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Home Archives for Dietary Issues

Candice (Bergen), Oprah, and Us: Famous or Fatsos?

Posted on April 14, 2015 Written by Allison Spitzer 3 Comments

Candice Bergen, a stunningly gorgeous and gifted actress with a lifetime of  accolades recently wrote a memoir. According to  People Magazine, what she wants us to know, first and foremost, is neither that she is the daughter of the great Edgar Bergen, or anything related to her superb creative legacy.

NO, she wants the public to know now, in advance,  that she is FAT. Really. THIS is what Candice feels she needs to announce and dispense with?

Oprah tells the story of accepting a BIG award ( as in Emmy, Oscar or other) and rather than pride at that moment, she only felt shame; humiliated by her weight. Finding joy in her accomplishments  was impossible in her dress size.

Two intelligent, powerful women with so much to say, and their first message or memory is about  their weight. Is that what you’ll remember about Oprah? Or Candice?

Well, how about the rest of us? I don’t have the awards of either one, nor the legacy.

If Candice and Oprah feel existentially undeserving, assured of chastisement, or that our sole curiosity about them will focus on their size, how are the rest of us supposed to find a little self esteem beneath our flab?

C’mon, America.

Stop the snickering, stop the fat phobia, the fat prejudice and the fat condescension.

Candice and Oprah are NOT failures and neither are the rest of us. None of us should have to defend ourselves because of our BMI’s.

Filed Under: Dietary Issues, Low Self Esteem, Poor Self Image, Women's Issues Tagged With: Obesity

Not Therapy! Mood Massage BOGO

Posted on July 26, 2011 Written by Allison Spitzer Leave a Comment

Psst!….Periwinkle Health has a NEW FaceBook page…Click on the link, give a thumbs up and hit the “Like!” Thanks!

Mini “Mood Massage“ Sessions BOGO…

Get your “Group-on” discount for summer fun.
It’s BOGO time for Periwinkle Health’s
Mini “Mood Massage” Sessions.
Reg. $40 – 2 for $60!

(That’s you and a friend or two for you!)

So come with a friend, de-stress! Don’t stay depressed,
and get your “Group-on!”

Call 203-218-2200 to schedule 30 calming minutes
of guided visualization. (Expires 8/31/11)

Relax through music, breath, and imagery…

(Not therapy, just a little respite from your struggles and worries.)

 

Filed Under: Depression, Dietary Issues, Relationship Problems, Troubled Teens

Boycott Targets

Posted on July 13, 2011 Written by Allison Spitzer Leave a Comment

Target Misses the Mark, Combines Plus Sizes with Maternity

The worst question you can ask an overweight woman of virtually any age is, “So, when are you due?”

We think, “Shut up! I’m fat, damnit, not pregnant!” Of course, that’s not how most would reply. Weight challenged individuals are usually apologetic, even when insulted, humiliated, or ashamed. We apologize for THEIR error, wanting to spare their embarrassment — being so deeply and keenly aware of the enormity of both our size and perceived failures.

With its recent store reconfiguration, Target, an otherwise fine retailer, actively invites this insensitive question. Is Target consciously perpetuating ongoing discrimination against overweight women?

Target tucked its “Plus Size Women’s” section into the Maternity Department and put both into a nearly hidden, discreet back corner of the store, the back of the “bus” so to speak, so as not to expose such ‘unpleasant situations’ to others.

It gets worse.

The clothes for the overweight and for expectant mothers are hung side by side on the same racks! This forces plus size women to examine each and every label while standing next to a seemingly everpresent young woman, utterly fit, but with a belly clearly into her ninth month. Her clothes labels are marked s/m/lg/xl. The clothes for large, non-pregnant women are coded 1/2/3/4. Side by side.

Someone could walk by and think, “Wow, she (substitute any derogatory term so often, sadly, applied by others) has to buy maternity clothes because she’s so big!”

Those who are size, shopping, and weight challenged do not need to be reminded that they are hard to fit. There are stores devoted solely to the “plus size woman.” Others simply have friendlier departments that specialize in these sizes. Since the obesity crisis in America is certainly in the news, it is hard to believe that Target would intentionally insult a large segment of their customers. However, it is inconceivable that no senior manager there recognized the insensitivity of its plus/maternity combination during the course of a carefully plotted national chain reorganization.

Shopping is certainly not an easy activity for the overweight. The limited range of clothes and styles available are often ugly and matronly. In many stores, trying on clothes in a dressing room designed for the slim puts plus size folks in a tight spot, literally. Many can remember being teased as children that their clothes would have to come from “the tent-maker.” The equivalent fear for grown-ups is that, God forbid, all one could wear is maternity clothes.

Target has certainly reinforced that fear as well as the common belief in America that big (even pregnant) is to be hidden. Perhaps Target should put the “Petites” in the children’s section. With the infant wear?

Clearly, the Target overhaul was designed by someone clueless and slender (and probably male). Whoever their creative overseers are, they certainly haven’t a clue about the daily discrimination weight-challenged Americans must handle simply to get through the day.

So, if you or a loved one shop plus size, or if you simply hate the notion that anyone, including the overweight, in America are disciminated against, perhaps you and I should take our business elsewhere.

Filed Under: Dietary Issues

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