Thoughts on Mishpacha 'skinny article'

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freidasima

Sun, Dec 22 2013, 12:34 am

Didn't see the article, don't get Mishpacha here certainly not in English but I have a problem with the word "skinny".
On that other thread about eating fats where everyone was jumping on me, I never used, nor do I like, the word "skinny" but rather "slim", which has nothing to do with skinny. The word "diet" here in Hebrew is often used medically as one would say "eating plan", meaning not something one does "for a while" to reach a goal but rather a healthy eating plan (or suited to one's particular conditions such as for a diabetic, or celiac, or allergies etc) for life.
Did this nutritionist really say that exercise can be undone by two cookies?! Is she a serious health professional? What absolute narishkeit.
If what she was saying was that the caloric intake of two cookies (I assume very large, very fatty kinds) can undo X amount of minutes of exercise in terms of the caloric intake=outgo ratio, she can certainly be correct, but that isn't the reason we should exercise. One exercises whether one is heavy or slim in order to get and remain fit, to have good muscle tone, to avoid falls when getting to my age and older, to keep one's heart and blood vessels supple. Yeah, that's even more important than getting one's waist supple when one gets to a certain age.
As for eating a cookie, well if you have a taiva for one, and it isn't pure junk, then go ahead and enjoy. The real problem with a cookie is that it needs a lot of fat compared to cake to get crunchy, so if you really want a sweet, then a piece of whole wheat fruit cake that substitutes unsweetened applesauce for fats and fruit for sugar can sometimes tame that craving. But if not, and you are young and healthy enough then take one cookie and enjoy. Can you stop at one? If not that's a different problem.

So here as a public service announcement is my health version of a fruit cake that I make, that is nutritious, delicious, and you might like (no fats, no sugars, no white flour and can be made gluten free with soy, buckwheat or other non gluten flours. It can also be made without eggs but then it needs fats.)

2 cups non instant oats (I use organic small)
2 cups whole wheat flour (sift well, I use organic)
2 T baking powder (that's 2 small packets here in EY)
1 level T baking soda
3 T cinnamon (we love it so I use heaping)

mix

Then add:
2 eggs
1 cup unsweetened apple sauce (I use organic bio)
2-3 cups unsweetened soy milk (you can use water, orange juice, almond milk and regular milk - in other words LIQUID of some kind)

mix into batter.

Take 500-800 grams of medjhool dried dates (I use organic) wash and destone (that means take out the pit and anything else that looks yucky). Check each date (yeah kashrus, what can you do...) and then cut in four. Toss into batter. Mix well.

Place in greased large pan (I line with foil or liner) and bake for 40-50 minutes or until brown on top at 350 degrees. Take out of oven, let cool ten minutes and cut into small squares. Freezes well up to six months (but in our house a pan like that gets divided into three, one goes into fridge, two into freezer and it gets used up in two weeks to a month depending on how many people eat and how often).

Delicious. Sweet. Healthy. Good for digestion (all those dates - do NOT eat more than three squares at a sitting or you will find yourself in the little room more often than you like.

cinnamon

Sun, Dec 22 2013, 1:12 am

I didn't read the article but I have to say this:
At 27 with four little kids I don't care about the health benefits. I don't care about fitness.
If I could be slim while not excersizing and not watching what I eat I would live on coffee and cake and the kids' leftovers.
It would make my life a lot easier to not have to spend time preparing meals and excersizing.
but I WANT TO BE SKINNY.

champion

Sun, Dec 22 2013, 1:13 am

I am sorry but this is upsetting me!
I did not read this article but one thing I know for sure.
Exersize is so important!!! Not just for losing weight! It strengthen your muscles! raises your metabolism rate! keeps you healthy in so many ways. keeps you young! p
And besides, YES!!! If you want to lose weight and keep it off excersize is the only way!
and no!!! two cookies cannot undo the gain from excersize. THAT IS WRONG! excersize is so much more than burning those 350 calories!!
somebody who exersizes will develope a much more efficient matabolic system. in other words they will start storing and burning their food faster and better.
exersize will make you toned too. and no dieting can do that.
ever wondered why you might lose weight and still have that flabby stomach??? Its because excersize is part of the deal.
no free lunch. if you want to lose weight for life. there is one way only.
eating healthy and excersizing!
end.

June

Sun, Dec 22 2013, 1:22 am

cinnamon wrote:

do you want to be SLIM or do you want to be SKINNY?

there is a difference. skinny is not slim, fit, attractive. it's ugly. it's all about weight, and not about being healthy. it bothered me so much when I read the article, because it's just the wrong word, and it was used like 3 or 4 times!

who uses the word skinny to describe someone? imo it's just as offensive as "fat." when someone tells me, "omg, you're soooo skinny," I do not take it as a compliment. it's just not ok to comment on someone's weight like that.

cinnamon

Sun, Dec 22 2013, 1:34 am

June wrote:

cinnamon wrote:

O.k I guess I don't have that connotation to the word skinny. Of course I don't want to be skin and bones. Who wants that? What I'm saying though is that my looks are the sole reason I am watching what I eat and exercising. Of course I am happy that I get to reap the health benefits as well but the health benefits alone are not enough of a reason for me at this point. While the looks benefits alone would be enough of a reason.

Does that make me shallow? perhaps but thats o.k because I have other areas in which I am deep.

June

Sun, Dec 22 2013, 1:45 am

cinnamon wrote:

June wrote:

cinnamon wrote:

I totally get that. I don't think you're shallow at all. most people do lose weight to look good and feel good about themselves.

was just commenting on the choice of words in both the article and your post. skinny is an unhealthy word (imho) which we should all try to lose from our vocabulary. it is not synonymous with slim. (which connotes a nice figure)

Imogen

Sun, Dec 22 2013, 2:36 am

Just read the article, op I am with you. Silly and shallow. It read as if we were eavesdropping on a girlie conversation between two friends in pseudo-commercial to promote weight loss programme.

seeker

Sun, Dec 22 2013, 6:09 am

I don't think it's shallow to want to look slim, or if you want to use the word skinny synonymously with that. But the way the article presented it was, yes, very shallow. As if being skinny is the be-all and end-all of self-care. Also, it was presented as "the skinnier the better" (author choosing her tightest-fitting belt?) rather than "healthy, great-looking body type" or "slender curves" which I perceive as a real difference in presentation.

PinkFridge

Sun, Dec 22 2013, 6:16 am

Thumbs up to a few posts. Freidasima, can you post that cake in the recipes? If you don't want to let me know and I'll do, not under your name if you'd prefer.

I have to get off in a minute but first, I will bli neder look up the cookie quote because I want to be fair to Mrs. Taub. Second, I'm tempted to run a survey along the lines of, do you diet for size or health, and somehow include the age range. I'm sure there are kids here who are eating with their health in mind, with the dress size a desirable by-product of course, who'm I kidding, but I get the impression that the older people here are more focused on overall health. Because we know that if we eat well, we'll see good blood pressure, cholesterol, and other good numbers. Maybe even better dental health. All enough incentives even if the scale is stubborn.

And about diet food being yucky: sure, lots of it is. But slow roasted well seasoned vegetables? Soups? Sugar- and sugar-substitute free compotes? A really good piece of fruit? I can go on and on. Food in its most natural forms can taste awesome.

EmesOrNT

Sun, Dec 22 2013, 6:25 am

I found the article to be along the lines of fat shaming. The poor author was embarrassed to eat in front of the dietician. She had to sneak some Gnocci! It was silly. And of course everything other posters said.

P. S. I'm 28 and I sometimes diet to lose weight and look good. I sometimes exercise to be healthy.

Last edited by EmesOrNT on Sun, Dec 22 2013, 8:14 am; edited 1 time in total

PinkFridge

Sun, Dec 22 2013, 6:42 am

The exact quote re the cookies, from Shani's Eight Commandments: "Moderate exercise is healthy but it's not the key to weight loss. You can ruin a great workout in a minute by eating an extra two cookies."

And re having to go to a nutritionist if one wants to go on a diet. Those weren't her exact words. She did feel a mentor is invaluable and that "people need guidance and someone to hold their hand through the process. You need shemirah when you have this yetzer hara. In fact, if I weren't a nutritionist myself, I would for sure go to one." I don't think this is so terrible and I apologize for any impressions I gave in my first post, which I will edit soon. I do think that people don't HAVE to go to a nutritionist. Independent research, subsequent discussion with a doctor and group support will probably do quite well for many people.

MamaBear

Sun, Dec 22 2013, 6:56 am

Well, Mishpacha isn't exactly quality literature, it's light reading, I mean skinny reading, I mean fluffy reading, I mean....don't take it too seriously. Wink

amother

Sun, Dec 22 2013, 8:11 am

cinnamon wrote:

Love the honesty, that's what I've been saying all along! Who are we kidding?In general people want to have a nice slim(skinny) body!! And that is nothing to be ashamed of!

mummiedearest

Sun, Dec 22 2013, 8:25 am

ok, I never wanted to be slim or skinny. I lost a whole lot of weight while changing my eating style due to a medical condition. now that I am slim, I want to be fit. I find that after three pregnancies, I get back pain, shoulder aches, walk unevenly (no one else seems to notice, but it causes me foot pain) and feel my lack of muscle tone. so I try to exercise on a regular basis. I also get very cold in the winter. of course, it would be lovely to fit into store-bought clothing without having to alter things, but that would involve growing a few inches. there are downsides to all shapes and sizes, and many of us are perfectly fine with not being skinny or even slim. I'd take fit over thin any day. maybe we should take a poll of women here. some of you would be surprised at how many don't want to be skinny.

tiredmommy

Sun, Dec 22 2013, 9:14 am

I rolled my eyes all the way through the article. It was a thinly veiled advertisement for Shani Taub and her products, as well as the restaurant they were eating at. Why was it necessary to talk about the restaurant if the subject of the interview was the nutritionist? And why did the interview even have to be at a restaurant??
It looked like an advertorial to me. I expected better of Mishpacha. This was advertising, not journalism.

Frumdoc

Sun, Dec 22 2013, 10:15 am

tiredmommy wrote:

AGREE 100%

Oops, didn't mean to shout, but it isn't the first "interview in a restaurant" which seems to be a loosely disguised advert for the restaurant, this was ridiculously fluffy and not worthy of Mishpacha.

So who is writing to let them know?
They do publish criticism, I had a letter in Binah a few weeks ago criticising their piece about gifted children.

Mama Bear

Sun, Dec 22 2013, 10:52 am

Malky Lowinger is an old-timer, so she doesnt use 'pc' words such as 'fit'. Skinny is slim is fit is skinny.

amother

Sun, Dec 22 2013, 7:48 pm

I've used plenty of nutritionist through my long struggle with my weight. I'm finding a big difference between those that want you to get skinny - and fast and those that try to help you make a lifestyle change.

Slashing calories and telling someone to never eat another cookie in their life wont work long term for people who struggle with their weight/eating habits.

Diets that have a reasonable calorie count and a treat or two per week work much better. It's sustainable in the long term.

seeker

Sun, Dec 22 2013, 9:51 pm

The business of describing the restaurant is not a poorly-veiled advertorial; it's a new trending genre in magazine writing and is appreciated by the growing population of frum "foodies" who WANT to read restaurant reviews and suchlike. I've seen it all over, this is not a new Mishpacha thing nor was it a mistake. OK, it's possibly the wrong venue for an interview with the kind of nutritionist who isn't going to eat any of their food. But there is nothing wrong with the restaurant review aspect in principle.

Also, she did not say anything about never eating another cookie in your life. She did seem pretty stern about sticking to your diet religiously forever, but IIRC she also said that she works the eating plan around individual needs, which can include chocolate. And that treats are part of the plan. She did seem focused on lifestyle change, though the kind of changes she seems to advise seem rather draconian for me.

And I don't think being an old timer is any excuse for poor word choice. Writing is a craft that needs to be cultivated like any other. Plus, the piece surely had to go through at least one level of editors, who should have picked up on something like this.

gold21

Sun, Dec 22 2013, 10:11 pm

"Skinny" is an old-fashioned word.

Its been replaced with "slim", "fit", "healthy", "in shape", etc.

"Skinny" is straight out of- I dunno, 1980 or something?

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