I don't know if I'm going to be able to finish reading this piece.

[fflo]

"Diet From Hell: A valley [Scottsdale] vegan couple's fear of obesity was no picnic for their kids"

The horror is such that I'm not able to distance myself by, say, pish-poshing writing like "no picnic" in that subtitle.

Comments

[wednes.livejournal.com]

What an infuriating bunch of mixed messages. They talk about how goofy these vegans are, then go on to say childhood obesity is the biggest problem facing our nation, and that "American kids gorge on fat-laden foods. Oh noes!"

That's not even bringing up these "parents" and their freak ways. Every time I see an article about vegans anymore, it's something like this. Adults can live just fine on a vegan diet, but you can't raise a child on it. Kids need real food. Doesn't anyone know the difference between eating moderately and taking some kind of absurd extreme stance on everything? Damn!

[01100001.livejournal.com]

"mixed messages"

Yeah, I noticed that too. It was like the author couldn't decide from what angle they wanted to cover the story so they kept switching it up. A poorly written article I'd say.

[fflo.livejournal.com]

I'll agree with you there. Just wish noticing that would wipe the idea of those children's experience out of my head. And the sick feeling about some of the forces that went into its coming about.

[01100001.livejournal.com]

Did you read the nytimes article I linked to about Leonard Nimoy and Heather MacAllister? It is very body size affirming, I think. Perhaps it will help to wipe the icky craziness of those parents from your mind. See my most recent LJ post.

[fflo.livejournal.com]

oh, thanks, Adam! i saw a reference to that story yesterday but never got around to checking it out.

[01100001.livejournal.com]

Crazy parents. I like meat too much to ever be vegan or vegetarian.

[aabassplayer.livejournal.com]

Yow....I had to stop reading when I hit the word "diabesity".

Say it ain't so! And....my god, those poor kids...not because their parents were or were not neglectful of them, but that their diets (that being a nutrition plan) basically has caused them to have severe nervous system disfunction. :-(

I suppose it somewhat makes sense that the big meaty part in your head would be a reflection of the visible musculature from the lack of animal proteins.

[infinitepresent.livejournal.com]

the 'phoenix new times' website apparently hates me, but my preliminary two cents are that our country doesn't seem to know how to embrace obesity anymore. are we outgrowing weightism? and in what context? child obesity and mcdonalds, bad! being active and of a large build, huh? vegans? how did they get in there!

we're confused between arguments of poor self-image and being weight-positive. lost in all of the anecdotes are those who live outside of a commercialized body image but are still fit and healthy. we align 'health', 'weight', and 'body image' in a perverse way.

[fflo.livejournal.com]

i miss you, dave. i know i barely know you & all, but somehow i expect to run into you as you're walking down Wm St or something. does that make any damn sense? i prefer to retain the illusion that that's possible, or even likely, despite how i know it ain't.

i liked you being in the same town as me.

[(Anonymous)]

The weight/lifestyle angle didn't hit me as much as the theme of tragic stupidity. I'm not sure about a long sentence for that, seeing as its one of our cultural norms.

[fflo.livejournal.com]

tragic stupidity as a cultural norm, you mean?

[btw, dear readers]

[fflo.livejournal.com]

(that is what lj anon meant)

[vjsmom.livejournal.com]

I couldn't finish the whole thing. It made me ill. I worry some about that sort of thing, maybe not to that extent, happening with Cassidy. Not because Susan and Dan don't eat meat. But because Susan has the same attitude about fat that my parents do. But at this point, Cassidy seems to be thriving on her vegetarian diet, and Susan does a lot of reading aabout how to keep it balanced and healthy. So--so far, so good in her case.

But back to that article--my God. There was a sentence that said something like "did Kimu [whatever] deserve years in jail for misguided mothering?" Are they serious? "Misguided mothering" is forgetting to send a jacket with your child when the forecast is calling for the temperature to drop. "Misguided mothering" is buying some toy for your child that turns out to be too easy to turn into a weapon with which to hit the kid next door. Or too many cookies right before bedtime. Or any number of things that most mothers do at some point or other. Starving your children when you have the resources to feed them a healthy diet is a far cry from "misguide mothering!"

As with the vegans and the Seventh-Day Adventists, let me say that I don't want that woman associated with my group either (that'd be the [sometimes misguided] mothers).