Kate:

I read this article in the New York Times today.  It talks about the prejudice that obese and overweight people face in today’s society. Ridiculing fat people has become accepted discrimination.

The article reminded me of an experience I had in 5th grade.  The school nurse called a total of about five students from the 5th grade to take part in a discussion about nutrition in her office.  So, all of the fat students were called out of their classrooms, me included, to talk about portion control and healthy eating.  The parents were unaware of any of this activity.  Now, I have no problem learning about nutrition, but don’t you think those lessons could benefit every student?

Kate:

Okay, so I was watching Oprah again.  (Sometimes it’s hard to admit that because she can be a bit ridiculous.)  However, I was interested in hearing what Michael Pollan had to say.  Oprah had seen Food, Inc. and was talking about how we need to think about what happens to our food before it gets to our tables.

I’ve had The Omnivore’s Dilemma for a few months and have known about it for a few years, though I still haven’t gotten around to reading it.  Now I’ve put it at the top of my to-read pile.  I have, for the last six years or so, eaten more consciously.  It started when I moved to Chicago and a friend made some soup from scratch.  Stupidly, I didn’t realize that it was so easy to make soup.  In my family, we had always eaten canned soup.  These days I eat more homemade foods than ever before in my life.  All of my baked goods are from scratch, and when I eat boxed cake or cookies from a roll at a friend’s house, it just doesn’t taste as good.  Making cookies from scratch is not that hard, and the flavor wins out every time.  And don’t get me started on my love for farmers’ markets!

Now I’m thinking of taking my meat consumption a little more seriously.  I don’t eat a lot of meat at home since it requires a lot of forethought in meal planning.  Thawing takes time!  However, I’m going to start eating antibiotic free meats and milk.  Because of the minimal role meat plays in my diet, I don’t think the increase in expense is going to cripple me.

Another part of Oprah’s program was spent talking to Alicia Silverstone about her new book, The Kind Diet, in which she writes about her vegan lifestyle.  A friend of mine is vegan, and I cannot fathom living like that, but I don’t think being primarily vegetarian is out of the realm of possibility.  I’ll have to get her book from the library and peruse it.  It apparently doesn’t exclusively advocate veganism, just eating better.

As I’ve said before, I’m not on a diet.  This is a permanent change.  I think it would be irresponsible of me not to explore how the way my food is raised affects my body when I consume it.

Yeeeehaw! 7 weeks since beginning with Weight Watchers, and I have lost a total of 14.2 pounds, 1.2 since last week. So I recieved an extra special 5% star on Saturday, and I really feel like I have accomplished something. Next up: 10%, which is a BIG deal if you are on weight watchers, because you get your charm and you get to decide on a goal weight..which I have not even started thinking about.

So, I guess 5% might not seem like a whole lot, but it is making quite on impact on my life. My clothes are considerable looser, I am feeling more and more energetic and I am losing inches!

Here are my measurements

Waist: Jan 10- 43 inches
March 7-39 inches

Hips: Jan 10- 54 inches
March 7-50 inches

Thigh: Jan 10- 34.5
March 7-31

Don’t forget to take measurements if you are losing weight, because even if the scale is not moving quickly down… your measurements will!