Health at Every Size…

So I’m trying this new thing and it’s all about getting healthier.  Now most of the time when people say “getting healthier” they don’t really mean that, they mean losing weight.  For most people losing weight is almost impossible, the often cited statistic is that 95% of diets fail. Now I’ve never been much of a dieter, but I do have those occasional bouts where I decided I should lose weight and go to the gym for a few weeks until I remember that I hate going to the gym and give up.  Now, I’m just a beginner at this but, the basic theory behind Health at Every Size is that if you give your body the food that it needs and move in a way that you enjoy, your body will be healthier regardless of whether you lose weight or not.  It’s really all about doing things that make your body feel good.  For example, I feel good when I do yoga, and I feel good when I eat more fresh food as opposed to highly processed stuff.  It’s also about letting go of all those good food/bad food rules that we all keep hearing and eating food that you like and that makes you feel good, and not punishing yourself for eating a piece of cake it that’s what you want.  I'm not trying to convince or convert anyone here, I just wanted to share some things that I'm learning with you.

Linda Bacon wrote the book called Health at Every Size: The Surprising Truth About Your Weight.  I haven’t finished reading the book yet but I highly recommend it to everyone, even if you’re not struggling with weight or body issues.  There’s a lot of really great information in the book and all of it backed up by science as evidenced by the impressive bibliography at the back of the book. 

There will be more posts about Health at Every Size (HAES) in the future but anyone who is looking for some more info can click below:

Click here for more information about the book.

Here Ragen, of Dances with Fat, talks about why she decided on Health at Every Size, and I highly suggest you stick around and read some of her other posts becuase they're all really intelligent and well written.

I've also been reading a lot about fat acceptance lately...get more info here and here

Studying, LOMA, and Cupcakes

If you’ve been wondering where the hells I’ve been lately, I’ve spent the last few weeks chained to my computer studying for my LOMA exam, which was today and which I passed with a 90%. Yay me!! By way of background information LOMA is the Life Office Management Association which offers professional development courses for the financial, insurance, and other industries.  The exam I just wrote was for LOMA 280 – Principles of Insurance, the first course of the Fellow, Life Management Institute (FLMI) designation.  The designation consists of 10 courses.  You can only take one course at a  time and this one took me about 5 months to complete (although there were a couple of months in the middle when I didn’t really work on it at all), so in theory the designation could take about 5 years.  The great thing about these courses is that I take them through my work and they pay for them, unless I fail the test and then I have to reimburse the course fee.  Now here’s my dilemma, since the future of my career is at this time somewhat uncertain (as I’m trying to relocate to the town my Mister lives in) do I sign up for the next course?  If I sign up and don’t complete the course, I have to pay the course fee.  But on the other hand continuous learning always looks good on a resume, and if I complete the second course I get a certificate to show I’ve done level 1 of my FLMI designation.

On a more fun and delicious note I had the best cupcakes ever on the weekend!  My Mister and I were celebrating his birthday and I decided to buy cupcakes instead of a cake.  I went to Razzle Dazzle Cupcakes in London, and I highly recommend that everyone go there!!  My Mister is kind of a food snob, and he’s not really a big fan of cupcakes in general and he went crazy over these cupcakes.  I cannot stress enough how amazing these cupcakes are.  It’s just a family run bakery in an old converted house where the people are really nice and the cupcakes are beautiful and yummy. Seriously, Best! Cupcakes! Ever!  Oh, and if you go there and buy cupcakes, please pick up one for me. :)