so rock and roll.

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Ass Of You And Me

A friend of mine posted on Facebook that his doctor said his sugar was high and he needed to make some changes. He said he was a junk food and sweet guy and asked for suggestions about low sugar snacks. He was inundated with free advise not all of which was bad but some was mind boggling. Someone recommended dried apricots and mango both of which I love but dried fruit has way more sugar than the same fruit not dried. People recommended granola bars and nuts rolled in fake sugar. And then there was the other extreme. Lots of NO fruit. NO carbs.
This guy is a lifeguard. He's always at the gym and he does epic bike rides on a regular basis. I had a cascade of reactions. Concern for him but not overwhelming. Blood sugar issues are serious but manageable.  And when I hear about a not fat person with high blood sugar (or any of the dis-ease associated with fatness) I imagine the two of us standing at a bus stop. I know people driving by look at me and think I probably have high blood sugar ( I do ) and should stop eating junk food ( I don't) and don't think anything about his blood sugar or eating habits. It's the assumption I resent.
One of the really strident NO fruit NO carbs people gave him a list of recommendations ending with the idea that if he ate in the recommended manner for fourteen days he'd lose fourteen pounds. Honestly. I can't imagine this guy has fourteen pounds to lose. He's really buff. The shift from healthy changes to weight loss makes me roll my eyes.
It's summer. I'm eating fruit. And peas. I stop drinking juice for breakfast and there are days when I don't eat any cookies/cake/candy/etc. It's not hard. I don't need discipline. I love my peach and berry summers. They are fleeting. And I can feel too much sugar in ways that make it easy to be moderate. I wrote about my own snack confusion the other day. I was really trying to explore the craziness in my own thinking about food. Reading the comments on my friend's post brought it all back to me. It takes constant sorting to eat in any way close to normal. Not just for fat people. One of my most food crazy friends has never been fat. 
And then today someone I admire linked this on Facebook with the comment that it was inspiring. Inspiring? What part? I suspect it's the weight loss goal. I mean ... this is an article posted in the "weird news" section. It goes to great length and detail about exactly how fat the woman is and how many calories she eats. A slide show at the bottom is prurient and the comments are festival of hate. So why did all that slip past an other wise very smart person? Um. Hmm. Well. Unexamined assumptions about fat people? 
It's the assumptions that I resent. 
I'm actually in a pretty good mood. I got to the pool this morning. I'm in a bit of pain but it's worth it. The pool is my happy place.