On Ruby

This is in response to Jodiene's comment on my last entry. I got so wordy I thought maybe it would work better out here rather than in the comments:

Also..have you watched or heard of the show "Ruby"? If you have, what are your thoughts? (I am writing a story for the paper, this is why I ask).

Ooh! I did catch a few minutes of Ruby when I was flipping the channels at my parents' house. I hadn't heard anything about it previously. My gut instinct is that the show is an odd fit for The Style Network. It just goes to show how intertwined fat, appearance and health have become in our culture.

I just went to the website for the show and watched the video promo for the next episode. It's more of the same bullshit characterization of fat people we have come to expect from the media. For example, the promo I watched had Ruby going into a bakery or restaurant or something and freaking out about how much temptation she was encountering, then going to the doctor and saying something like "If I don't do this, I'm going to DIE!"

Nice. Now I don't know Ruby's particular health situation (because you can't tell just by looking at someone), but I know of very few if any health conditions that are made all better solely by losing weight, which is the implication here. First of all, we're ALL going to die, and nobody knows when. Second of all, while modifying one's eating and exercising habits may result in weight loss, it is the modified habits, not the weight loss, that cause the benefit to one's health. Since there are so many unhealthy and harmful ways to attempt weight loss (including pills, crash dieting, gastric bypass, etc), it is a dangerous thing to continue to uphold and publicize the idea that weight loss=healthier living.

The one bright spot of the promo was the split second where they showed Ruby in the gym exercising with her trainer. There really aren't enough images in the media of fat people exercising. The message that I always took away from that is that working out is just something that fat people can't do. Of course I have found over the past few months that I had no idea what I could do and I'm sure there are many more fat people out there who could get a whole lot of physical and emotional benefits from exercising and who would be encouraged to give it a try if they were able to see more people like them working out on TV. That was actually the only good thing about that show The Biggest Loser. That show was the first time I had ever seen really fat people on TV pushing themselves physically and being taken seriously instead of being the butt of a joke. It's a shame that it had to be in the context of this ridiculous weight-loss-themed reality show, but there you go.

Speaking of fat fitness, I was waiting for the bus yesterday when I realized that every instance of moving my body is so much easier since I started working out. I had just ridden the train to Fred Meyer to do some grocery shopping, something I remember doing several months before I started working out, and this time it was such a different experience. I remember last time I was so exhausted with the thought of walking from the train to the Freddie's and carrying my groceries back with me on the bus that I almost didn't go. This time as I was waiting for the bus with my groceries, I realized how relatively effortless the whole endeavor had been. Part of that was already knowing what I was capable of physically so walking to the Fred Meyer was no big deal, and part of it was being in better shape so the physical act of doing all that was easier.

Brian had asked me a few weeks ago if I felt healthier than I did before I started training and I really didn't have a good answer for him at the time because I was sitting at my desk, feeling pretty much the same as I always had. If he had asked me at the Fred Meyer or even when I was jogging down the street with my groceries last night, I would have definitely said I felt healthier, stronger, and overall better in my own skin than I did before the training. It feels good to know I'm capable. It feels good to have a physical goal that I know I can meet. Which is why I wish that kind of thing was more visible to the general public.

What I'm trying to say is, clearly I need my own reality show ;)

xo,
C