Reactions to story from http://online.wsj.com

• 
  http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2008/05/hillary-sexis...
  194 days ago in Shakesville · Authority: 1,352

  by Shapeling and Shaker Sweet Machine As Jessica at Feministing notes, the Wall Street Journal, that bastion of…something, has launched a new "women's" section online. Three guesses what kind of topic is considered Suitable for the Ladies. Okay, to be fair, there are some career and politics-oriented articles, but there are also the obligatory articles on shopping, exercising, and dieting. The dieting article is almost HAES in drag: it's about mindful eating and its potential to help chronic dieters or those with eating disorders. Sounds good, right? Well, it would be if it didn't emphasize the weight loss of one participant, and if it didn't include this delightful quote from a psychotherapist: "I've worked with lots of obese people—you'd think they'd enjoy food. But a lot of them say they haven't really tasted what they've been shoveling down for years."Use of "obese"? Check. Stereotypes about fat people? Double check! Fatties both loooove food AND can't enjoy it because they're shoveling it down too fast to have normal human experiences like "taste." Mind you, the article does discuss binge-eating disorders in a reasonable way, but that's not what our friend the psychotherapist is talking about—she just means any old "obese people" out there. You just can't stop tear them away from the baby-flavored donuts! But what really burns my cookies is the picture used to illustrate it. I was expecting a Headless Fatty, natch, but oh no, they've gone one better: Hillary Clinton is not mentioned once in this article. Is she a binge eater? A chronic dieter? Does she practice mindful eating? Who knows? Who cares! It doesn't matter. She's a Lady, you see. And the WSJ is all about The Ladies. I'm sure running an unflattering picture of the first major female presidential candidate next to a headline about being "mindless," for an article that reminds us that sometimes women eat cake! and then they get fat!, is just a random pairing that has nothing to do with WSJ's notoriously stodgy editorial stance. This article, which actually delivers what could be a fat-positive or at least fat-neutral stance, is framed as a way to keep all those silly fatties and mindless women from devouring the world. No woman is immune from public scrutiny of her diet: not even if you are rich, white, able-bodied, post-menopausal, and a US Senator can you avoid being used as a cautionary tale of The Dangers of Women Eating. (Cross-posted.) [Hillary Sexism Watch: Parts One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen, Fourteen, Fifteen, Sixteen, Seventeen, Eighteen, Nineteen, Twenty, Twenty-One, Twenty-Two, Twenty-Three, Twenty-Four, Twenty-Five, Twenty-Six, Twenty-Seven, Twenty-Eight, Twenty-Nine, Thirty, Thirty-One, Thirty-Two, Thirty-Three, Thirty-Four, Thirty-Five, Thirty-Six, Thirty-Seven, Thirty-Eight, Thirty-Nine, Forty, Forty-One, Forty-Two, Forty-Three, Forty-Four, Forty-Five, Forty-Six, Forty-Seven, Forty-Eight, Forty-Nine, Fifty, Fifty-One, Fifty-Two, Fifty-Three, Fifty-Four, Fifty-Five, Fifty-Six, Fifty-Seven, Fifty-Eight, Fifty-Nine, Sixty, Sixty-One, Sixty-Two, Sixty-Three, Sixty-Four, Sixty-Five, Sixty-Six, Sixty-Seven, Sixty-Eight, Sixty-Nine, Seventy, Seventy-One, Seventy-Two, Seventy-Three, Seventy-Four, Seventy-Five, Seventy-Six, Seventy-Seven, Seventy-Eight, Seventy-Nine, Eighty, Eighty-One, Eighty-Two, Eighty-Three, Eighty-Four, Eighty-Five, Eighty Six, Eighty-Seven, Eighty-Eight, Eighty-Nine, Ninety, Ninety-One, Ninety-Two, Ninety-Three, Ninety-Four, Ninety-Five, Ninety-Six, Ninety-Seven.]
• 
  http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2008/05/non-headless-...
  194 days ago in Shakesville · Authority: 1,352

  They're coming fast and furious now, Shakers. This is currently on the cover of Slate: Ignore the validity of the premise that Clinton is "in Obama's way," to focus merely on how that message is communicated here: Not "Clinton, you're in my way" or "Senator, you're in my way" or even just, "Hey, you're in my way," but "Lady, you're in my way." As if, perhaps, Senator Hillary Clinton is a doddering old woman who is swerving her cart back and forth in the grocery aisle, rather than a serious presidential contender fighting out a close race to the finish. And, for the record, even if she were a doddering old woman swerving her cart back and forth in the grocery aisle, "Lady, you're in my way" would still be fucking rude. In the actual article, in which John Dickerson wonders, "Can Obama do anything to get Clinton out of the race?", he asserts that by telling the Washington Post that the sexism used against her during the campaign has been "deeply offensive to millions of women," Clinton is "making it more painful for Obama if he tries to push her out." Right. Pointing out the unrelenting sexism during this campaign is just a Machiavellian ploy to damage Obama.* That it's not considered possible for people to point out sexism—even Clinton herself, who has been its target—without it being a swipe at Obama (and/or a bit of shilling for Clinton) is just another bit of misogyny, the idea that women and their allies must have an ulterior motive for addressing sexism. As if the sexism itself isn't bad enough, or as if it doesn't really even exist in the first place—it's just some concocted excuse to take a hit at someone, or "make things painful" for Obama. Christ. (Also note that Slate's "women's" blog, The XX Factor, is having an important discussion about "The Secret Lives of Married Men" while the first viable female presidential candidate ever is being trashed on their wankazine's front page. Brava.) [H/T to Shaker Squires, via email.] ------------------------- * Never mind that in the audio of the interview, Clinton says, twenty seconds in: "I think that part of what I have to do [as I continue campaigning] is both continue to make the case for me but also to demonstrate that we're going to have a unified Democratic Party when we finally have a nomination, because it's really important that we win," and then says again, at 2:15, after being asked if "women" (note) are going to be upset if she doesn't get the nomination: "It's one of the closest races we've ever had, and I think that a lot of people are deeply invested in their candidates, so there will probably be disappointment no matter which of us gets the nomination, and then it will be up to us to unify the Party and make sure that we are victorious in November against McCain." Hillary Sexism Watch: Parts One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen, Fourteen, Fifteen, Sixteen, Seventeen, Eighteen, Nineteen, Twenty, Twenty-One, Twenty-Two, Twenty-Three, Twenty-Four, Twenty-Five, Twenty-Six, Twenty-Seven, Twenty-Eight, Twenty-Nine, Thirty, Thirty-One, Thirty-Two, Thirty-Three, Thirty-Four, Thirty-Five, Thirty-Six, Thirty-Seven, Thirty-Eight, Thirty-Nine, Forty, Forty-One, Forty-Two, Forty-Three, Forty-Four, Forty-Five, Forty-Six, Forty-Seven, Forty-Eight, Forty-Nine, Fifty, Fifty-One, Fifty-Two, Fifty-Three, Fifty-Four, Fifty-Five, Fifty-Six, Fifty-Seven, Fifty-Eight, Fifty-Nine, Sixty, Sixty-One, Sixty-Two, Sixty-Three, Sixty-Four, Sixty-Five, Sixty-Six, Sixty-Seven, Sixty-Eight, Sixty-Nine, Seventy, Seventy-One, Seventy-Two, Seventy-Three, Seventy-Four, Seventy-Five, Seventy-Six, Seventy-Seven, Seventy-Eight, Seventy-Nine, Eighty, Eighty-One, Eighty-Two, Eighty-Three, Eighty-Four, Eighty-Five, Eighty Six, Eighty-Seven, Eighty-Eight, Eighty-Nine, Ninety, Ninety-One, Ninety-Two, Ninety-Three, Ninety-Four, Ninety-Five, Ninety-Six.
• 

  Non-headless non-fatty

  http://kateharding.net/2008/05/22/non-headless-non-fatty/
  194 days ago in Kate Harding’s Shapely Prose · Authority: 441

  As Jessica at Feministing notes, the Wall Street Journal, that bastion of…something, has launched a new “women’s” section online. Three guesses what kind of topic is considered Suitable for the Ladies. Okay, to be fair, there are some career and politics-oriented articles, but there are also the obligatory articles on shopping, exercising, and dieting. The dieting article is almost HAES in drag: it’s about mindful eating and its potential to help chronic dieters or those with eating disorders. Sounds good, right? Well, it would be if it didn’t emphasize the weight loss of one participant, and if it didn’t include this delightful quote from a psychotherapist: “I’ve worked with lots of obese people — you’d think they’d enjoy food. But a lot of them say they haven’t really tasted what they’ve been shoveling down for years.” Use of “obese”? Check. Stereotypes about fat people? Double check! Fatties both loooove food AND can’t enjoy it because they’re shoveling it down too fast to have normal human experiences like “taste.” Mind you, the article does discuss binge-eating disorders in a reasonable way, but that’s not what our friend the psychotherapist is talking about — she just means any old “obese people” out there. You just can’t stop tear them away from the baby-flavored donuts! But what really burns my cookies is the picture used to illustrate it. I was expecting a Headless Fatty, natch, but oh no, they’ve gone one better: Hillary Clinton is not mentioned once in this article. Is she a binge eater? A chronic dieter? Does she practice mindful eating? Who knows? Who cares! It doesn’t matter. She’s a Lady, you see. And the WSJ is all about The Ladies. I’m sure running an unflattering picture of the first major female presidential candidate next to a headline about being “mindless,” for an article that reminds us that sometimes women eat cake! and then they get fat!, is just a random pairing that has nothing to do with WSJ’s notoriously stodgy editorial stance. This article, which actually delivers what could be a fat-positive or at least fat-neutral stance, is framed as a way to keep all those silly fatties and mindless women from devouring the world. No woman is immune from public scrutiny of her diet: not even if you are rich, white, able-bodied, post-menopausal, and a US Senator can you avoid being used as a cautionary tale of The Dangers of Women Eating.
• 

  Put an End to Mindless Munching

  http://junk-foodaholic.blogspot.com/2008/05/put-end-to-mindl...
  203 days ago in A Junk-Foodaholic's Journey to a Healthy Lifestyle : A Junk-Foodaholic's Journey to a Healthy Lifestyle · Authority: 14

  First, ask yourself how hungry you are, on a scale of 1 (ravenous) to 7 (stuffed). Next, take time to appreciate the food on your plate. Notice the colors and textures. Take a bite. Slowly experience the tastes on your tongue. Put down your fork and savor. "Most people don't think about what they're eating -- they're focusing on the next bite," says Sasha Loring, a psychotherapist at Duke Integrative Medicine, part of Duke University Health System here. "I've worked with lots of obese people -- you'd think they'd enjoy food. But a lot of them say they haven't really tasted what they've been shoveling down for years." Over lunch, Ms. Loring is teaching me how to eat mindfully -- paying attention to what you eat and stopping just before you're full, ideally about 5½ on that 7-point scale. Many past diet plans have stressed not overeating. What's different about mindful eating is the paradoxical concept that eating just a few mouthfuls, and savoring the experience, can be far more satisfying than eating an entire cake mindlessly. ENJOYING YOUR FOODAssess how hungry you are.Eat slowly; savor your food.Put your fork down and breathe between bites.Notice taste satiety.Check back on your hunger level.Stop when you start to feel full. Source: Duke Integrative MedicineIt sounds so simple, but it takes discipline and practice. It's a far cry from the mindless way many of us eat while walking, working or watching TV, stopping only when the plate is clean or the show is over. It's also a mind-blowing experience: I'm full and completely satisfied after three mindful bites. The approach, which has roots in Buddhism, is being studied at several academic medical centers and the National Institutes of Health as a way to combat eating disorders. In a randomized controlled trial at Duke and Indiana State University, binge eaters who participated in a nine-week mindful-eating program went from binging an average of four times a week to once, and reduced their levels of insulin resistance, a precursor to diabetes. More NIH-funded trials are under way to study whether mindful eating is effective for weight loss, and for helping people who have lost weight keep it off. One key aspect is to approach food nonjudgmentally. Many people bring a host of negative emotions to the table -- from guilt about blowing a diet to childhood fears of deprivation or wastefulness. "I joke with my clients that if I could put a microphone in their heads and broadcast what they're saying to themselves when they eat, the FCC would have to bleep it out," says Megrette Fletcher, executive director of the Center for Mindful Eating, a Web-based forum for health-care professionals. Using food as a reward or as solace also interferes with eating mindfully; if you're eating to satisfy emotional hunger, it's hard to ever feel full. "Ask yourself, what do you really need and what else can you do it fulfill it?" says Ms. Loring. Chronic dieters in particular have trouble recognizing their internal cues, says Jean Kristeller, a psychologist at Indiana State, who pioneered mindful eating in the 1990s. "Diets set up rules around food and disconnect people even further from their own experiences of hunger and satiety and fullness," she says. Mindful eaters learn to assess taste satiety. A hunger for something sweet or sour or salty can often be satisfied with a small morsel. In one exercise, Ms. Kristeller has clients mindfully eat a single raisin -- noticing their thoughts and emotions, as well as the taste and texture. "It sounds somewhat silly," she explains, "but it can also be very profound." Mindful eating also means learning to ignore urges to snack that aren't connected to hunger. And it's critical to leave food on your plate once you are full; pack it to go, if possible. In contrast to other diet programs, the researchers involved with mindful eating avoid making weight-loss claims; that's still being investigated. But some practitioners say it's life-changing. "I don't think about food anymore. It's totally out of my mind," says Mary Ann Power, age 50, of Pittsboro, N.C., a lifelong dieter who thinks she's lost eight or 10 pounds in two weeks since learning the practice at Duke. "I think you could put a piece of chocolate cake in front of my nose right now, and it wouldn't tempt me. Before, I could eat three pieces." One mindful meal at Duke made a big impression on me -- I was satisfied with minimal meals for days afterward. But it's hard to sustain. I find myself eating mindlessly again in front of the TV, or at the computer. "Try to eat one meal or one snack mindfully every day," advises Jeffrey Greeson, a psychologist with the Duke program. "Even eating just the first few bites mindfully can help break the cycle of wolfing it down without paying any attention." Source: here © 2008 Thanks for taking the time to read my blog. Please feel free to peruse my blog for more great content. My Other Websites: Are Your Vitamins Safe? Whole Food Nation Affiliate Link © 2008 Thanks for subscribing to my feed. Please visit my blog for more great content. My Other Websites: Are Your Vitamins Safe? Whole Food Nation Affiliate Link
• 

  Nibbles: American obesity alarming, plus mindless munching and clueless fat people

  http://calorielab.com/news/2008/05/13/nibbles-american-obesi...
  203 days ago in CalorieLab Diet News · Authority: 278

  Nearly everyone is overweight Most ethnic groups living in the United States have obesity rates called “quite alarming” by researchers. The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis found that more than two-thirds of all whites, blacks and Hispanics were overweight and one-third to half were obese. The number of overweight Asian Americans was lower, leading researchers to say the rising rate of obesity isn’t inevitable. Obese adults had more high blood pressure, abnormal lipid levels and diabetes, even though many of them were also on medications to treat those conditions. Researchers said it’s likely obesity will lead to an increase in cardiovascular deaths… For some, activity helps prevent breast cancer Women who are physically active are about 25 percent less likely to develop breast cancer, according to research in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. But working out didn’t affect risk in the same way among all women. Those least likely to get breast cancer were those who were already lean and played sports or exercised in their spare time. Structured physical activity seemed to be more protective than activity such as housework, and obese women got no protection from exercise… Teaching nutrition very cost effective A program that taught low-income adults how to make healthier food choices is estimated to have returned a benefit of about $10 for every dollar spent on the program. Researchers at Cornell looked at more than 5,000 people who took part in the New York State Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program in 2000 and found that the program produced quality of life changes worth about $49 million, which makes the program as cost-effective as many health interventions used today, researchers said… The key to eating mindfully You might think that you think about what you’re eating while you’re eating, or even that you enjoy food. But are you really eating mindfully? Experts say eating slowly, savoring each bite and only eating until you are satisfied are important aspects of mindful eating, and they may also help people lose weight. A National Institutes of Health study found that teaching mindful eating practices to binge eaters reduced the frequency of binges, and learning to pay attention to your body’s signals can help you eat less and enjoy it more… Waist size more important than BMI Many doctors still only take height and weight measurements to determine if a patient is overweight, but the more important measure for predicting health problems, according to an increasing number of studies, is waist measurement. Body mass index doesn’t work for a lot of people, but for the vast majority of people, having a waist measurement over 35 inches for women and 40 for men dramatically increases the risk of health problems (these numbers vary slightly for very tall or very short people). Having a large waist makes it more likely you’ll have a heart attack, and you’ll have more fat around your internal organs as well… Many Brits are overweight and don’t know it Finally, British weight loss company LighterLife surveyed 1,000 adults, calculated their body mass index and asked them if they knew what their BMI was. A quarter of respondents didn’t know what BMI was or guessed wrong, while half didn’t know how it was measured. One in three said they were confident they knew their BMI, and 80 percent of those said they were normal weight, but in reality one in eight were overweight. Extrapolating that data over the UK as a whole would mean at least 1.7 million people there are overweight and don’t know it. (By Sarah E. White for CalorieLab Calorie Counter News)
• 

  In lean times, shoppers see extra fat in food bill - Kansas City Star

  http://www.jasmarr.com/2008/05/13/in-lean-times-shoppers-see...
  204 days ago in Index of / · Authority: 1

  In lean times, shoppers see extra fat in food bill - Kansas City Star In lean times, shoppers see extra fat in food bill - Kansas City Star A customer shops in the refrigerated section of a Chicago supermarket Monday, May 12, 2008. Shoppers say they’re being gouged on food prices, but retailers say suspicions that they are taking advantage of consumers are unjustified and that, if Hungry Girl diet’s got good taste - Rocky Mountain News Lisa Lillien isn’t a nutritionist, a dietitian or a weight-loss guru. She’s just hungry. And like most of us, Lillien wants to eat guilt-free, which is way easier said than done. But about five years ago, she decided to help herself do exactly that Putting an End to Mindless Munching - Wall Street Journal Durham, N.C. First, ask yourself how hungry you are, on a scale of 1 (ravenous) to 7 (stuffed). Next, take time to appreciate the food on your plate. Notice the colors and textures. Take a bite. Slowly experience the tastes on your tongue. Put down FEATURE-Bangladeshis told ‘eat potatoes’ as rice prices soar - Forbes DHAKA, May 13 (Reuters) - Potatoes are not traditionally high on the menu for Bangladesh’s 140 million people, but a surge in rice and wheat prices has prompted the government to popularise the humble spud as a substitute food. “Think potato, grow Moderate drinking may lower hip fracture risk - Reuters UK NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A drink or two a day may make for stronger bones, according to a new review of the published literature, but more than two drinks each day appears to increase the fracture risk. Men and women who had one half to one Brought to you by Chefs Diet. If losing weight is your goal, visit us today to see how easy weight loss really is.Share and Enjoy:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.

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