Hey, did you hear?  I've been running around from playground to playground, whirling my lasso in the air, capturing healthy, active children and tying them down to anvils to keep them from exercising. 

I won't have it.  If I have to be fat, then your children will be fat too, dammit! 

I'm being facetious, of course.

But that's the impression one Open Salon blogger wants to give his readers.  He doesn't like my stance on Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" campaign and her insistence on framing it as a fight against childhood obesity.  Hey, I don't think it's the most efficient way to make fat children thinner, and I think Michelle Obama is misguided.  But because one man disagrees, he's decided to "cleverly" tag his post "Kim Brittingham is killing our children".

He's got a lot of company, too.  Quite the lively debate is happening, on his post and mine .

I know some of you have very definite, well-considered opinions on this subject, so perhaps you'll want to join the discussion and help balance out the ignorance.

        

There are a lot of short-sighted, angry people in this country who are quick to blame fat people for their fatness. "Buck up and get some willpower!" they seethe. "This is a choice -- stop playing the victim!" Interesting, though, that a lot of people got on board with making the tobacco industry take responsibility for pushing their cancer sticks on the populace, particularly young people. And yet not many people are willing to tell Big Food to ...<< MORE >>

Dear Mrs. Obama,

In response to your e-mail of today, July 18, 2010 (see text below):

My respect for you has taken a serious hit since you initiated your campaign against childhood obesity.

All you’re doing is further demonizing fatness and marginalizing fat people – worst of all, fat CHILDREN!

Your campaign is unintelligent at its core, because instead of simply encouraging all children to eat a nutritious variety of foods and stay physically active, you have CHOSEN to cast obesity ITSELF as... << MORE >>

I don't know how often publishers let authors design their own book covers, but I had fun making this anyway. : )

        

Do you hesitate to take adventures on foot?

Do you fear running out of steam? Are you concerned about pain or shortness of breath? Maybe you're recovering from an injury, or have been sedentary for so long that you feel completely "out of shape" and get exhausted just walking to the mailbox.

You might even experience anxiety-based reluctance, like I do. Over the years I've suffered from bouts of agoraphobia that come and go. When it flares up, I feel like the world is a huge, insecure place and walking half a block can make me a nervous wreck. It can feel a little like being a disoriented seal pup, getting carried out into a giant roiling sea, alone. I feel hesitant to venture out into large open areas where it seems there's no place to stop, rest, and talk myself out of my fear and back into reality.

But please -- don't let fears or even physical limitations hold you back from enjoying the world around you. Sometimes, just knowing you're free to rest when you need to can make all the difference.

Having the means to stop and rest comfortably can provide periodic relief to feet, legs, knees; it can give you a chance to catch your breath; it can be a calming reminder that you always have a "safe base", wherever you go.

I recently discovered three stellar products that will enable you to say "yes" more often to getting out and about. Look!...<< MORE >>

I looooove my diet soda. I grew up on it (my dad worked for Coca-Cola). But I know it's pure rot-gut. Yes, I've heard it removes paint from cars, and I buy that story. I do, I believe it's poison. I believe it kills small lab animals. But unfortunately, I'm an addict.

Mmmmmm, fizzy cola from a can. Why is it so irresistible?

Over the past year I've made a real effort to replace the chemical-laden foods and beverages I love with healthier alternatives. Gettind rid of soda was a tough one, because all the natural, organic soft drinks I encountered contained sugar -- and I get enough sugar already, thank you.

So imagine my delight when I discovered Zevia...<< MORE >>

Tonight, a screaming parade of rescue vehicles -- fire engines, police cars and ambulances -- came rushing into town, down Central Avenue to the shoreline, then turned north. Along the route, Ocean Grove residents came pouring out of their homes and into the streets, standing under a torrential rain and asking of each other, "What's happening? What's happening now?" << MORE >>

I guess I come off as very straight. And that's O.K. by me. I'm not out to make a point about my sexuality or anyone else's by looking or acting any certain way. I couldn't care less how I "come off", really, except that I resent the whole idea of labels ("labels, schmabels" as Belinda put it) and the stereotypes into which many people (gay, straight, and everywhere in between) expect other people to fit.

Yes, that's right. There are gay people with certain expectations about how other gay people "should" act, too. And I find it ignorant, unsophisticated, and irritating.

I remember being in my early 20s and sitting along a banquette at a lesbian nightclub called Hepburn's in Philadelphia. I was there with two friends; a very "gay-looking" gay woman, and a gentle giant of an African-American man, gay and Jewish in a beaded yarmulka.

A female ambled over to us. She was what you'd call "butch" in the extreme. Everything about her was harsh-looking. She wore a wallet on a chain, her hair was dyed platinum and cropped ultra-short. Her eyes were small, narrow and dark like a rodent's. Her nose was long and thin. Her teeth were small and perfectly even; their edges looked sharp enough to engrave small keepsakes.

She leaned over me and thrust her face close into mine, scowling.

"ARE YOU GAY?" she demanded. << MORE >>

I recently sat in the audience for a taping of ABC's Nightline at Cooper Union in New York City. Juju Chang moderated a debate titled, “Is it OK to Be Fat?”

The issues touched on during the debate were the same old same old, as far as I was concerned. Roth asserted that thin people are unfairly shouldering the financial burden of fat people and their fat-related diseases. There was bickering back and forth about the effects of dieting and food restriction, about eating disorders. It was argued that fat people are treated unfairly by the medical community, that cupcakes should be kept out of the classroom.

What no one was talking about, however – what no one ever seems to have the clarity (or perhaps the balls) to talk about – is fat hatred framing itself as humanitarianism, with society's hearty blessing. << MORE >>

Are you one of those people who's not particularly fond of exercise, but you know darn well it's good for you (and that's the only reason you consider doing it)?

Is it ridiculously hard to get yourself motivated just to go for a walk (the simplest and most no-nonsense of all exercises, in my opinion)? And is it ridiculously easy to find any excuse not to?

Yeah. We have that in common.

You may already have watched Episode #2 of my video series "Kim Weighs In", where I shared with you some of my favorite excuses not to exercise...and that was in pleasant weather. Winter can make it even more challenging to get off your butt for a healthy stroll.

Besides the obvious deterrent of the cold, two things that tend to keep me sedentary in winter are: 1) wheezing caused by cold air, and 2) fear of slipping and falling on ice and/or snow... << MORE >>