Alas, friendslist, you fail me. There's not pointless meme within easy reach for me to do. *shakes head sadly*

So instead, I give you statistics that I learned recently by listening to a talk given by Christiane Northrup, MD.

Studies show that exercising for 1 hour a day, four times a week, causes a 30% reduction in breast cancer. In the people exercising, of course. >.> And not that if you have it it'll go down by 30%, but that 30% fewer people got it. THIRTY PERCENT! That's a lot. If you aren't exercising, start!
...I have to take up jogging again. >.>

Breast feeding for the first 1-2 years of a child's life decreased the overall death rate--for any reason, including SIDS--in those age groups by 20%.

Obesity (in the US) kills almost as many people as smoking does, racking up 400,000 deaths per year (not a shortening of a lifespan, but death-by-obesity) to smoking's 450,000.

I also learned that the smaller your bone structure, the more likely you are to get osteoporosis, which is something I think I should have known but I never paid much attention. You can measure your bone structure by wrapping your thumb and index finger around your wrist. If they don't touch, you have a heavy bone structure. If they do, you're medium. And if they overlap, you're small boned and need to take lots of calcium AND magnesium (because calcium doesn't absorb without magnesium: take twice as much calcium as magnesium), along with getting exercise and vitamin D. The best sort of exercise for small-boned people is weight-lifting and things like pilates.

...so I'm gonna start bulking up on calc and mag. >.>

She also stressed the importance of eating at least 5 fruits and veggies a day (they say 12 is better, but I think I'll start small. >.>) and taking a vitamin supplement. There were reason that impressed upon me the Importance Of This, but I don't remember what they were. :P I have, however, started taking vitamins (again)!

So. Yeah. She also says that health is our natural state of being, and we should focus on that, rather than what illnesses we don't have (you know. "I'm going for a physical to make sure I don't have..."). Because focusing on what we don't have is also focusing on what could go wrong, and that will bring ill-health. She says, "Every time you walk past a mirror, say to your reflection, 'You're beautiful! I love you!' and when that voice in your head says, 'Beautiful? Ha! Look at that cellulite!' say, 'I'm so glad you feel safe enough to point that out to me! Thank you! But you are not welcome here any more.'"

And she says that even if you don't believe it, say it anyway, because action is key and if you start ACTING that way, you will start teaching yourself to THINK that way, which will instill BELIEFS that way.

She also pointed out the plant thing. I'd heard several of these studies done before, but the short of it:
plant 3 carrots. To one plant, do nothing but tell it how ugly it is, how much you hate it, how horrible it is. To the next, tell it how much you love it, how beautiful it is, what a sexy orange root it has! ;) The third, ignore. The one you love on always grows fastest. The other two sometimes switch, because bad attention is better than no attention. ;)

But then she related it this way, which I'd never thought of: if YOU are that carrot, and you hate yourself every time you look in a mirror... Yeah.

So from now on I'm suiting my actions to what I'd like to believe. Or at least, trying to remember to do so. ;)

Which brings me to a rant that I have in my head periodically. And it's this:



I did not grow up thinking I was an attractive person. I was quite neurotic, actually, and dexfarkin did awesome things for my self-esteem. But he couldn't patch me up all the way, and you know what did? LOTS of self-reassurance, self-work, telling my reflection what I liked about myself, catching my downward thoughts and trying to re-route them by repeating over and over that I liked my body even when I hated it, and so on. For YEARS. And I STILL struggle. Like everyone else with body-issues, I could write LISTS about what I dislike. I go jogging (okay, in part because otherwise my dogs would DESTROY my apartment) largely not because of health, but to look good. I lift weights for the sole purpose of looking good. And I still find it difficult to look in the mirror and like what I see.

I'm getting better. Not because I look terribly different than I have for the last ten years, but because for those years I've been looking in the mirror and actively working to change my thought patterns, and appreciate my body for what it is.

I realize some people have a harder time because they are overweight or pock marked or disproportionate. I totally get that.

But the next time someone says to me, "It must be so nice to have self-confidence because you like the way you look!" or any variation thereof, I swear I will SCREAM. If I have self-confidence, it's because I've worked hard for it, and implying otherwise is frustrating because it takes away every hard-won forward step I've taken. Does being attractive pave ways for me? YES. I'm not saying it doesn't. I'm saying it has little to do with where my self-esteem is now.

Anorexics are generally the skinny people--the ones getting praised for having self-confidence because they're attractive.

It's like saying, "His life must be great, because he's rich!"

...? Have you SEEN the issues movie stars have? I wouldn't go through half of the emo they go through for all the money in the world! Yes, being rich makes certain things easier: no argument. Fitting our social idea of attractive makes other things easier: no argument. But being rich doesn't mean you're any better off emotionally than another person, and being fit doesn't mean you're any more body-image-healthy than another person.

I am getting body-image-healthy. But it's work. And I work hard to be mentally and emotionally balanced. Don't strip away the good I've done for myself by telling me I have a pretty face. It's as insulting as suggesting that someone's done well in their job because they have a cute ass. I mean, really. :P (Actually, I think it's more insulting. But then, I've never had someone say I'm only doing well in my job because of my ass. Maybe I would think otherwise if I had.)

I guess what I'm saying is--think about what you say before you say it. Don't cheapen what someone has done by attributing it to luck. Think before you speak. At least try--no one is perfect, and I fail at this, too. But it seems most people don't even realize they're doing it. So at least realize it?

...uh, no, nothing happened today to bring this up. It's just something that happens with disturbing regularity and I've thought about it. And then I remembered it while I was posting. >.>

And now I'm off to feed dogs. :D

J