DisFigured is a new comedy that takes an honest look at size and body esteem issues.

In Part One of the interview, I talk to Staci Lawrence, who played Darcy in the movie.

In Part Two of the interview, I talk to Director/Writer Glenn Gers (Mad Money, Fracture).

Links:

• Part One
• Part Two
• PODWOM

Once upon a time, Without Measure (the WOM in PODWOM) was a popular ISAA e-zine, and one of the pages in WOM’s BBTeenz section was called “From Experience.” Thanks to a brilliant suggestion from my wife, now we’re transitioning that section from the e-zine to the podcast. Submissions requested (details in the podcast)!

Check it out at podwom.com

A short and to-the-point podcast! Follow ups from the last podcast, an interview with Joan Poznick, the television producer for “Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?” and Good and Healthy Cooking!

Check it out at podwom.com

This is something I have written after I saw Oprah on TV selling her style of HAES to the world:

I am glad to see that 2009 is the year of healthy living, the year to rediscover our bodies and our self worth, and learn to be active and lead a healthy life style.

This is all good, if it were not for the never ending message to lose weight and measure our achievement by the number of pounds lost or the our new thinner selves.

Glamorizing thinness is harmful, it has not only failed for decades, but obesity is on the rise due to the change in metabolism and eating disorders  these methods cause.

This is the reason why the promoters of weight loss are borrowing our messages of size acceptance and health at every size, to sell their diets and keep  women and teens especially, in the vicious circle of yo yo dieting and body loathing.

My idea of caring and loving my body is unconditional, it has no strings attached. I will love and care for my health no matter what weight i am at or if i lose pounds or inches as a result of a healthy life style or not.

I eat healthy and move my body for health and only for health, not to lose pounds or look thinner.

My self worth is not measured by the number on the scale or a dress size, I am who I am at any size.

I am worthy of respect love and dignity now as I am, it should not be less worthy when fat and more worthy when thin.

My self worth is not based on the scale or the tape measure, these statistics are part of me but not the whole of me, and when they fluctuate they do not affect who i am as a human being.

Caring for my health is a pleasurable duty I have towards my best friend, my child and the home of my soul my beautiful body.

Without it, I would not be able to love , feel pleasure, walk, run, laugh and dance, be happy or sad , work and play, be creative , be productive, be a lover and a friend, be a mother, a father or a child, without this body I do not exist.

For many years you made me hate it, loath it, despise it, torture it, stuff it, gorge it, punish it, insult it, starve it, and beat it.

You are fat an ugly you said, you should be ashamed of your body, who would want you when you are looking like this, you are disgusting, you are obese, lardy, horrible and flabby.

You have let yourself go you said, do something about it you lazy cow.

It is easy to lose weight and look great,  just stop eating, stop stuffing your face with sweets and junk food and get off your fat behind and move….

You only have yourself to blame, you have no will power, you are  disgusting.

No wonder obesity is on the rise, the reverse psychology meant to so called  motivate us fatties to lose weight, resulted in blood tears and death.

The get healthy message you have stolen from us, will not work for you, given your history of torture and abuse.

- Fatima Parker

Well, no sooner do I put my last post online than I get diagnosed with an abdominal hernia (in addition to everything else I told you about). I had surgery to have the hernia repaired on New Year’s Eve.  According to my doctor, the surgery went flawlessly and I’m on the road to recovery. My wife and kids even helped me bring in the New Year — via my cell phone, and I was very gratified for that (almost teary-eyed, actually).

I’ve been spending most of the time on my rear end, some of it bored, some of it entertained, most of it online (I am such a geek). And in the last 24 hours, I honed my geekness into a new PODWOM podcast!

It’s not perfect but it’s not bad, either, and it does cover it’s topic very well. You can even listen to it here!

Blog readers, I owe you an apology. Yes, it’s been kind of a slow year and there are reasons why we haven’t posted but you deserved an explanation sooner than 8 months after the last blog entry. As the creator of this blog haven for ISAA, I must take the blame for that. And I am sorry for anyone who wondered where on Earth we were and what was going on.

The truth is, I have been in terrible health this year. I have been doing well to keep up with size-related news/events and coordinate with ISAA’s second-in-command, Fatima Parker. Fatima has been very busy doing ISAA-related work in the United Kingdom and the Middle East. I hope to have the opportunity to work with her in the next month or so to produce at least one WOM Beta blog post and a PODWOM podcast.

My health issues go back to some major surgeries I had when I was 12 years old in 1983. The surgeries were to prevent potential colon cancer from polyps that run on my (late) father’s side of the family. The surgeries were very successful, especially since part of it involved removing the large intestine (including the colon). A second surgery made me “bionic” by their inserting a plastic-based “j-pouch” in me to perform some of the tasks of the large intestine. And for 20 years (from 1983 to 2003), I had absolutely no complications. But since 2003, my health has been in decline.

At first, we discovered I was severely lactose intolerant and I adjusted my foods accordingly, eliminating all dairy from my diet and including more dairy alternative, such as soy- and rice-based products. But I continued to have medical problems and this year, I was hospitalized 5 times for low potassium and low blood sodium levels. We finally discovered that this was because of problems with the “J-pouch.” It has grown much, much larger than it was ever intended and that has had a significant impact on my electrolytes and the size of the pouch is actually pressing on other organs, which as you might imagine, is painful.

My wife and children as well as our friends, especially our church friends, have been tremendously supportive. And the doctors have gotten me into physical therapy to help control the problem. I also have been prescribed meds which have made daily life much more pain-free than it has been in years.

I want to make a few things clear. While it is true that I have been suffering a medical condition that technically qualifies me as disabled, I have made it one of my highest priorities to not let this medical condition run my life, including my running of ISAA. I am often in contact with people concerning size acceptance and stay apprised of events and size-related issues via the news, internet, mailing lists as well as emails and chats. But I am realistic, too. That is why I made Fatima Parker the second-in-command at ISAA. When I am not available due to my health, she will be. I have the utmost confidence in her based upon her performance as a Branch President in two locations (the only person in ISAA to do so) the last several years.

I am not looking for sympathy or trying to make excuses.  But I did feel you deserved an explanation.

Happy Holidays to all and a Happy New Year as well!

Best Wishes,
Allen Steadham
Director, ISAA

“It’s dead on arrival at my desk.”
- Mississippi House Public Health and Human Services Committee Chairman Steve Holland (D – Plantersville) concerning Mississippi House Bill 282

ISAA would like to thank all of you for your participation in this activism effort. The Mississippi lawmakers heard you loud and clear! Ding, dong, the bill is dead!

ISAA would also like to thank NAAFA and COFTA for their participation in bringing attention to this ill-advised bill.

Released on ISAA website and to the public on February 1, 2008

AUSTIN, TX – The International Size Acceptance Association (ISAA) opposes and condemns Mississippi House Bill 282, proposed by Representative W. T. Mayhall, Jr. of District 40, which is “an act to prohibit certain food establishments from serving food to any person who is obese.” In the unlikely possibility that this legislation actually passes, it would allow restaurants to refuse service to anyone with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 30 or more. The bill does not specify how restaurants should check for BMI but it does state that “the State Department of Health shall monitor the food establishments to which this section applies for compliance with the provisions of this section, and may revoke the permit of any food establishment that repeatedly violates the provisions of this section.”

“This bill is wholesale legalized segregation based on weight,” said ISAA Founder and Director Allen Steadham. “It tells restaurants to choke their own business while discriminating against potential patrons. It is obscene and shows to what extent the obsession over obesity has reached. This clearly steps over a line and should be called for what it is.”

ISAA recommends that the public contact the Mississippi legislature and urge them to oppose this bill and Representative Mayhall to urge him to withdraw this bill.

Representative W.T. Mayhall
Home: 662.393.2069
Cell: 901.734.9540
Email: tmayhall@house.ms.gov

ISAA strongly suggests that the public exercise courtesy when contacting Representative Mayhall and the Mississippi legislature.

ISAA was created in 1997 with the mission to is to promote size acceptance and fight weight-based discrimination throughout the world by means of advocacy and visible, lawful actions. ISAA has a philosophy of self-respect, maintainable fitness and encourages healthy food choices.

Address questions or comments to ISAA Director Allen Steadham at directisaa@gmail.com

- 30 -

Mississippi House Bill 282, full text, was introduced in the 2008 Mississippi legislative session on Friday by Representative W.T. Mayhall, Jr., a retired pharmaceutical salesman with DuPont-Merk. Its co-authors are Bobby Shows, a businessman, and John Read, a pharmacist.

This proposed bill would make discrimination and segregation based on a person’s body size and composition legal in the state of Mississippi and needs to be addressed by any and all Americans who value their own liberties and rights.

Of course, whenever there is a contact made with a legislator or any other public official, politeness is very important to the message. 

As a disclaimer, neither ISAA nor I are advocating hate mail, vandalism, or anything else illegal or ethically questionable in posting this info. Again, please be polite, informative, and as brief as possible when contacting these honorable, albeit misguided in this proposed bill, legislators. Thank you.

So, the contact information is as follows:

Lead Author: Representative W. T. Mayhall, Jr. (R)
Capitol:
P. O. Box 1018
Jackson, MS 39215
tmayhall@house.ms.gov

Co-Author: Representative Bobby Shows (D)
Capitol:
P. O. Box 1018
Jackson, MS 39215
bshows@house.ms.gov

Co-Author: Representative John Read (R)
Capitol:
P. O. Box 1018
Jackson, MS 39215
jread@house.ms.gov

 My personal email to these honorable legislators:

Mississippi HB 282

Please reconsider and withdraw the Mississippi House Bill 282 (http://billstatus. ls.state. ms.us/2008/ pdf/history/ HB/HB0282. xml), authored by Representative W. T. Mayhall, Jr. of District 40 and co-authored by Representative Bobby Shows and Representative John Read, which is “an act to prohibit certain food establishments from serving food to any person who is obese.” This bill is nothing less than the proposed segregation of people according to the size and composition of their bodies and based on a flawed measuring device, the BMI, and false reasoning based on assumptions, failed/ incomplete/ corrupted/ disproven supposed research if citizen’s health, medical research, or even balancing budgets are blamed for this proposal. This proposed legal discrimination against people based on fat phobia and hatred would not only harm those deemed of legal and enforcable arbitrarily-set dimensions but would also harm businesses and, ultimately, your state budget and reputation.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Ms. Daphne Bradshaw

Adventures of the Super-Duper-Sized Woman Pushing Jack Back Down the Beanstalk: So, I’m Fat; Must I Be Made Constantly Afraid?

The Continuing Adventures of the Super-Duper-Sized Woman 

By Daphne Yvonne Bradshaw

 

Daphne, the Super-Duper-Sized Woman, has sat through many CME (Continuing Medical Education) courses in the patient rooms of her various doctors through the years and has heard that many other fat people of all varieties of size have also sat through similar lectures. So, since the many doctors think it very important to spend countless minutes each appointment to teach the following lessons for a fat person’s own good and because most of the doctors seem to think that fat people have not paid attention, not realized the seriousness of their issues with us, or maybe are unable to listen (probably due to too much fat clogging our ears,) Daphne, the SDSW, thought it would be helpful to write out a list of lecture notes so that all will know whether or not we have listened, understood, and considered these words of supposed wisdom and truth on the issue of our weight, specifically the issue of our large supply of adipose tissue.

 

The following list will be in no particular order of importance. It will simply list lecture points. No comment on these points will be made at this time. This listing does not mean any agreement with the points or any disagreement with the points. Furthermore, these lecture notes do not mean the method of speaking to the fat patient is respectful or warranted. It is simply making sure the doctors know we have heard them properly… and perhaps have now passed this part of the course finally and can move on to more helpful aspects of our doctor visits. Well, Daphne, the SDSW, can dream, can’t she?!

 

So, without further ado, here are Daphne’s notes from her doctors’ lecture series entitled “Morbid Obesity for Morons, Specifically You (the Super-Duper-Sized Woman:”

 

1)      My weight is killing me, and my death is to be soon… even within the next five years (endlessly renewable as five year allotments pass.)

2)      I am in denial by refusing to go into hospice by thinking I am not near death when it is obvious I am dying soon due to being so very fat.

3)      I lie continuously and consistently about what I do and don’t eat.

4)      I obviously do overeat but refuse to admit it.

5)      Either I am a pathological liar about food and weight issues, or I am delusional or both.

6)      Maybe I am unaware of portion sizes, caloric values, the glycemic index, or other fine points of nutrition.

7)      I am apparently ignorant of the research and proof (and I am instructed to go read up on it if I am unconvinced) of how my weight is killing me and need to read more research on it since I am very determined to stay so huge.

8 )      I have never considered or even thought about the possibility of losing weight.

9)      I am incredibly lazy and either sit around or lie around all day, refusing to move. But, some doctors do add that if they had even an extra 100 pounds on them, they wouldn’t want to do anything either.

10)  I need less self-acceptance and more losing weight.

11)  A 1000 or even less calorie diet is healthy for me because the alternative is death.

12)   I need the gastric bypass surgery to make all my troubles go away. In fact, each doctor knows several people who have lost down to their normal weight and have no need for their former medicines. Some patients have even been cured of diabetes this way.

13)  Obviously I have no self-control or will power, so the only hope is the gastric bypass.

14)  It is my fault that none of the medical equipment, none of the doors, and none of the facilities are accessible or accurate for me because of my size, but I am to struggle through the agonizing pain physically and emotionally as well as paying the many fees for the services that don’t fit me and/or do not help me. After all I need the exercise anyway.

15)  Doctors hate seeing their patients, specifically me, killing themselves, but this is a part of the job, alas.

16)  Only I can choose what I do or don’t put into my mouth. If I would choose to eat less, I would lose weight.

17)  I need to exercise and move about or die.

18)  Anything I say or do that does not support the theory that my weight is killing me and is caused by my deliberate and willful choices is either fabricated or an obvious misinterpretation of whatever happened.

19)  I am too stubborn about medicines and the side effects. All medicines have side effects. But if I choose not to take a medicine, a cholesterol lowering medicine for example because it caused jaundice in me, then that is my choice. However, I should be aware that my choice is killing me. And, what is the point of taking a fasting lipids blood test if I am not going to be taking any medicines anyway?

20)  Since I am in a lot of pain, I need pain medicine not a firm diagnosis of what exactly is going wrong to cause the pain since I have already been told that my pains are caused by my huge amount of adipose tissue crushing and killing me.

21)  My too tight control of my diabetes is hindering my losing weight.

22)  Every condition is caused by and exacerbated by my fatness.

23)  I need psychiatric help because I am so huge and determined to stay that way.

24)  No professional medical person – nurse, OT, PT, practical nurse, nutritionist, dietician, or social worker who comes to my home and sees my conditions here has a true picture of how I eat or not eat and, hence, have all been brainwashed by me to lie for me concerning these matters.

 

Other entries in the continuing adventures of the Super-Duper-Sized Woman can be found here: