Maria's Last Diet

by Maria's Last Diet

An article from The New York Times (July 21, 2010) reported on a kind of movement against the overbuying of clothes. The article was called: “Shoppers on a ‘Diet’ Tame the Urge to Buy”.

The people behind this idea are, in essence, asking the question

What do I really need to have a good life? Do I need or really want all I’ve been buying?

The article stated that the September Consumer Reports’ Shopsmart magazine reported 1 in 4 women owns 10 or more pairs of jeans, and that the average is 7 pairs. Of those 7 pairs, women were only actually wearing 4.

A website that will give you information on this concept is sixitemsorless.com. The Six Items website has women choosing 6 items already in their closets and then go for a month wearing only those pieces (not counting underwear and accessories). 

Radical, yes, but you can see how doing these things might help you discover what’s really important to you and what’s not. You might be able to decide what really makes you feel good, and what doesn’t. It seems like you’d be able to understand better what you really need, and what you don’t really need.

Could this concept hold some truths for eating/weight problems as well? Could an experiment something like this help tame the urge to eat just like it might tame the urge to buy? Of course, you wouldn’t be able to limit yourself to only 6 food items, because it would affect your health negatively. 

But are there other ways to set up an anti-overeating system? What might that look like?

by Maria's Last Diet

Fat acceptance is gaining acceptance. More and more plus-size fashions are turning up. They say the size most frequently worn by American woman is 14. It stands to reason, then, that more fashion choices are necessary in the sizes above 10’s and 12’s.

Here’s the question for a woman who struggles with her weight. Is the way you eat something that is good for you? Are you comfortable with it? Do you overeat? Do you do it as a way of self-medicating? Do you do it to stuff down feelings or anxieties or worries or negative thoughts that really need to be paid attention to? Do you do it at the expense of your good health and feelings of comfort?

These are the real issues, never mind what size you are. If you feel truly happy and at ease where you are with your weight, great! Then accepting yourself—not trying to be one bit thinner—is a good thing.

 But often, there is much more going on with a woman and her weight than meets the eye.

by Maria's Last Diet

Another task yet
I’ll do it
just ask it

anything but anything
nothing is too much

there’s no stopping
not even for such
mundane concerns
as how much I weigh

That gets put off
day after day after day