Weight Obsession or Healthy Lifestyle?

 http://www.nerve.com/scanner/2010/08/02/italys-miss-chubby-beauty-pageant-embraces-the-plus-size-woman
Reading the above article about a Miss Chubby Beauty Pageant in Italy honestly made me sad.  The essence of the contest is to 'reward' the heaviest woman. Have you seen the picture of the winner?- that is not chubby, it is overweight- fat at best! As far as definitions go, I am pretty sure chubby is used in reference to one who is 'somewhat fat' not one who is clearly overweight/ obese! I, really, think a distinction needs to be made. People need to shift their focus away from making an effort to ensure that it is 'okay' to live/ eat irresponsibly (whether this means you eat yourself to obesity or you starve yourself to anorexia) and instead consider how they can effectively live healthy lifestyles.

You see, I come from a family with women with fairly 'big bodies'. We are tall, heavy-boned and pack on the weight quite easily. However, it is more than just about weight. I have seen firsthand that maintaining a healthy lifestyle can very well make the difference between living and dying. How do I mean? Well, when mom was involved in an accident and had to nurse broken bones, her orthopedic surgeon often said she was lucky to be of healthy weight at her age otherwise she would not have survived the many operations she had to endure much less have her bones heal as fast as they did.

For as long as I have known my mother, she makes an effort not to eat food after 8.00pm, eats only white meat unless there's no option, loves vegetables and fruit, she, perhaps, last had  more than one teaspoon of sugar with her tea when she was in high school and before the accident she walked more than she rode in cars. She did not wait for a life threatening disease to commit to eating healthy and keep up an active lifestyle. Neither do you or I.
Thing is, I am sure we all agree that there are benefits to living healthily yet over and over we choose the sedentary lifestyle and the unhealthy food.

My challenge to you, today, is to make at least one change a day in your life where your health/ weight is concerned. Eat more fruit, walk that 500m instead of taking a bodadoda, drink more water, sleep more, relegate the junk food to your 'once in a month' category, drink less alcohol...You can do it! I guarantee you, within four weeks of making changes, you will think better, be more cheerful/ pleasant and have the most awesome bowel movements :-) after all, who wants refuse 'locked up' inside them- right?!