Tag Archives: HAES

Stuff that Weighs More Than Me: The Biggest Pot of Tea in Boston

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If you have a big craving for tea, here you go!

If you have a big craving for tea, here you go!

If you’re having a craving for tea, I’ve got just the thing!  If you go to the corner of Court and Tremont Streets in Boston and look up, you’re likely to see this huge teapot steaming away.  Built by Hicks & Badger in 1873, this giant kettle has been a Boston tourist attraction for many years. The teapot has an apparatus inside that makes it “steam” year round.  Locals say the steam is much more pronounced in the colder months.

The “Big Teapot” is perhaps best known for its part in a major publicity stunt held in 1875, when a contest was held to guess the exact capacity of the giant kettle.  Over 13,000 guesses were submitted and more than 10,000 spectators filled the square on the day the capacity of the kettle was measured.  It took over an hour for Boston’s Sealer of Weights and Measures to fill the kettle and learn exactly how much it would hold.  At 1:05 the total was announced: 227 gallons, 2 quarts, 1 pint and 3 gills.

We don’t know the actual weight of the teapot itself, so I’m just going to calculate the weight of the tea that would fit in the pot:

227 gallons=1890.91 pounds

2 quarts= 4.165 pounds

1 pint=1.04375 pounds (at room temperature and sea level)

3 gills (each of which is about 5 oz.)= 0.978 pounds (at room temperature and sea level)

For a grand total of 1897.09675 lbs.

Conclusion: This pot of tea weighs more than me.

Love,

The Fat Chick

By the way, here’s a few ways to satisfy some other things you might be craving:

Want to work out with The Fat Chick?  Check out my free live streaming or just buy the DVD.

Want to get your workout program off the ground?  Try my book, “The Fat Chick Works Out!”

Craving justice and equality in health care?  Why not consider taking the time to create a video for the Resolved project hosted by The Association for Size Diversity And Health as well as the Size Diversity Task Force.  But hop to it!  The Size Diversity Task Force deadline is in just one week!

Right Now Show Episode 010: Craving the 2K Cookie

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Many of us have been taught that cravings are something to be thwarted, ignored or denied.  But our bodies have a way of insisting on getting what they want.  In this video you will learn about why it’s so important to pay attention to cravings, what happens when you ignore cravings and the very simplest and most effective way to deal with cravings.  You’ll also learn about the 2,000 calorie cookie, so check it out!

Intuitive eating can be extremely challenging.  But there is help out there.  Here are a few important resources:

The Fat Nutritionist

Ellyn Satter (especially in the area of family nutrition)

HAES(R) research about eating

And the amazing Golda Portetsky

Hope you get a chance to be good to yourself and treat your body well, right now!

Love,

The Fat Chick

Mindful Eating

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mindfuleatingA friend of mine had the above picture in her facebook feed this morning and it got me thinking about mindful eating.  I gave it some thought, and I guess I’m of two minds when it comes to mindful eating.  There are many different definitions of eating mindfully.  From making sure that what you put on your plate is exactly what you crave, to setting the table with candles and linens and enjoying every bite, to eating alone and in silence to tune in to every morsel to putting your fork down between every bite to slow down the eating process.

On the one hand, I think there are some good ideas here.  I think it’s important to eat food that tastes delicious to you.  I think it’s a great idea to focus on enjoyment when you are eating and allow your body to extract pleasure from your food as well as nutrients.  I think I enjoy my food more when I am not eating in front of the television.  And I think I deserve wonderful meals with candlelight and tablecloths and even fresh flowers. In general, I think food tastes better when I am hungry and less wonderful when I am already full.

But I think mindful eating can taste a little bit like dieting when the rules become too rigid.  I think food tastes better when every bite is savored, but putting the fork down between each bite or chewing a prescribed number of times feels like restriction to me.  And sometimes I want to get together with my husband or my extended family or a group of friends and enjoy a meal together.  I think it’s important to enjoy not only the food I’m eating, but also the company I’m with.  And sometimes, I just want to eat a hotdog at a ball game or eat pizza in front of the TV.  And I think in a healthy food life, all of these things should be allowed and savored.

I think I am most in tune with those mindful eating experts who recommend spending some time learning to get in touch with your body if your relationship with food and eating has gotten really out of whack.  If you’ve never really learned to distinguish between when you are starving and stuffed, it makes sense to take some quiet time eating alone to sort that stuff out.  And there’s been a fair amount of work done that points out that distracted eating can often mean that you don’t get as much enjoyment out of food and feel less satisfied.  I believe this is true.  But I also believe that hot dogs taste better at the ball park and chips and salsa taste best at a restaurant with a few great friends and a lot of laughter.

In other words, I think mindful eating is wonderful, helpful and beautiful–in moderation.

I’d love to hear what you think!  Just drop me a note in the comments box.

Love,

The Fat Chick

Cravings

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Recently, a very dear friend sent me a link to this video.  I think it’s partly because she knows how I feel about cookies.  But it got me thinking about what length I would go to to get a chocolate chip cookie and all about the nature of cravings.

In a recent post I talked about the “Big Fat Cookie Cycle” and how deprivation and binging go together like peanut butter and jelly.  There is no question in my mind that systematically restricting our access to certain foods gives us cravings for those foods.  But it seems to me the whole issue of cravings is somewhat complicated.

Cravings can also be driven by nutritional needs.  And as we become more in tune with our bodies I think we can learn to listen when our body is asking for certain foods.  Sometimes I crave things based on what my body needs like vitamin C or protein or carbohydrates or all the happy stuff in green leafy vegetables.

But what about chocolate chip cookies?  Does vitamin C stand for “cookie”.  (Alas, no.) Cravings can sometimes be about nutrition, but cravings can be about other things too.  Am I craving sugar because I’m looking for a boost?  Am I craving cookies because they just taste delicious?  Am I craving a chocolate chip cookie because it is simply one of the best foods invented ever?  And so sometimes these cravings happen and I’m okay with that.

Sometimes I crave a cookie because I’m feeling sad, tired, overstressed, lonely, depressed, or just feel like I need a pick me up.  And you know what, I’m okay with that too.

Sometimes I grab a cookie because I have three minutes in which to stuff food into my body before my next appointment and a cookie will allow me to quickly get enough energy to get through the next two hours and still keep one hand on the steering wheel.  Unfortunately cookies consumed for expediency as opposed to genuine desire do not taste so good.  So I’m working on this whole aspect of things.

The truth is, I crave different things at different times for each or all of these reasons.  I am not an “intuitive eating” ninja who always understands why I’m eating what I’m eating.  I don’t always have 40 minutes over which to enjoy a leisurely meal complete with linen napkins and candlelight and savor each bite of deliciousness and ponder its purpose in my life and resultant effect on my well being.  And I don’t only crave foods that my doctor or the latest diet guru says I should.  Sometimes I crave kale and sometimes I crave chocolate.  I am a real person with a real life.  And so I can’t always tell you why I want a cookie.  I just know if I don’t get a cookie when I really, REALLY want a cookie, (see above video) there’s likely to be a backlash.  And when that backlash hits, one cookie simply will not do it.  Take away my cookies for too long and I don’t even know if that jar on top of the fridge would be enough.  So I will continue to eat cookies when I really, really want cookies and try to make time for the deep philosophical pondering later.

Then again, had he lived in our time, Freud might have said, “Sometimes a cookie is just a cookie.”

Love,

The Fat Chick

Stuff That Weighs More Than Me: Antique Bath

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tubIf you are a major bath lover and I am a MAJOR bath lover, you know that antique, claw footed tubs totally rock for long happy soaks.  You also know that these cast iron beauties are heavy–especially when full of water.  You don’t want to put one of these into a bathroom without a reinforced floor!  But they are totally worth the hassle.  Because as far as I am concerned, taking a bath is one of life’s great joys.

My bathtub is a total immersion thinking device.  Seriously, there is something about the warm water and the bubbles that allows my brain to relax.  I have seriously considered adding a “tub time” line item to client invoices, because I get a lot of my very best thinking done in there.

But an antique claw foot tub is not something to be taken lightly.  Getting one of those bad boys up to a second story bathroom is a major, storming-the-Alamo-level undertaking.  Here’s the stats:

Length: 3-5 ft.

Width: 30″

Height: 24″

Capacity: 40-60 gallons

Water Weight: 300-500 lbs.

Tub Weight: 300-400 lbs.

Total Filled Tub Weight: 600-900 lbs.

Conclusion: A claw foot tub filled with warm water and bubbles (of course) weighs more than me.

The Right Now Show 008: Fit Fatties Cross the Finish Line!

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In this episode, we watch the Fit Fatties as they enjoy the final leg of their virtual journey–swimming, cycling, walking, running and dancing across the USA. Watch as they issue a new challenge to Fit Fatties Around the World!  The Fit Fatties are members of the Fit Fatties Forum created by Jeanette DePatie (www.thefatchick.com) and Ragen Chastain (www.danceswithfat.com).

Learn more and join the new challenge at http://www.fitfatties.com.  And if you’re enjoying the show, don’t forget to subscribe!

Love,
Jeanette DePatie
AKA The Fat Chick

Young Guns in Self Acceptance

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I was excited to see this video on YouTube this week.  It’s so exciting to see fresh, young faces who are embracing elements of the size acceptance, size diversity and self acceptance movement.  Laci Green has a lot of wonderful things to say in this video about the end of diets.  (Although some of the things she defines as a lifestyle change still sound a little bit like a diet to me.) She covers a lot of ground in this short time in a charming and fun way.  And she ends up eating pizza in a bikini!  How awesome is that?!

I am so inspired by the courage demonstrated by these young guns in the social media space–not only Laci Green, but also Stella Boonshoft with her brave photo, former Green Bay Packers cheerleader Kaitlyn Collins and so many others.  A big part of why I became the Fat Chick and started blogging and writing and teaching in the first place is the deep hope that I can, at least in a small way, help young people discover body acceptance a little bit earlier in life.  I hope to help them avoid putting decades of their lives on hold waiting to be thin, to help them reclaim a year, a month, a week or even a day that they might have spent obsessing about diets or their weight.  I hope to add my one small voice to the chorus of voices that are singing of loving and living life out loud–full tilt boogie in the body you have right now.

The voices are all different.  It takes different sounds to make a beautiful ensemble.  The music is so much more subtle and nuanced when it is sung by high and ethereal soprano voices, and deep chocolatey contralto voices and brightly shining tenor voices and deeply booming baritone/bass voices.  It takes all of these voices to make a choir.  I am thrilled and deeply honored to be singing the same tune as these amazing new talents in our community.

Love,

The Fat Chick

Warts and All: New Sources for Inspiration in Body Diversity

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tumblr_mjds6nBBln1rvkvumo1_1280Over the past two weeks, I’ve seen a number of new sources for inspiration in the world of body diversity.  Of course we have new inspiration from tried and true sources like Adipositivity (BTW notoriously NSFW).  But there are some exciting new sources as well.  For example, The Body Images Project contains a number of scrumptious photos of folks of all shapes, sizes and ages.  And we’re not just talking about cellulite here.  There’s grey hairs, scars, scabs, freckles, warts and more.  And we’re also seeing some especially awesome feeds on facebook and tumblr lately, including THIS one and THIS one.

And beyond the pictures, there’s the dancing–OOOOHHHH the dancing.  Aside from the toddler dancing that I posted a few weeks ago, we have awesome dancing old ladies.  HERE’S an 88 yr. old lady who boogies down the stairs:

And there’s old ladies doing Zumba and old ladies standing proudly for portraits and there’s just bodies, all different kinds of bodies EVERYWHERE!  In a sea of previously perfectly toned and tanned and coiffed and waxed bodies, it’s so exciting to me that social media can also be a source of difference.  It seems that just now in cyberspace, I’m seeing big bodies and small bodies and smooth bodies and wrinkly bodies and white bodies and black bodies and freckly bodies and scarred bodies.  All are sacred bodies.  All are unique packages encompassing the divine.  And all I can say is, HOW DELIGHTFUL!  Rather than a one page menu of clone, drone, Barbie types, I’m seeing a bodacious BUFFET of bodies of all different kinds.  And I ask you, how can this NOT be a good thing?

So click away.  Click at links and click at cameras.  Show us your gorgeousness you cyber cuties.  And let us see how decidedly, deliciously DIFFERENT you all are!

Love,

The Fat Chick

Fit Fatties Across America–California, Baby!

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Well hello out there.  I’m so very proud to announce we have reached my home state, California in the Fit Fatties Across America project founded by myself and the amazing Ragen Chastain!  We’ve walked, shimmied, swum, cycled and boogied across this great country of ours for a total of over 2,500 miles!  And it’s only just March.  It’s just so darn exciting to see what we can do together.

I’m especially excited about the way that we are busting stereotypes with this cool project.  Many people hold the prejudice that if fat people never exercise.  They think we just sit on the sofa all day eating bon bons.  (What the heck IS a bon bon anyway?)  But our mighty group of plus-sized exercisers have racked up over 2,500 miles in just over eight weeks. It’s a testament to the power of the Health At Every Size approach to wellness, and it’s super fun!

Aside from the Fit Fatties Across America project, the Fit Fatties Forum is a great way to be inspired by exercisers of ALL sizes.  Our forum currently boasts over 1,500 members as well as over 350 fabulous photos of fat people dancing, swimming, cycling, shimmying, lifting very heavy things, aiming arrows, and flashing some flaming hula hoops!  The pictures are amazing.  What a fabulous, myth busting, stigma shattering resource for men and women of all sizes!

Now, my loyal readers, I’d like to enlist your help.  Some of us local California peeps are planning to meet at the beach to do the final leg of the Fit Fatties Across America project together on Saturday, March 19.  But that means that as a group, we need to clock just over 200 miles in the next two weeks.  Will you help us get there?  If you’re not already a member of the Fit Fatties Forum, would you consider joining?  It’s totally FREE!  And if you’re already a member of the Fit Fatties Forum, would you consider entering your exercise totals for the next two weeks so we can reach our goal?  And if you are a member of the Fit Fatties who lives in the LA area, would you consider joining us on March 19 to finish the last few miles of this great project together live, and in person?  Let’s dip our toes in the big blue ocean together!  Let’s show ’em just what a few fatties can do!

Love,

The Fat Chick

 

The Right Now Show Episode 006: Exercise and Chronic Pain

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In Episode 6 of the Right Now Show, we address a viewer inquiry about exercising with chronic pain or disability.  We discuss strategies for exercising with osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia and other sources of chronic pain, discuss the traffic light method for rating pain conditions and discuss techniques for getting the most out of your workouts.

Here are some other important resources for exercising with chronic pain:

This week I’m offering a special FREE BONUS VIDEO with additional information on exercising with chronic pain.

Here’s an extended (1 hr.) interview with me and Pain Specialist Dr. Paul Christo talking about coping with plus-sized exercise and chronic pain:

Here are some studies about the effects of exercise on chronic pain:

And here’s an extremely informative article about chronic pain and exercise technique: