random thoughts: of eating habits, personal fitness choices and body shaming the skinny
"You're so skinny, you should really eat a lot." No one wants to know how many times I've been told that in all my 26-going-on-27 years of growing up along with "you're only eating fish/seafoods and fruits and vegetables? You need to eat meat (pork, beef, chicken, etc) a lot, too." It's starting to annoy me...a lot. I also feel like I've done posts like this numerous times on my tumblr and here. Some of my tweets on twitter have similar sentiments to this as well. I still feel like that something like this, skinny body shaming, still needs to be addressed.
Also, I've just been asked if I'm contented just eating fish/seafood and vegetables and I don't miss meat at all while lunch-ing with family and some of my dad's close friends yesterday...seriously...stop.
Body shame the fat and the obese and they would say, 'so what? Body curves are beautiful,' and body shame the skinny and people doing that say 'oh my god, you're so skinny, you need to eat a lot...' and so on and so forth enough to make skinny and slim people actually rethink their eating habits and their health and fitness practices. Body shaming, it's a double edged sword and a double standard that happens frequently between the skinny individuals and their critics and the fat and obese ones and their own critics which, by the way, often pass themselves as 'healthy, well-rounded, fit and regular' individuals. Well, guess what? That's one double standard we really don't need in this modern world by virtue of the fact that we're so different from one another physically and such we actually have nutritional needs and health and fitness needs that are different from one another. I'm lying? ASK DIETICIANS AND NUTRITIONISTS, THEY SHOULD KNOW THIS. Oh and personal trainers as well.
I've had a few weeks of summers and some other isolated days spent with some relatives, a family of them, up north in the vast metropolis of Manila in the past. The mother, my aunt, is an amazing cook---my mum admires her somehow---and my uncle and their kids, all four boys and technically my uncles because they're my mum's cousins, all have healthy appetites. They also had the fat to obese body shape with the exception of my uncle, the dad of the family, that always seemed to stay perpetually thin, slim or skinny. Somehow, they always thought I was really skinny, borderline anorexic that they didn't think I ate a lot. Therefore they kept coaxing me to eat the few weeks of summers and the days I spent went with them. The thing is that I was coming onto my own during this time. I ate healthy but I was forming my own opinions about how my diet should go and I was already plotting ways to stay as slim as I was and well...just...shapely enough. I hadn't thought of becoming vegetarian or pescetarian until I was well into the second year of university but I was pretty sure I wanted to maintain my slim, skinny and tall-ish figure.
To give you a view of how genetics---because genetics plays a huge role in body and body function differences---dictates my body shape, it's like this: my maternal side of the family are of average Asian height, the men went no further from 5'11 to 6 feet tall and the women only averaged 4'9 feet tall. They were also not very slim and nor were they obese. My dad however got his bone structure and body shape which stays perpetually thin or slim from his father side of the paternal line. He also inherited the tall, 6+ feet height from that side of the family. I happened to be a nice mix of my mum and dad's genes but mostly, in my opinion, my dad's because I'm 4-5 inches taller than my mum and always seem to stay thin, slim or skinny no matter how much I ate in the past and up into the present. My younger brother inherited my mum's body and bone structure that even if he's tall, he's a bit plumper than I am.
Let's face it, there are people who are skinny day in and day out because they really just can't pack any fat or weight in their body at all no matter how much they tried to eat a lot daily. It's probably because of fast metabolism or it could be because of something else. I am one of those and so is one or two of my friends. We have one thing in common and it's that we get skinny shamed, a lot, in various, different, highly creative ways. Our food and diet choices get picked on---because they're the reason why we don't gain weight at all---and even the amount of food we consume daily get criticized---apparently, the more you eat, the more you gain weight is the norm and we skinny people need to eat, a lot. I also once wandered into an AAA music video once where someone shared how much she worried about Uno Misako because she's too thin now and she needs to really eat a lot.
Genetics, choice of diet and fitness and health practices are three things invisible to these very same 'body shape' critics. These three are the things they seem to ignore when they criticize someone who they think looks anorexic. They happen to think then that they have the 'ideal' body shape and therefore are right with their criticisms and that their advice should be followed. Newsflash: no way should their advices be followed because they are NOT health professionals at all. Nor are they licensed health professionals. They highly discount the individuality of the person they criticize and therefore are just flat out WRONG in whatever they say about skinny people.
There's a difference between being skinny and being anorexic. If these skinny body shaming individuals ever tried educating themselves and reading about that eating disorder called anorexia nervosa, then I would not have to post a long rant about individualism and body shaming the skinny like this one.
My point is, everything about fitness, health and diet are personal choices except if there's medical treatment for said individual involved. If that's the case, then some things are off limits for such individuals where fitness, health and diet are concerned. Before anyone ever decides to tell someone to 'eat a lot because they're skinny,' they should look at themselves first and see what they are missing because I would think they are the ones who need such criticism because they are likely the fat or the obese. I have nothing against the slightly chubby ones because yes, I appreciate their curves but the others...? Do you actually know that OBESITY is a medical disease? It can lead to a lot of medical health complications is all I'm going to say.
A lot of the skinny people I know, myself included, actually have pretty healthy lifestyles. They're are often vegetarians, pescetarians or they can eat about anything and not worry about gaining weight at all because they just can't. Yet they seemed to have hit the right balance in their diets because they have boundless energies to spend daily on various activities from mild to extreme. They also have really good exercise programs they follow---Uno Misako, I know, does yoga and screw you naysayers but yoga is an awesome way to relax the body and actually improve balance, flexibility, strength and a few others. They are also often the people who are aware of how much water they need to drink daily and the other details they need to keep themselves healthy and strong and...well...beautiful. In a nutshell, they actually know how to maintain their body shape. The question to you, critics, is...DO YOU KNOW ALL THESE? Are you aware of what your body needs and such or are you so content with your sedentary lifestyles you actually have nothing to do but be bitter and body shame us who trouble ourselves with keeping our bodies in shape and functioning well? Hmn...yep, I thought so, too.
I think I've driven my point in deep enough I don't care anymore what people say about me, my diet choices and my lifestyle choices in general. I'll leave everything I've written and ranted on here up for you to actually look into and well...study, whatsoever. I actually am tired of stooping to the low levels of these bitter, maybe envious (?) body shaming individuals.
*****
In other news---footy fandom news: Germany heavily dismantled Portugal in their opening game. Spain has just been eliminated from the running towards the round of 16/knockouts after having lost to Chile 0-2 and before that, Netherlands, 1-5. What is going on, oh dear Espanya?!
Compared to their Real Madrid counterparts, Bayern Munich boys are doing good. Switzerland won their game against Equador with Shaqiri, Germany effectively stopped Portugal from making a run for the top of Group G with a bunch of Bayern Munich players and some from Borussia Dortmund and Netherlands just killed Spain's chances of ever topping their group with Arjen Robben and a few others.
Netherlands didn't really perform well during the first half of their match against Australia yesterday but they got their form back in the second half and managed to win that one with a 2-3, effectively killing Australia's chances of making the knockouts/round of 16. Brazil and Mexico tied in their match however much I really wanted Mexico's chances of making semis or something close killed before the round of 16/knockouts so meh. From this point on, whatever happens, happens.
Oh and USA finally won against Ghana so yay~ They still weren't at their best, however. I'm crossing my fingers they perform well against Portugal. I just really don't want Portugal to get past Group G and am rooting for both Germany and the USA there.
Anyway, until the next post. :)
kg*
Also, I've just been asked if I'm contented just eating fish/seafood and vegetables and I don't miss meat at all while lunch-ing with family and some of my dad's close friends yesterday...seriously...stop.
Body shame the fat and the obese and they would say, 'so what? Body curves are beautiful,' and body shame the skinny and people doing that say 'oh my god, you're so skinny, you need to eat a lot...' and so on and so forth enough to make skinny and slim people actually rethink their eating habits and their health and fitness practices. Body shaming, it's a double edged sword and a double standard that happens frequently between the skinny individuals and their critics and the fat and obese ones and their own critics which, by the way, often pass themselves as 'healthy, well-rounded, fit and regular' individuals. Well, guess what? That's one double standard we really don't need in this modern world by virtue of the fact that we're so different from one another physically and such we actually have nutritional needs and health and fitness needs that are different from one another. I'm lying? ASK DIETICIANS AND NUTRITIONISTS, THEY SHOULD KNOW THIS. Oh and personal trainers as well.
I've had a few weeks of summers and some other isolated days spent with some relatives, a family of them, up north in the vast metropolis of Manila in the past. The mother, my aunt, is an amazing cook---my mum admires her somehow---and my uncle and their kids, all four boys and technically my uncles because they're my mum's cousins, all have healthy appetites. They also had the fat to obese body shape with the exception of my uncle, the dad of the family, that always seemed to stay perpetually thin, slim or skinny. Somehow, they always thought I was really skinny, borderline anorexic that they didn't think I ate a lot. Therefore they kept coaxing me to eat the few weeks of summers and the days I spent went with them. The thing is that I was coming onto my own during this time. I ate healthy but I was forming my own opinions about how my diet should go and I was already plotting ways to stay as slim as I was and well...just...shapely enough. I hadn't thought of becoming vegetarian or pescetarian until I was well into the second year of university but I was pretty sure I wanted to maintain my slim, skinny and tall-ish figure.
To give you a view of how genetics---because genetics plays a huge role in body and body function differences---dictates my body shape, it's like this: my maternal side of the family are of average Asian height, the men went no further from 5'11 to 6 feet tall and the women only averaged 4'9 feet tall. They were also not very slim and nor were they obese. My dad however got his bone structure and body shape which stays perpetually thin or slim from his father side of the paternal line. He also inherited the tall, 6+ feet height from that side of the family. I happened to be a nice mix of my mum and dad's genes but mostly, in my opinion, my dad's because I'm 4-5 inches taller than my mum and always seem to stay thin, slim or skinny no matter how much I ate in the past and up into the present. My younger brother inherited my mum's body and bone structure that even if he's tall, he's a bit plumper than I am.
Let's face it, there are people who are skinny day in and day out because they really just can't pack any fat or weight in their body at all no matter how much they tried to eat a lot daily. It's probably because of fast metabolism or it could be because of something else. I am one of those and so is one or two of my friends. We have one thing in common and it's that we get skinny shamed, a lot, in various, different, highly creative ways. Our food and diet choices get picked on---because they're the reason why we don't gain weight at all---and even the amount of food we consume daily get criticized---apparently, the more you eat, the more you gain weight is the norm and we skinny people need to eat, a lot. I also once wandered into an AAA music video once where someone shared how much she worried about Uno Misako because she's too thin now and she needs to really eat a lot.
Genetics, choice of diet and fitness and health practices are three things invisible to these very same 'body shape' critics. These three are the things they seem to ignore when they criticize someone who they think looks anorexic. They happen to think then that they have the 'ideal' body shape and therefore are right with their criticisms and that their advice should be followed. Newsflash: no way should their advices be followed because they are NOT health professionals at all. Nor are they licensed health professionals. They highly discount the individuality of the person they criticize and therefore are just flat out WRONG in whatever they say about skinny people.
There's a difference between being skinny and being anorexic. If these skinny body shaming individuals ever tried educating themselves and reading about that eating disorder called anorexia nervosa, then I would not have to post a long rant about individualism and body shaming the skinny like this one.
My point is, everything about fitness, health and diet are personal choices except if there's medical treatment for said individual involved. If that's the case, then some things are off limits for such individuals where fitness, health and diet are concerned. Before anyone ever decides to tell someone to 'eat a lot because they're skinny,' they should look at themselves first and see what they are missing because I would think they are the ones who need such criticism because they are likely the fat or the obese. I have nothing against the slightly chubby ones because yes, I appreciate their curves but the others...? Do you actually know that OBESITY is a medical disease? It can lead to a lot of medical health complications is all I'm going to say.
A lot of the skinny people I know, myself included, actually have pretty healthy lifestyles. They're are often vegetarians, pescetarians or they can eat about anything and not worry about gaining weight at all because they just can't. Yet they seemed to have hit the right balance in their diets because they have boundless energies to spend daily on various activities from mild to extreme. They also have really good exercise programs they follow---Uno Misako, I know, does yoga and screw you naysayers but yoga is an awesome way to relax the body and actually improve balance, flexibility, strength and a few others. They are also often the people who are aware of how much water they need to drink daily and the other details they need to keep themselves healthy and strong and...well...beautiful. In a nutshell, they actually know how to maintain their body shape. The question to you, critics, is...DO YOU KNOW ALL THESE? Are you aware of what your body needs and such or are you so content with your sedentary lifestyles you actually have nothing to do but be bitter and body shame us who trouble ourselves with keeping our bodies in shape and functioning well? Hmn...yep, I thought so, too.
I think I've driven my point in deep enough I don't care anymore what people say about me, my diet choices and my lifestyle choices in general. I'll leave everything I've written and ranted on here up for you to actually look into and well...study, whatsoever. I actually am tired of stooping to the low levels of these bitter, maybe envious (?) body shaming individuals.
*****
In other news---footy fandom news: Germany heavily dismantled Portugal in their opening game. Spain has just been eliminated from the running towards the round of 16/knockouts after having lost to Chile 0-2 and before that, Netherlands, 1-5. What is going on, oh dear Espanya?!
Compared to their Real Madrid counterparts, Bayern Munich boys are doing good. Switzerland won their game against Equador with Shaqiri, Germany effectively stopped Portugal from making a run for the top of Group G with a bunch of Bayern Munich players and some from Borussia Dortmund and Netherlands just killed Spain's chances of ever topping their group with Arjen Robben and a few others.
Netherlands didn't really perform well during the first half of their match against Australia yesterday but they got their form back in the second half and managed to win that one with a 2-3, effectively killing Australia's chances of making the knockouts/round of 16. Brazil and Mexico tied in their match however much I really wanted Mexico's chances of making semis or something close killed before the round of 16/knockouts so meh. From this point on, whatever happens, happens.
Oh and USA finally won against Ghana so yay~ They still weren't at their best, however. I'm crossing my fingers they perform well against Portugal. I just really don't want Portugal to get past Group G and am rooting for both Germany and the USA there.
Anyway, until the next post. :)
kg*