10.15.07
Posted in Our Bodies, Paths to Bliss
at 1:49 pm
I am proud to announce Colorado’s first ever Fat Girl Clothing Swap. I am co-conspiring with one of the original organizers of the Fat Girl Flea Market, Tina Arroyo, to create a day of fat, fashion, and fabulousness. We were talking about how it’s often difficult to find cute clothes in plus sizes and even more difficult to find them in Colorado (the closest Avenue is in Albuquerque!). We thought it would be fun to have a clothing swap so we could meet some great people and essentially throw a big party where everyone leaves with cute clothes. While we’re at it, we thought we would give back to the fat community by donating all proceeds to FLARE!, an organization that helps people affected by weight discrimination.
Thus was born the Fat Girl Clothing Swap. All information about the Swap can be found at our website, but here are some great reasons to participate:
- We will have gift bags with surprises and tons of resources for fat girls for the first 50 shoppers.
- You will find clothes from all your favorite stores at a tenth of the cost.
- We have several awesome raffle prizes that will include art, books, and services.
- You’ll be able to get rid of clothes you don’t wear to make room for fabulous new clothes that you will find at the Swap.
- All proceeds are going to a wonderful charity that is out there fighting for the rights of fat people in the United States.
- We will have a make-up station so you can get a beauty make-over with your new clothes.
- For those interested, we will be taking fashion photographs of shoppers in a new outfit and we will email you the pictures.
- It is going to be a blast! We’ll have great music, dedicated volunteers who want you to look and feel fabulous, and plenty of cute clothes for any occasion.
If you would like to volunteer for the event, donate clothes*, donate a raffle prize, or have any questions, please feel free to use the contact page on this site or email me at kimberly [at] fabandfat [dot] com.
*Please note: You do not have to live in the Denver Metro area to donate clothes. If you’d like to clean out your closets and send us the clothes for the swap, please email me for details.
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10.01.07
Posted in Make Your Life Easier, Our Bodies, Paths to Bliss
at 8:33 am
I’ve been thinking about the idea of obligation a lot recently. I’ve been reading a lot of Body Acceptance blogs lately and when the subject of weight or health comes up the idea of obligation goes hand and hand (more on this in a minute). I thought about what a relief the thought, “I don’t have to be or do anything unless I want to,” has been for me. I remember what a relief it was when someone told me that and I got it. It was like I had their permission to be me. And I had to step back and really think about why I needed permission to let go of obligation like that.
Here’s what I’ve come up with: I think the reason we need permission to let go of a lot of obligation in our lives is that the obligation did not come from inside of us in the first place. We don’t inherently want to make ourselves miserable to look or be a certain way, but there is typically a lot of pressure to do so. So much pressure, in fact, that we feel like we’re failing if we don’t conform to the standards that other people have set for us. If someone sets new standards that are easier for us to take steps towards we feel relief because they have given us permission to take an easier path. Somehow, what we really think gets mixed up in these standards and we lose part of ourselves to the process.
So. This post is about increasing our awareness of our perceived obligations and letting them go. We’re allowed to be who we are right now, all the time, without anyone else’s input. I’m going to give examples of obligations I’ve found in myself and others and then give us permission to let them go.
Read the rest of this entry »
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09.18.07
Posted in Discovering the Senses, Our Bodies, Paths to Bliss
at 11:18 am
I’ve added a bunch of new links to the sidebar under “Body Acceptance.” The abundance of resources and support for this topic is overwhelming (in a good way). Here are a few I want to highlight:
12 Steps to Health at Every Size
Health at Every Size is a way of life that focuses on how you’re feeling (sound familiar?) and making friends with your body instead of what you weigh or what body type you have.
Good With Cheese
This is one of my new favorite blogs because it is about a woman’s journey to listening to and accepting her body. And because she’s hilarious.
You Don’t Have to Be Pretty
Here’s an oldie but a goodie that is worth a re-read (every. freakin’. month.). It’s about how we don’t owe prettiness to anyone. We only owe happiness to ourselves.
Here are some particularly good posts that I’ve come across recently (they may not have actually been written recently, but they’re new to me.):
Crush-Worthy
This right here sums up one of the best thing about participating in the Health at Every Size movement: The joy that comes with a lovely realignment in priorities.
You Won’t Go to Hell Because it Tastes Good
This post challenges us to remove moral judgment from what we eat.
I dare you
The Rotund dares us to go an entire day without thinking or saying negative things about our bodies.
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06.28.07
Posted in Our Bodies, Paths to Bliss
at 10:15 am
I’m still here, I promise. I’m working on a bunch of things!
I’m on a mailing list for an energy healer’s meetup group and this arrived in my mailbox this morning:
The body you are given will be yours for the duration of your time here. Love it or hate it, accept it or reject it, it is the only one you will receive in this lifetime.. It will be with you from the moment you draw your first breath to the last beat of your heart. Since there is no refund, no exchange policy on this body of yours, it is essential that you learn to transform your body from a mere vessel into a beloved partner and lifelong ally, as the relationship between you and your body is the most fundamental and important relationship of your lifetime. It is the blueprint from which all your other relationships will be built.
The challenge of the first rule is to make peace with your body, so that it can effectively serve its purpose and share its valuable lessons of acceptance, self esteem, respect, and pleasure. Everyone one learn these lessons before they are able to journey successfully through life.
–Andrew Adler
I love it!
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05.23.07
Posted in Discovering the Senses, Our Bodies, Paths to Bliss, Positive Thinking
at 11:00 am
I’ve written before about the importance of savoring the food we eat, but I thought I would go a little bit deeper into the subject today because food has such an impact on our bodies and spirits. The idea sounds fun, am I right? 
It would be great to only eat food that tastes and looks really great, to really think about just what you want and then enjoying the process to cook it or go out and get it, to transform meals into sensory experiences instead of something to get through. Sure that sounds awesome.
And then reality intrudes and we work all day and grab something for lunch and then scrape something together for dinner and most likely we drink coffee for breakfast. Maybe once in a while on the weekends we have a dinner that we’ve been thinking about and planning and that we really enjoy. And we think, “Yeah, savoring food sounds awesome, but it takes a lot of energy to plan for.” And trust me, I’m with you there. When food is something we have to do, it becomes something we “deal with” rather than something we experience.
Imagine what kind of energy you’re sending your meals if you’re in “deal with” mode. If you’ve scraped together something that isn’t satisfying or feel guilty about eating something that really is, you’re sending negative energy into your food and then eating it. Even if you’ve just grabbed something and you’re not consciously thinking about what you’re eating, you’re still having a subconscious relationship with your food. You’re thinking that the food isn’t really important, or that you shouldn’t be eating it, or that it’s just fuel and you don’t care. The energy becomes, “I don’t care about what I’m putting into my body.”
Notice that I’m not talking about what it is you’re eating. For the purposes of this discussion, that doesn’t matter. What matters is the kind of energy we’re putting into our food. If you believe in the power of thought and if you believe that we are made up of spiritual, emotional, intellectual and physical bodies, that energy is going to affect how you process that food. Reiki practitioners often send energy to food that we prepare and eat to help us digest and metabolize food in healthy ways. Think about the movie Like Water for Chocolate. The premise of the film is that the emotions of the chef affect everyone who eats her food. The same thing is true about the energy we’re sending into the food before we eat it.
Read the rest of this entry »
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04.16.07
Posted in Our Bodies, Paths to Bliss
at 9:09 am
In honor of the first Monday since I launched the new site, I’m going to link to an article I wrote about how I approaching living in my body.
Over the course of the past five years or so, I’ve been trying to come to terms with my body as it is and try and “figure it out.” I’m a problem solver and my relationship with body was just another thing to figure out, right? Perhaps you can see how it took me a while to work through my basic assumption that was, I can tell you with great confidence now, wrong. My body is not a problem. My body is a wondrous solution. My body is the answer. I don’t like the word “overweight” because it implies that my body is reacting to my environment in ways that are counter to my well-being. I realize that’s not an intuitive statement considering how much information about the dangers of obesity are bandied about these days, but my body always acts in my best interest.
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