Does this sound odd coming from a health organization? There is a a growing body of evidence that fitness is a much better predictor of health than weight . One important study found that people with BMIs (body mass index) in the ”overweight” category (25-29.9, between 156-179 pounds for a 5’5″ tall woman) had a lower risk of death than those whose BMIs put them in the “normal” category.
Diets don’t work…
We know, you’re not just dieting for your health, but because you want to fit into your skinny jeans. But restricting calories, while it may get you into those pants for a while, doesn’t work in the long term. Up to 95% of dieters regain the weight they lost, and sometimes more, within three to five years (see “The Fat Trap” by New York Times columnist, Tara Parker Pope).
Not only do diets not work, the constant emphasis on thinness is bad for our psychological, spiritual and physical health. According to the Association for Size Diversity and Health, which pioneered the Health At Every Size® (HAESSM) approach:
Restrictive dieting and weight cycling can lead to physical complications including
slowed metabolism, reduced muscle tissue and body temperature,
and eating disorders.
81% of 10-year-olds admit to dieting, binge eating, or a fear of getting fat and we are now
seeing eating disorders in children as young as five.
You are more than a number!
Despite what the culture and the $60 Billion + diet industry would have us believe, there is no “ideal number for health. And just as health comes in all shapes and sizes, do does beauty. As do talent, creativity, intelligence and worth.
How much energy have you spent trying to reach an “ideal” that is neither healthy or attainable for most of us? What could you accomplish were you to focus that energy elsewhere?
To quote from The Body Positive website, “Women and girls waste their time, brainpower, and money in desperate attempts to achieve unattainable beauty standards. These same resources can, instead, be put toward the pursuit of balanced health behaviors and activities rich with purpose and meaning.”
We’d like to leave y0u with this promotional video from @thebodypositive.
Sunday, May 6, was International No Diet Day, an annual celebration of body acceptance and body shape diversity. As Go Folic! has tried to emphasize over the past two years, the body benefits by joyful movement and by balanced, healthful and pleasurable eating; it is only hurt by attempts at weight loss (click here to download a paper debunking “the obesity myth”).
In the past week, how many times have you…
Seen a weight loss ad?
Heard a “health expert” talk about the “ills of obesity” with no discussion about the dangerous weight cycling and binge eating that normally result from calorie restriction?
Engaged in “fat talk” with family or friends? (Do I look fat in this? I was so “bad” yesterday, I ate…)
The messages and negative self-talk are relentless. They have nothing to do with health. They do, however, support an international diet industry that profits from damaging our self worth and our bodies to the tune of $$60.9 Billion annually in the U.S. alone (PR Web, May 9, 2011).
How the celebration started
International No Diet Day was created om 1992 by Mary Evans Young, a British feminist who had battled anorexia. During a coffee break, as her companions were debating whether or not to eat a biscuit – “Oh, I’ll just have one”, “I shouldn’t really”, “Oh, all right then” – Evans asked, “What do you think would happen if you spent as much time and energy on your careers as you do on diets?”
A light bulb went off. A movement was born.
This post is the first of a week’s worth of discussions about dieting, health, self-esteem and the weight loss industry. Our schedule is as follows: Thursday – The Case Against Dieting and the Healthy at Every Size ® Approach; Friday – Celebrating Beauty at Every Size, Young Women Speak Out.
We’ll end our first post of this week with a question, ”What would happen if women refocused the energy we spend on dieting on our careers, our families, and our communities?”
The Folate Flash Mob – Carolers with a Healthy Twist
We originally posted this video in December 2010. But when asked as part of the Health Activist Writers Challenge Month to pick a song that represented our health issue, how could we resist? Even though it’s a little “out of season,” it’s really fun. We wish that we could take credit, but all credit is due the NYC March of Dimes Folate Flash Mob , which entertained holiday shoppers on November 30th, 2010 in NYC’s Greeley Square. Enjoy!
P.S., The March of Dimes works to reduce birth defects. For more March of Dimes NYC videos, click here.
Challenge 10 of this year’s Health Activist Writer’s Challenge Month
Recognize your worth!
You have so much to give, don’t doubt your gifts. Don’t allow anyone else to make you doubt them.
Recognize your worth!
Believe in your ability to set and reach goals, to overcome challenges, and to accept help when offered.
Recognize your worth!
Celebrate your body! Though advertisers and the diet industry would have you believe otherwise (their profits depend on your and other women’s insecurities), beauty comes in all shapes and sizes and the number on the scale is only a number.
Recognize your worth! Love your body, its curves, its strength, all the things it does for you. Honor it with healthy eats, rest, movement – all for their own sakes, and for joy of the body rather than in pursuit of some unattainable and unhealthy heroin chic media promoted impossible ideal.
Recognize your worth!
You have the right to and deserve respect, honesty and consideration in relationships – whether with romantic partners, friends and family members. You have the right to set limits, to express desire and to experience pleasure.
Recognize your worth. Treat yourself with the same consideration that you would show to the people you love.
With love, not only for myself but for every other woman in my life, as well…
#1.
Communities join,
Fighting for health equity.
Life supporting work.
2.
What’s a body need?
Real food water shelter love,
Healthy Abundance.
With thanks to my coworkers, Renee and Owen, who contributed to the writing of these short odes to the work that we love. To read more health-related haiku, search Twitter with #HAWMC. And if you have your own health-related haiku or poem, please share it here!
Shivaun Nestor,
Go Folic! Project Coordinator
_____________________________
*For those who are unfamiliar, Haiku is a Japanese poetry form – 3 lines of 5 syllables, 7 syllables and 5 syllables.
This week is National Public Health Week ( #nphw ). Spearheaded by the American Public Health Association, the observance is dedicated to raising awareness about the importance of public health. This year’s theme is “A Healthier America Begins Today” as #NPHW focuses on a holistic approach to disease prevention and wellness. Since Go Folic! is part of the San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH) Maternal Child and Adolescent Health Section, we decided to ask our MCAH Director, Mary Hansell, DrPH, PHN, RN, to share what she calls her “elevator statement” on public health. So, without futher ado…
It’s National Public Health Week. This is a wonderful time to tell your friends and acquaintances about your job and spread the word about why public health efforts are important. I am always glad to talk about MCAH when someone asks me about my work. In my “elevator speech”, I say that I work for SFDPH in the section dedicated to Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health. I tell the person that we work with families that have children, in the community, and try to improve health. I say that MCAH is a variety of professionals, including nurses, nutritionists and physical and occupational therapists, working with kids who are healthy and kids with severe disabilities. I say we do home visits, work on the phone and in nutrition clinics. I say that I love my job. Most of the time, the conversation moves on to other topics at that point but it shifts with the person knowing something about Public Health and my ongoing love for this work.
If you work in the field of public health, I’d love to hear your “elevator speech”. I am sure I would learn something from it. Please feel free to post it in a comment here, or on the Go Folic! Facebook page or Twitter feed – @gofolic #elevatorspeech.
This FREE conference is created by and for young people affected by the juvenile justice system and the foster care system. The Know Justice Conference will bring about 300 youth, families and service providers from all over the bay area together to give them access to the tools and resources needed to navigate the juvenile and criminal justice systems in order to advocate for themselves and others.
If you or a friend or family member has been involved with the juvenile justice and/or foster care systems, and live in San Francisco, this is THE conference to attend. The conference will take place from 9 AM – 4 PM on Wednesday, February 15, 2012 at the San Francisco Public Main Library. Located at 100 Larkin Street @ Market the library is directly across from the Civic Center BART & Muni station, so is easy to get to. Click here to register.
If you are planning to attend, we hope you’ll stop by our table between 1-2 PM. Cole Street Youth Clinic staff member, Salina Yee, will be there distributing free Go Folic! vitamins and offering information on reproductive health care and Department of Public Health Department youth services.
Girlfriends share a lot – nights out on the town, deepest feelings, intimacy. You care about your girlfriends, and probably want them to be happy and healthy, right? Good thing there’s National Girlfriends Day to help you celebrate the girlfriends in your life!
One way to celebrate this special day is by doing something to keep you all healthy. Here are some ideas from the CDC for healthy ways you to spend National Girlfriends Day:
Plan a healthy meal or snack: check out Go Folic’s Folate-Full Easy Recipes and Snacks guide to help you plan something tasty, like “Veggie Mini Frittatas” (OMG!). It’s easier for people to start eating healthy when they see other people doing – and enjoying- it!
Get outside!: If you live in the Bay Area, there are lots of ways for you to be out and active. Even something as simple as a long walk can be a great way to spend time with your girlfriends (and get some good exercise too)
Be a friend: it’s not always sunshine and roses for you and your girlfriends. If someone you love needs friendship and support, lend her your shoulder to cry on or get her in touch with a professional who can help.
Treat yourselves: there’s no better excuse to splurge on something nice for you and your girlfriends than National Girlfriends Day. Treat yourselves to something nice (and de-stressing) like a massage or yoga class.
That’s it from us here at Go Folic! Have a beautiful day with your girlfriends!
We all do little things to keep ourselves healthy. Some of us walk to school or work instead of driving. Sometimes we turn off the TV and head outside. Some of us even take multivitamins with folic acid!
What creative things are you doing in your life to make yourself healthy? Our friends at ISIS, Inc. want to hear all about it!
Today is for Tomorrow is a preconception health campaign for young women (ages 16-24) in California. Preconception years are the years where you could get pregnant, choose to get pregnant, or are in between pregnancies. Not planning to get pregnant anytime soon? That is okay, staying healthy starts way before ever deciding to have a baby, and most of the small changes you can make today can make a big impact on your tomorrow.
If you’re a young woman between the ages of 16 and 24, you’re eligible to enter ISIS, Inc.’s Today is For Tomorrow contest. Let ISIS, Inc. know – in 140 characters or less – what things you do to keep yourself healthy. You’ll have a chance to win a $2,000 scholarship, Nintendo Wii, or other great prizes.
Contest ends July 10th (24th!*), so hurry to www.todayisfortomorrow.org to submit your entry!
*Contest deadline has been extended until July 24th!
Go Folic! was invited to join the OMI United Festival on April 30th . The festival was held in Minnie & Lovie Ward Recreation Center, a newly build recreation in the Oceanview-Merced-Ingleside (OMI) neighborhood. It has a large courtyard and different small class rooms.
It was one of the sunniest days in April. Go Folic! was in the courtyard giving out educational materials and free vitamins.
One lady came by and said: “I remember you from one of your presentations. I told my daughter who is planning to have a baby about folic acid. She now started using your recipes brochure and eating a folate rich diet.”
One other woman told me how great her nails became after taking folic acid.
The woman next to her immediately said: “Really?! It really helps? I should definitely take some.” Now I feel how powerful and influential word of mouth can be.
Does this sound odd coming from a health organization? There is a a growing body of evidence that fitness is a much better predictor of health than weight . One important study found that people with BMIs (body mass index) in the ”overweight” category (25-29.9, between 156-179 pounds for a 5’5″ tall woman) had a lower risk of death than those whose BMIs put them in the “normal” category. 
