I've been reading the book Fat Chicks Rule! by Lara Frater and it is AWESOME. So far, I highly recommend it. The author ranks stores for fat chick fashions, lists movies, books, and shows that have fat-positive characters. Its full of lots of good information for being fat-positive. This particular blog post is about the fat advocacy portion.

Amazon summarizes the book as: A fun, fact-filled guide to living the big girl’s life with style, Fat Chicks Rule!: How To Survive in a Thin-Centric World, tackles the weighty issues that large women face in our thin-obsessed society. This lavishly illustrated book provides information on everything that the plus-size woman needs to know, including where to shop, the dieting scam, how to be fat and sexy, the fat acceptance movement, famous fat chicks in history, fat chick entertainment, snappy comebacks against the fat-phobic and much more. Dedicated to every woman who feels she needs to lose a few pounds but really doesn’t, Fat Chicks Rule! shows you how to live fat and happily ever after.

So today I've decided to blog a bit about Fat Advocacy. :) There are a bunch of fat advocacy groups that you can check out if you want to get involved, which I'll write about in a moment. According to Lara Frater in her book, these are "Nine simple things you can do to fight back and increase size acceptance:"

1. Create a fat positive website. (DONE :D)
2. Wear a fat-positive button.
3. Support movies, TV, books, etc that portray fat women in a positive light. Remember, money talks! (Fat Chicks Rule! has a list of books and movies that are like that.)
4. Join a fat advocacy group (links below).
5. If you feel like you have been discriminated against, fight for your rights. The more cities that adopt laws against size discrimination, the better.
6. Report to the Federal Trade Commission any diet program making outlandish claims. http://www.ftc.gov.
7. Tell a fat-positive joke.
8. Try to start a plus-size exercise program at your job or gym, or even start a walking group. Many fat women don't get enough exercise because they are embarrassed.

FAT ADVOCACY GROUPS

• Council on Size and Weight Discrimination (CSWD)
  
• Largesse: The Network for Size-Esteem
• The National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance (NAAFA)
• National Organization of Lesbians of Size (NOLOSE)

I disagree with Ms. Frater on one thing, though. She says (about joining an online fat advocacy group): "You needn't do more than use your computer, pay a small fee to join, and presto, you can call yourself an activist!" That isn't being an activist. That's supporting an advocacy group, but not being an activist. In my opinion, you have to be ACTIVE to be activist. Write letters to companies with negative fat policies and write letters to those with good ones to thank them. Write to politicians. Become informed. I do not consider myself a fat activist because I am not ACTIVE. I support it, I try to help other fat people accept themselves with this blog, but I am not an activist. I am a supporter. Hopefully, this has helped you want to do a bit more to support the cause. :)

<3 - CFC

As some of you may know, I've recently (a few months ago) switched from stuff that comes from a box to stuff known as "fresh food." Growing up on crap food, the concept of eating mostly fresh food was alien to me. The points I'm about to share with you are fairly obvious, but ones that you don't think about when you decide to eat fresh meat/veggies/fruit instead of mac n cheese from a box.

I'm not discouraging you from eating fresh foods in lieu of boxed/canned ones (I LOVE my new lifestyle/diet thing), I'm warning you about what you might be facing because I didn't think about this when I switched (the switch was SOOO worth it).

YOU WILL NEVER STOP GROCERY SHOPPING. EVER.

EVER, OHMYGAWD. I use to shop maybe twice a month. MAYBE. Everything I ate didn't really go bad, so I could keep from shopping very often. Now that I eat ground turkey on my sandwich, salads, and other fresh, better for me stuff I swear I go shopping at least every 3-5 days, which really should have been obvious in the beginning.

At least I spend less per trip? Spreads out the spending? It IS kind of cheaper because buying a few veggies every week doesn't cost much. The meat is the most expensive part, so I buy it on sale and freeze it when I can or buy it pre-frozen and thaw what I need. It's not the money that's the issue, it's the frequency, though the trips are shorter because you're usually only getting a few things.

YOU WILL HAVE SOMETHING GO BAD IN YOUR FRIDGE.

Part of the reason why you'll start grocery shopping more is because *shock* fresh food goes bad and at some point in time, you'll let it go bad in your fridge. I can guarantee that the fastest way to learn how much you can eat before it goes bad is to let it go bad. After dealing with the nasty food (that you totally paid for), you'll want to stop wasting money and smelling icky food.

Lucky for me I worked in a butcher block so working with fresh meat is easy for me and I know about how much meat I eat and how long it lasts. I still mess up sometimes, though.

YOUR BODY WILL HAVE TO ADJUST. IT WILL BE UNPLEASANT.

WARNING: Potential TMI

If you're anything like how I was, your body isn't familiar with how to process raw veggies. I could eat ANYTHING processed or greasy and be fine (hell, fast food cures my upset stomach). If I ate veggies.... let's just say that I got sick. Diarrhea can occur and yes, it can be green. Fruit use to give me stomach aches because I couldn't handle how acidic it was. It took me about a week or two (possibly three) to adjust and to be able to eat fruits and veggies without wanting to die.

Thankfully, I can eat as many plants as I want now and not get sick (except spinach). However, that being said, my body no longer can deal with junk food or crap food because my body likes to live on the edge (of my sanity). I switched to only good food and now I can't handle the bad food as well. I secretly think that my body hates me and enjoys tormenting me.

THE PREPARATION/TIME FACTOR

You will have to cut up all those fruits and veggies and you will have to cook any meat that you buy, both of which take time. This requires you to have to manage your time in a way that allows you to do this.

I cut all of my plant-food up at once and store it in tupperware so that I can use it as I go. I cook five turkey burgers at once and separate them (definitely freeze them separate) so I can grab them when I want them (five just happens to be how many I can make out of a pound of burger). Doing it all at once makes it way easier to pack my lunch at night and to make meals the rare times when I'm at home.

IN THE END,

 I am very glad that I switched to fresh food. I've lost about 12-14 pounds as of this blog entry and I feel a LOT better. I don't know how else to describe it, I just feel... better. I don't get sick as often (I live in a cold, windy, wet place and my body is not down with that) and when I have gotten sick, it was milder (cold season). I feel like I have more energy and the world's a little brighter. My body is getting what it needs and it's quite happy (as am I). My moods have balanced out (hormone crap, don't ask) and I just feel... good. :D

<3 - CFC