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DanaC · 03-31-2009, 09:16 AM

The thing is. I probably eat less healthily than that family. I survive on junk foods, food fads, high-carb comfort eating, feast and famine. Other than walking my dog, I do very little exercise. I am never still...but it's nervous energy, and I can burn off calories sitting in front of the tv. I am a junk eating, sports hating, sun avoiding, couch potato. I know how to eat healthily yet I can still go into a supermarket and get overwhelmed with questions like: "aubergine....yeah, but I have no idea what that goes with?". And sure you can start looking at recipes and checking out the tip cards, but Christ on a bike, there are times I can't make myself brown toast, the reality of cooking from scratch is overfacing, most of the time.

It's easier (and if you're not brilliantly clever with your ingredients, cheaper too) to buy convenience foods. Supernoodles are half a meal, and they're less than .70p a pack. A cheeseburger might have very little actual nutritiona value but it makes you feel full temporarily for very little. And it gives you a boost, a little chemical high in the brain. It actually does make you feel better....a little, just for a few moments.

Thing is, I just happen to be thin. I have a thin person's metabolism and therefore my body goes way out of its way to ensure I stay thin. I over indulge in calories and I get sluggish then edgy and fidgety (probably doesnt help the eczema any :P) My body forces me to respond in a way that burns off those calories. I don't go do a work out at the gym, I just *shrugs* speed up my metabolismm to meet the extra calories (I don't mean *I* do that, my body does that).

I deserve way harsher judgement on my lack of self-control and 'laziness' than most people, fat or thin. But I don't have to walk around with my sins emblazoned on my jacket for all to cast their judgements on me.

There are times I bring my eczema on myself. I go down a self-destructive lazy little path of sweets and overindulgence and the sugar rush or colourings set me off (I know, what am I, like 5?). Thirty seven years old and I still fall off the food wagon and eat stuff I fucking know might set me off. Or drink a really good, oaky Rioja knowing full well that it may exact a cost. People see me with my skin flared they don't generally leap straight to "stupid cow, fancy eating a bunch of stuff you should't. That'll teach you for being greedy and lazy"

Food is the very basic central fact of our survival. Our relationship with it starts in the womb and continues through our whole life. It is subject to strains and stresses, changes and derailments. It's a fucking complicated thing. Trouble is we people want it to be as simple as all the other theoretical constructs into which we fit our world.

03-31-2009, 09:16 AM	#43
DanaC We have to go back, Kate! Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Yorkshire Posts: 25,964	The thing is. I probably eat less healthily than that family. I survive on junk foods, food fads, high-carb comfort eating, feast and famine. Other than walking my dog, I do very little exercise. I am never still...but it's nervous energy, and I can burn off calories sitting in front of the tv. I am a junk eating, sports hating, sun avoiding, couch potato. I know how to eat healthily yet I can still go into a supermarket and get overwhelmed with questions like: "aubergine....yeah, but I have no idea what that goes with?". And sure you can start looking at recipes and checking out the tip cards, but Christ on a bike, there are times I can't make myself brown toast, the reality of cooking from scratch is overfacing, most of the time. It's easier (and if you're not brilliantly clever with your ingredients, cheaper too) to buy convenience foods. Supernoodles are half a meal, and they're less than .70p a pack. A cheeseburger might have very little actual nutritiona value but it makes you feel full temporarily for very little. And it gives you a boost, a little chemical high in the brain. It actually does make you feel better....a little, just for a few moments. Thing is, I just happen to be thin. I have a thin person's metabolism and therefore my body goes way out of its way to ensure I stay thin. I over indulge in calories and I get sluggish then edgy and fidgety (probably doesnt help the eczema any :P) My body forces me to respond in a way that burns off those calories. I don't go do a work out at the gym, I just shrugs speed up my metabolismm to meet the extra calories (I don't mean I do that, my body does that). I deserve way harsher judgement on my lack of self-control and 'laziness' than most people, fat or thin. But I don't have to walk around with my sins emblazoned on my jacket for all to cast their judgements on me. There are times I bring my eczema on myself. I go down a self-destructive lazy little path of sweets and overindulgence and the sugar rush or colourings set me off (I know, what am I, like 5?). Thirty seven years old and I still fall off the food wagon and eat stuff I fucking know might set me off. Or drink a really good, oaky Rioja knowing full well that it may exact a cost. People see me with my skin flared they don't generally leap straight to "stupid cow, fancy eating a bunch of stuff you should't. That'll teach you for being greedy and lazy" Food is the very basic central fact of our survival. Our relationship with it starts in the womb and continues through our whole life. It is subject to strains and stresses, changes and derailments. It's a fucking complicated thing. Trouble is we people want it to be as simple as all the other theoretical constructs into which we fit our world.