January 2
Menu
Breakfast: Two corn tortillas with peanut butter
Snack: Decaf coffee
Lunch: Leftover soup from yesterday, two corn tortillas with guacamole
Snack: Popcorn (salt, cooking spray)
Dinner: Sweet potato, baked tofu, leftover soup
Snack: Blueberries and clementine topped with honey, lemon juice, and walnuts; two dried unsulphured apricots
Exercise
10,000 steps, 10 push-ups.
There was an interview with Susie Orbach, the psychotherapist and sociologist specialising in eating disorders, in today's Financial Times. Her biggest claim to fame is having counselled the late Princess Diana for her bulima. It was an interesting interview. Highlights:
Interviewer, an economist, is researching the effects of economic growth on body shape. It makes people fat.
Orbach is concerned about all the chemical we ingest, and that we excrete into the water supply, thus getting a double dose.
Orbach's groundbreaking book, Fat is a Feminist Issue, posits that women get fat not from greed but because fat makes them feel safe. They can avoid negative male attention and envy of other women. Some women who try to lose weight secretly want to be fat for these reasons, but don't even know it.
60 years ago, the prevailing aesthetic was Marilyn Monroe/ Sophia Loren. No desire to be thin. Changed in 1960s. Before 1960, if you were thin, you were poor, couldn't afford to eat. By 1966, Twiggy was the aesthetic. There was excess in society and largeness was not necessary to represent wealth. A whole generation grew up with this aesthetic.
Interviewer has theory that women want to be thin because the most attractiive clothes are in small sizes. Orbach disagrees. Believes art directors and fashion designers can make any size woman look attractive if they want to. Cites Rankin as a photographer of big beautiful women. Photographs stimulate visual cortex.
Orbach plugs new book, Bodies. Feels corporations -- cosmetics, gyms, plastic surgeons -- desire to make women anxious about bodies, because an anxious consumer is easy prey.
Orbach talks about growing up. Her mother went on Mayo Clinic Diet 3X/yr. & ate chocolate at night. Orbach grew up thinking that all grown up women dieted. "Nothing like a diet to institute longings for food." She had mild bingeing and restricting. Nothing compared to what she now sees in her practice.
Interview asks if her clients have different issues today as opposed to 30 years ago. More men not knowing how to have relationships. More North American women feeling empty even though very successful.
In 1951, avg. UK woman 5 foot 3 & 27.5 inch waist. In 2002, 5 foot 4.5 and 34 inch waist.
Between 1962 & 2002, avg. US woman 10 stone to 11 stone 7 lb.
Shape also changing, from classic hourglass shape to more rectangular look. Only 8% women have hourglass shape.
Women's plus size market grew 26% from 2003 to 2008. Retailers using more generous sizing measures so fewer women now need plus size 18.
Fantasy shape of woman is shrinking. Average model used to weight 8% less thn average woman. By 1990, models were 23% less.
In 1960, average BMI of Playboy models 19.2. In 2009, 17.6. But average woman BMI increased from 22.2 to 26.8 over same period.