Comments on: The Parent Diet - Loose Unwanted Pounds in Just Days http://www.gracefulparenting.net/2008/01/08/the-parent-diet-loose-unwanted-pounds-in-just-days/ Tue, 06 Jan 2009 01:04:30 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Carol http://www.gracefulparenting.net/2008/01/08/the-parent-diet-loose-unwanted-pounds-in-just-days/#comment-89 Carol Tue, 15 Jan 2008 12:55:48 +0000 http://gracefulparenting.nfshost.com/2008/01/08/the-parent-diet-loose-unwanted-pounds-in-just-days/#comment-89 Thanks for comment! I agree that we are obsessed with weight and being skinny in a peculiar way. I like the focus to be on being healthy instead of being skinny. Is it all an exercise in feeling good about our selves for doing something that is really hard? Is that kind of random? So it is just a different kind of struggle we have invented? I think it is about matching your actions with your values. Sometimes I have a needy relationship wtih food, that it has to be unhealthy to be satisfying and I need fill a NEED that isn't really about food. And I don't want to model that for my kids. And I've drunk the kool aid about exercise. I feel better when I exercise. (Well, I'm only doing yoga now, I haven't started running again since I was pregnant, hmmmm.) Thanks for the thoughts. I agree that it is important to talk about and minimize our culture's obsession with super-particular body types that almost never happen and to be really conscious of how we define healthy. Thanks for comment! I agree that we are obsessed with weight and being skinny in a peculiar way. I like the focus to be on being healthy instead of being skinny.

Is it all an exercise in feeling good about our selves for doing something that is really hard? Is that kind of random? So it is just a different kind of struggle we have invented? I think it is about matching your actions with your values. Sometimes I have a needy relationship wtih food, that it has to be unhealthy to be satisfying and I need fill a NEED that isn’t really about food. And I don’t want to model that for my kids. And I’ve drunk the kool aid about exercise. I feel better when I exercise. (Well, I’m only doing yoga now, I haven’t started running again since I was pregnant, hmmmm.)
Thanks for the thoughts. I agree that it is important to talk about and minimize our culture’s obsession with super-particular body types that almost never happen and to be really conscious of how we define healthy.

]]> By: Jenna http://www.gracefulparenting.net/2008/01/08/the-parent-diet-loose-unwanted-pounds-in-just-days/#comment-88 Jenna Thu, 10 Jan 2008 18:51:39 +0000 http://gracefulparenting.nfshost.com/2008/01/08/the-parent-diet-loose-unwanted-pounds-in-just-days/#comment-88 Not to get too windy on your lovely blog here, but for me, it's more than knowing what to do and doing it; it's about whether or not I really buy the thoughts of the day regarding exercise and nutrition. My great-grandfather lived on meat and potatoes - literally - and never exercised. (Thrived well into his nineties.) My dad goes through occasional bouts of exercise (much like me), but, on the whole, is sedentary and a little rotund. He's never been sick. My mother, on the other hand, exercises 5 times a week, eats moderately, and is quite slender. But holy cow, she sees her doctor more than she sees her children! We demonize flesh in this culture. We've made weight a moral issue. And we equate slimness and exercise with health. When we say NO! to a piece of cake we feel oddly powerful.) But I question the validity of that. We know that bodies are not all created equal. Some of us have had high blood pressure since we were 5. Some of us can eat what we want an never gain a pound. I've been exploring this idea for years. But it's difficult to get my head around. Historically, our cultural ideas do not stay put. They are shifty things. At one time we believed that fat made us fat. We also believed that pregnant women shouldn't gain weight. (Now, we go.. "What?!") It's hard to tune out all the rhetoric and pay attention to what feels healthy for me. My hope is that our children develop robust understandings of who they are, not what their culture wants them to be. (Ummm, can you tell I'm a little passionate about this topic?) Not to get too windy on your lovely blog here, but for me, it’s more than knowing what to do and doing it; it’s about whether or not I really buy the thoughts of the day regarding exercise and nutrition.

My great-grandfather lived on meat and potatoes - literally - and never exercised. (Thrived well into his nineties.) My dad goes through occasional bouts of exercise (much like me), but, on the whole, is sedentary and a little rotund. He’s never been sick.

My mother, on the other hand, exercises 5 times a week, eats moderately, and is quite slender. But holy cow, she sees her doctor more than she sees her children!

We demonize flesh in this culture. We’ve made weight a moral issue. And we equate slimness and exercise with health. When we say NO! to a piece of cake we feel oddly powerful.)

But I question the validity of that. We know that bodies are not all created equal. Some of us have had high blood pressure since we were 5. Some of us can eat what we want an never gain a pound.

I’ve been exploring this idea for years. But it’s difficult to get my head around. Historically, our cultural ideas do not stay put. They are shifty things. At one time we believed that fat made us fat. We also believed that pregnant women shouldn’t gain weight. (Now, we go.. “What?!”)

It’s hard to tune out all the rhetoric and pay attention to what feels healthy for me. My hope is that our children develop robust understandings of who they are, not what their culture wants them to be.

(Ummm, can you tell I’m a little passionate about this topic?)

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