Cheeseburger Definition of the Week: Model Idealism

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As many of you have probably already heard, Whitney is the 1st “plus-size” model to win America’s Next Top Model. That would be great, but yet I’m baffled by on what universe is Whitney a plus size model? Were the producers smoking when they decided she was going to be placed in the plus size category??? But looking at the other model’s photos I can see what universe Tyra and the producers are in. In their world Fatima (as shown above) is considered to be of “normal” size. When did that become normal? Now please don’t misunderstand me, I AM NOT THIN BASHING. And as we have stated before the writers of this blog are thin women (naturally). But I’m not even addressing thin anymore, that’s not thin- that’s malnourishment. Big, small or medium- whatever you are, it’s fine if it’s healthy. But that’s NOT healthy. Just as we, and many others, will agree that if you overeat that it’s unhealthy, we also feel undereating is unhealthy. And since the war on fat and overeating has been overly fought, we at EAC feel it is necessary to shed light on the other dangerous spectrum that is thinology. So I think It’s time that we define a new word.

Model Idealism: The idea or belief that models are the norm and true or ideal standard of beauty. All beauty is therefore correlated to how close one appears to the model figure. In model idealism, too thin does not exist. The thinner the better. Therefore words like “plus” insinuate that something extra is being added to the norm.

Cheeseburger of the Month

We here at EAC have decided to start something new. We would like to introduce our Cheeseburger of the Month. Each month we will feature one of you, the reader’s favorite Cheeseburger.

This month we are featuring the Black-n-Blue burger submitted by one our faithful reader’s–Hope505. She has provided us with a lovely before (left) and after (right) shot of the burger she ate this weekend.

Here is her description:
“My current favorite cheeseburger ~ the ever-luscious BLACK-n-BLUE burger! Red-chile blackened angus beef (I like mine well done) with blue cheese crumbles and bacon.”

So you see folks, it’s not just a fun title…although we don’t eat them all day everyday, we do love our cheeseburgers! So if you would like your favorite burger to be featured in our Cheeseburger of the Month, please take a pic of it and email it to tiffabees@yahoo.com (and let us know if you wold like to submit anonymously).

Saving the world one cheeseburger at a time,
Tiffabee

There Is No Such Thing As Reverse Fatism

Picture Provided by Sarah

Dear Faithful Cheeseburger Readers,

We have a policy here at Eat A Cheeseburger and that is that we don’t defend our writing. We write it, you respond and we leave it at that. We are all entitled to our own opinions and disagreements are inevitable due to the nature of the topic. However, there has been a recent debate among those who commented on the Anorexic Night Jogger that we would like to address.

First of all, we want to make clear that we are not into thin-bashing or judging a woman by the shape of her body whether that body is small or big (or anything in between). We realize that at the end of the day, when we see a girl who we think might need a cheeseburger, we don’t know anything about her. But please understand one thing: we live in LOS ANGELES! This is the land of Thinology and the home of Thinologists . I understand that women come in all shapes and sizes and sometimes that size is small, but in LA (West LA in particular) an unusual amount of them seem to come in one size: XS. So that’s where we are coming from.

We started this blog because we felt like people were walking around this city like it was perfectly natural for all of these women to look like this. And because we truly believe that all women come in different shapes and sizes (and we have lived outside of LA before and therefore know women come in all shapes and sizes) then we just couldn’t see how this thin phenomenon was natural.

Next, let me define a word I used in the title of this post: Fatism. Fatism, like racism or sexism, is the discrimination of people based on their size. Fatism.org describes it as “Discrimination or prejudice based on a person’s weight”. So in answer to one reader’s question about what type of reaction she/he would get if she/he wrote a blog and called it “Drink a Slimfast” here is our answer. Reverse Fatism does not exist.

Because the mainstream teaches us to abhor all kinds of fat, because we are constantly bombarded with messages that fat kills and weight loss is the answer for everything, because there is legislation being proposed against obese people that is reminiscent of Jim Crow Laws, because almost everyone in our society (including us on our bad days) feels the need to be thinner and because there are already so many websites that encourage weight loss, a website or blog with such a title would not get a negative reaction. Why? Because it’s already the norm!

Let’s be honest here, thin women, on a grand level, are not discriminated against like fat women are . We know that because we grew up thin. Maybe we got teased here and there being called bony but at the end of the day, when our girlish figures metamorphed into womanly ones, we wanted the skinny back. Because thin is already the ideal and fat is seen as unhealthy, disgusting and morally wrong, the reverse argument just doesn’t work and until the ideal changes, it never will.

Eat A Cheeseburger challenges the status quo and forces people to think outside of the box in every area. We present these ideas in a way that are challenging and at times may seem a little offensive because we want to get our readers to think about how utterly ridiculous our society’s obsession with weight and body really is.

So we concede the point that we should be careful about how we talk about thin people (after all we ourselves are “thin”). We certainly don’t want to fall into the trap that the media has towards fat people. But please understand that the nature of this blog is to make fun of our society’s obsession with thin. So many of the posts, although serious in topic, are written in a humorous and joking tone. We are mocking the obsession and everything having to do with it.

Like we have written in our About section , our goal is that this blog will open up a dialogue among women (and men too) about our society’s obsession with thin and question the status quo. Too many of us have lived lives of constant food restriction and obsessive weight control and we want all of our readers to break free of all that. That is our goal and we hope ultimately, even though there are disagreements along the way, we are accomplishing it.

We are so grateful for all the support you have all shown us and are particularly thankful for all of you who are promoting the blog and commenting like crazy. ☺

To Eating Cheeseburgers,
Tiffabee

The Anorexic Night Jogger.

So one day a friend of mine and I were driving home, when out of no where I saw this figure that appeared to be a ghost. I yelled to my friend, “What is that!”
She replied with, “Oh, you’ve never seen her? She’s the anorexic woman who jogs.”
“The what???!! You’ve seen her before?” I said.
“Oh yea, she jogs in the morning and at night”

At this point I was utterly confused. Why was this woman jogging in the first place? She was probably around 5′6 and about 80-90lbs (I don’t use the word anorexic lightly). And why was she jogging in the dead of night in the middle of the road?! I so badly wanted to rescue her and give her a ride home. If you find yourself exercising day and night it’s time to question what your real motives are. I’m down for health and good lifestyle habits, but I don’t think this woman is doing it for either of these reasons. At least she should get out of the road, it’s a death wish to run into oncoming traffic when you weigh the amount of a small child.

Anorexic Night Jogger if you are out there, I live down the block from you and you are welcome to come over and eat a…well you are just welcome to come over and eat!

Cheeseburger Rule #11: Fat is not a dirty word

For those of you who don’t know, yesterday was International No Diet Day! As I was reflecting on the concept of not dieting, I started thinking about the word fat and all that it means in our society and I remembered this clip from Friends. If you don’t have time to watch the whole clip let me sum it up for you: Chandler calls Monica fat. She then loses a ton of weight (in the course of a year) to get back at Chandler for insulting her. And somehow Chandler ends up losing the tip of his toe.

All the friends make a big deal about the fact that Chandler called Monica fat, which make sense because calling someone fat is just about the worst insult ever. But the more I thought about it, the more I wondered why being called fat is such a bad thing after all? (Before you get all upset and start lecturing me about the “dangers” of obesity please know that I am talking about how our society feels about fat aesthetically not in terms of health, ok read on).

I think the reason fat is such an insult in our society is because of the way fat people are treated. Think about it…the way we make fun of fat people in movies, tv shows and books, the way fat is always talked about in magazines as if it were the ultimate evil, the way we pit fat people up against each other on reality tv shows so we can make a contest out of who can lose the most fat. I could go on and on and I’m sure you could too. The sad reality is, we HATE fat and anything having to do with it, so of course we see fat as the ultimate insult.

Then I started thinking, what is “fat” anyway? When you google fat, tons of images of large people pop up. But is that what fat really is? We are taught to hate fat in and of itself, but don’t we all need at least some fat on our bodies? Maybe fat is not something you are, maybe it’s something you have.

I’m not here to define whats fat and whats not, but I have been thinking about the ways that I can personally embrace my female fat and think of it as a good thing instead of such a dirty three letter word. Here is what I came up with:

~My fat is feminine. If I were just skin and bones, I would look like a 12 year old boy! No thanks! My curves make me look like a grown women.

~My fat gives me cushion. No seriously, if we were all just bones, we wold have a pretty uncomfortable time sitting down don’t ya think?

~My fat keeps me warm. The extra cushion insulates my body so that I’m not cold all the time. If we didn’t have any fat, we would be freezing!

~Fat in food makes it more tasty! Foods with no fat and sugar are nasty! I’m not saying we should all go out and eat the foods with the most fat in them all the time, but we also don’t have to restrict ourselves to a bland, tasteless diet.

One of Dictionary.com’s definitions of fat is “the richest or best part of anything.” Now I like that definition.

So instead of fearing and hating fat so much, let’s think of ways to re-define fat. The next time someone calls me fat, I’m going to smile and say “Thank you! That is so sweet!” Their look of utter confusion will be pure entertainment.

Are you calling me “fat”?!

I was at the store the other day and decided to take a shot of the lovely magazines that grace the front of the check-out lines. As I glanced over celebrity gossip, style tips and of course weight loss stories, I decided to do a little analysis on just how many messages about weight loss there were on the blessed magazine stand that day. Here are just a few I found…

In Touch (top right hand corner): “Thin by Memorial Day!”

Life&Style (second row down, center) On the right hand corner of the cover–”Half her size! How the biggest loser lost 112lbs!”

O Magazine: (third row down, center): On the left side of the cover–”How to lose weight after 40″

Shape Magazine (on the left of O Magazine): “Slim Down by May 31–Get the body you want!” “Blast 700 Calories–The cardio plan that anyone can do” “Go from Flab to Fab—The Workout that got Denise Richards strong and sculpted”

It’s amazing to me just how many messages about our bodies we can get in just a few glances. And the fact that “flab to fab” type bylines are featured next to women who are extremely thin (all of which are celebrities) is no accident. You know the drill…you look at the beautiful woman whose flawless face is staring back at you and then you see “Be thin by Memorial Day!” So what exactly are you left to think? “Oh no, I must be fat, I have to lose weight!” Despite what size you happen to be at the moment you are about to pay for your groceries, you certainly start to wonder whether or not you ought to be doing more to have Denise Richards’ abs.

I stopped buying these magazines a long time ago and now I hardly even look at them. And I have to say that I think I’m a more confident person because of it. Something to think about…

Cheeseburger Rule #10: If the Dress Don’t Fit, Get a New One!

This weekend we joined the probably millions of women in this country to see the new romantic comedy Made of Honor. It was fun sure, but there was one particular storyline that wasn’t so funny. And that was the story of Hilary, the “plus-size” bridesmaid. We first meet her at a tea with the bridesmaids and the bride. One of the women takes responsibility for writing down the dress sizes and Hilary requests a Size 8 which is followed by an uncomfortable silence (after one of the women chokes on her tea). One of the women then asks, “Wouldn’t you be more comfortable in like a 12?” Hilary is offended by the question and declares that she is on a new liquid diet and she WILL be an 8 and she WILL be happy and she WILL meet a man there! So the other bridesmaid reluctantly writes down an 8. Throughout the movie the lead male character (played by Grey’s Anatomy’s Patrick Dempsey) keeps urging her to eat something! And each time she politely refuses (one time she almost faints). Finally, after like two weeks of no eating, the girls are trying to fit Hilary in that size 8 and are finally able to. But later, when Hilary is taking her seat on a pew, the dress rips all down the side. After watching Hilary’s story, we were inspired to write this Cheeseburger Rule which had been on our minds for a while.

First, let’s recap: Rule #7 taught us that size ain’t nothin but a number and Rule #8 taught us that we shouldn’t let our jean size define who we are. So since we have let go of the notion that the number on the tag inside our garments is intrinsically linked to our self-worth, we will now introduce Rule #10: If the dress doesn’t fit, it’s ok ladies! Throw it out and get a new one!

How many of us have that dress hanging in our closets that we haven’t worn in forever and we are secretly hoping will one day fit us again? We just don’t want to give it up because giving it to Goodwill, would somehow mean we are giving up the fight of becoming a Size (insert desired size here). But it’s ok, since your size no longer defines who you are, you can give away that dress that no longer fits you and go out and buy one that looks absolutely fabulous on you (and one that you won’t have to starve yourself to fit in to). Let’s get rid of the idea that we have to crash diet in order to fit into a dress for a special occasion and instead, let’s embrace the body we have and not be scared away by the size written on the tag.

Cheeseburger definition of the week: Thinology

Picture Found Here.

An original Cheeseburger Definition.

Thinology: the study and practice of all things having to do with the worship of thin including but not limited to over-exercising, under-eating or extremely restrictive eating for the purposes of losing an unnecessary amount of weight, a desire to attain the “perfect size” (usually one digit), the worship of celebrities who are the “perfect” size and the belief that thin people live long, happy and trouble-free lives due to their low body-mass.

Thinologist: a person who subscribes to the doctrine of thinology. A thinologist lives his or her life by the belief that thinner is better. To a thinologist, a thin person is a better person not only because he or she looks better, but because his or her physique is a walking testimony to the fact that she/he lives a life of self-control and self-discipline (as it pertains to diet and exercise). There is nothing more important to a thinologist than being thin; a thinologist therefore dedicates his or her life to the art of weight loss and is devoted to helping others be thin as well.

If you were to meet a thinologist on the street (and the chances are high since they are everywhere), you might hear them say something like this:

“I’m getting fat. I’m like a size 6 now.”

“I want to look like (insert emaciated celebrity here), she is so pretty.”

“Those pants make your thighs look big.”

“I can’t eat a cheeseburger! It will make me fat.”

So if you ever happen to meet a thinologist, feel free to explain to him/her that a person can be healthy and beautiful without being thin, that its probably not a good idea to worship emaciated celebrities and that despite popular belief, eating a cheeseburger every once in a while will not ruin your life, in fact, it just might make it better.

Cheeseburger Rule # 9: Stop Making the Modeling Industry Your Problem. It’s Their Problem.

Ok so I thought it was vital to post about the NYC/Paris/Milan fashion week this past year. First off, I don’t even think I have to say how tragic these women look- because nothings more tragic than seeing a woman who hates her own body, which you’d have to to put it through the torture of starvation. I get it, the fashion industry likes skinny-emaciated girls. Thats fine, BUT WHAT DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH YOU OR ME?? First off, these women are getting paid to do this to themselves, and I’m not going to judge them, b/c there are plenty of women doing far worse for far less money. And what does this do to the rest of us who subscribe to model idealism? Last time I checked no one was paying me to starve myself, and truth be told, it just doesn’t look good. So if you find yourself making the modeling industry’s problem your problem, I’m here to tell you it’s time to stop! It’s their problem…pure and simple. Trust me, you will thank me for it later. I think the Friends co-star, Lisa Kudrow, put it best when she discussed the body image issues she felt while working with her mega-thin co-stars:

“Back then I was getting sick a lot, because when you’re thin your immune system suffers. You need fat. It used to be if you were a little rounded you were perceived as looking healthy. But it’s not just Hollywood actors who all work out like crazy, it’s the moms at the school gate. People are training for…nothing. To be a size 2.”

To read the rest of this wonderful article click here.

An Evening with the Author of Skinny B****: PART III

 

If by now you are still not convinced, and think we are just on a crazy rant, we thought we would let you read a few things others have said. Here are some comments from Amazon.com

One reviewer says: “I’ll admit, I bought this book purely on impulse because the name and tag line seemed just what I needed. However, after making it through half of the book I simply couldn’t read anymore. I flipped through the rest of the chapters but honestly this book is just a rant where the authors can find joy cussing at readers every other word.”

Another says: “There are some good tips in this book, but the vulgar way in which the information is discussed I find really tragic. I don’t need to be cursed at to understand the value of nutrition, so what could have been a really funny and interesting book becomes a four letter word cuss-a-thon!”

Yet another reader says: “BUYER BEWARE - This is NOT a diet book. It is PETA propaganda hidden behind the mask of a fun diet book. Talk about false advertising. The cover and summary are purposely misleading; indicating nothing to do with a vegan lifestyle, while the book its self it nothing but.”

Please understand that we are not at all trying to slander these women or purposely hurt their book sales. Rory was actually a very sweet woman and really seems passionate about animal rights (and passion for a cause is something we deeply respect). We just think it’s important to point out the truth about what they are really selling here (since they themselves are less than forthright about it).

Like Rory herself admitted, it’s unfortunate that we live in a thin-obsessed society, but at the end of the day thats what sells. So rather than admit that this books is really just about promoting the vegan lifestyle (and there is nothing wrong with that, we love boca burgers too), they are selling their message of veganism under the guise of “this is how you get skinny…insert offensive four letter word here.”

We here at EAC really care about women and we feel it important to reveal the truth about things which pertain to women. So that’s all we are going to say about it (for now, we hear these people have yet another book coming soon) sigh…