Dr. Deah Ja Vu (5)

If you are having that strange feeling that you have been here before, worry not…there is a very good likelihood that you have!  Every January, for the past 5 years I have posted this video on my Facebook page and blog. Each year I hope it will be obsolete.  Each year I DREAM it will be my last and I will get flooded with emails, texts (and now tweets) begging me to,

 

“Drop it already Dr. Deah that’s old news!!!  It doesn’t happen anymore. Move on to another cause.”

With Healthy Weight Week just around the bend on January 19th, I find myself in the position to, once again, post this classic video from the Tri Delta folks.

I am not saying that this year has been void of remarkable strides in the size acceptance and HAES® communities.  We have made significant progress!  The concepts that a person’s self-worth can not be measured by numbers on a scale and that no one should be bullied based on the size of their body have become more mainstream than ever.  Jeanette DePatie aka The Fat Chick, had a national platform for spreading the HAES message when she appeared on the Katie Couric Show.  Amanda Levitt denounced fat bashing on CNN, and Lizabeth Wesely-Casella and Chevese Turner made it all the way to the First Lady’s office to protest her appearance on The Biggest Loser.  The Orange Chapter of NAAFA is running a successful End Bullying Now campaign and our friends “down under” are making huge strides thanks to the work of Dr. Rick Kausman and Lydia Jade-Turner.  The never tiring fat activist, Marilyn Wann set up a goddess selfie station to protest an offensive Santa window in a S.F. retail store and Angela Meadows wrote a terrific article in the Huffington Post about how the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence proclaimed that shaming fat people is a no no in the UK!   Several new books were published this year (Saguy, Glovsky, Schwartz) that will hopefully educate and help people inside and outside the size acceptance community.  Kimberly Dark also reminded us to

celebrate the 30th anniversary of the ground breaking book, Shadow on a Tightrope.  We have had numerous uplifting conferences from our Professional Organizations (NAAFA, ASDAH, BEDA) and saw how we can work cooperatively with the eating disorders community (ANAD, BEDA, NEDA, EDRC, EDRS, IAEDP, Renfrew, etc.)  But we also had some rather large speed bumps on the road last year including the Kramer declaration that someone can not be fat and fit, the AMA announcing that obesity is a disease, and the proliferation of the bizarre theory that the Obamacare mandate that vending machines list calorie counts will result in Americans losing weight and millions will be saved in health care costs.  I would say, we still have a long way to go.

The good news, however, is that each and every person has the capacity to contribute to the progress we ARE making.  No I am not talking about tax deductible financial contributions.  I am talking about free speech donations!  The power of informed conversations with others can not be overlooked.  I know we are up against an ossified system comprised of diet, pharmaceutical, health care, and insurance companies, but all of those companies are made up of people and sometimes people’s minds can be changed.  And if that seems like too grandiose a statement, perhaps you will agree with me that the consumers of what th0se companies are selling have minds that may be open to change. I speak from personal experience as one of those former consumers.

Weight Cycling

There was a time in my life when I went from diet to diet attributing failures of weight loss to myself and successes (weight loss accomplished)  to the diet company.

When the weight was inevitably gained back, the failure was placed, once again, squarely on my plate.  I was a staunch believer that my body was a blight on society and that I would never and could never be loved or love myself as long as I didn’t comply with the rules.  But my mind was changed and now there is one less person lining the pockets of Jenny, Jean and Jillian and one more person available to change the minds of others who are still opting in to the weight cycling paradigm that is based on self-hate and false promises.  Okay, that was a really long sentence but what I really want to emphasize is how great this Tri Delta video, is and how it reminds us that we don’t need to be a celebrity in order to make a difference.  My mind was not changed by a famous person and my life is so much better because of my decision to LISTEN.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, your voice is like a pebble thrown in the water.  It has the power to cause a ripple effect, then a wave, and ultimately a CONSTRUCTIVE tsunami of attitudinal adjustment in this society.  And so in the spirit of the New Year I am once again throwing a pebble in the water and I am asking you to please take a moment and watch this video.  Even if you’ve seen it before, consider it a booster shot and go into the New Year loving your body, nurturing your body, and not taking crap from any-body about your-body.

And maybe in January, 2015 I won’t have to post this again?

I can dream can’t I?

Til next time!

Dr. Deah

P.S.  Check out my new book!  Dr. Deah’s Calmanac is a monthly interactive guide for cultivating a positive body image.