Steve Kim is one of my favorite artists. He is featured in the newest New American Paintings.
Yes, Art and Raw Lifestyle are my two loves. You can add geometric fashion, natural beauty and girl’s comics to that.
I am writing about Steve, because he posted wonderful article about FAT I wish to share with you.
Think about your way of seeing ‘fat’.
How does it feel to look at ‘skinny’ , ‘overweight’, ‘big’. Is there a judgement? Is there a desire to rush and help the person? Or is there a pride that you are a perfect one?
Here is Steve Kim on ‘Fat’ :
“Back when food was scarce fat people were a lot more popular. Rotundity was an indication of wealth, bounty, good health, among other flattering things, and as a result they were found to be more attractive than skinny people. I guess that ‘look’ persisted until the age of glossy magazines. In first-world countries this is no longer the case, but in many developing countries body fat is still highly desirable. For example, I recently saw this thing on TV where some depressed bride-to-be was being force-fed goat’s milk to plump her up for marriage. The fatter she got the more attractive she was to her suitor. It was weird because her husband was really skinny but he kept saying how beautiful she was and how he hoped she’d gain more weight by the time of the marriage, even though all that rapid weight gain was really painful and unhealthy.
Mother’s also seem partial to fat. When I visit my family after long, intense fat-draining periods of intense art activity my mom says I’m ugly and skinny and that I should eat more. If I visit after long periods of slovenly fat-building procrastination my mom says I look very handsome. I always rolled my eyes at her irrational view of beauty because I certainly wasn’t feeling great when I was personally packing on the pounds.
But a weird thing has happened. Ever since I got my dog I kind of totally understand my crazy mom. I didn’t think much of it at first but as my puppy grew into young adulthood she got really emaciated and ribby and people would always talk about how skinny she looked, or ask if we fed her (of course not she’s solar powered) and I found myself very guilt-ridden, despite doing my best to feed her and researching things online and other neurotic things like over-contemplating the quality of her poop and how that factors in a long set of equations determining good or bad nutrition, weight gain, and my overall competency as a dog owner/parent. I imagine I would feel the same way if I had real babies so now I don’t roll my eyes at my mom anymore. Maybe this is why I feel like I see so many fat kids lately: An abundance of cheap calories and a parental compulsion that’s lingered since the stone ages. You can be certain my babies will roll around real nice.
Fat is a complicated thing. When I make judgments through someone’s fat content I don’t know where the personal biological stuff ends and the cultural influences begin. I suppose there is some kind of progressive, forward movement in the area of the fats even if no one is consciously thinking about it, since it is so intertwined with the larger notion of beauty which everyone is preoccupied with. And while beauty on the whole is an interesting topic I think fat is as well. I think it is a topic worthy of discussion.”
I remember watching one of the most nasty TV shows I’ve ever seen : ‘The Feeder’. Of course this movie was one of a kind – people usually don’t behave this way.
The whole show was about men feeding obese women to the point that they could not move.
They could not walk.
They could not sit.
They could not go to the bathroom.
It does not matter if this kind of practice is sick and if it should be criminal.
What I have taken from this movie is the power of the food. And I am not talking only about how food can influence one’s life, meaning : empower you, give you strength, take the strength from you, make you suffer. I have learned from the movie that other people can gain a power over others by using food : as medicine, as a poison.
Of course we all have a free will to decide if anyone can affects us in any way.
But at some circumstances, there is a risk that the stronger one, the more powerful one would decide what is good/bad for you.
Mother can feed the baby however she likes.
Family members can feed the handicap with whatever they want.
If we don’t have enough self-esteem, or our self- image depends on other’s approval, we could eat whatever they eat. Sometimes in social advents we might forget what is really good for us.
And so on.
I love the way raw food people take care of themselves.
I love the independency that they manifest in every choice they make.
My wish is we will go out and look after people that are totally unaware of raw food nutrition and harm others( consciously or not) by food choices.
My wish is to bring raw food nutrition not only to raw fooders who seek better superfoods, but to people who have no idea that different lifestyle actually exists.
My wish is to release those ones that are under control of ignorant ones. To teach all of them the new power of food.
And at this point it won’t matter : fat or skinny.
What matters is : sick or healthy. Regardless of ‘biological stuff’ or cultural influence.
- is the founding editor of RawFoodTip. To stay informed about the best raw food choices and raw food gossips sign up to Rawvolta’s RSS feed. It will deliver this blog to your email daily! Don’t Miss The Tip!
