You fat bull!

Ah the holidays are over and all around the world millions of people, mainly women, are feeling bloated, fat and unfit and swear on their life to go on diet and visit the gym four times a week – minimum – this year. I’m one of them. Somehow quitting smoking last year caused my appetite to double and now I’m a stone (that’s about 6 kilos for continentals) heavier than a year ago.

Fear not, I’m going to do something about these extra kilos. I am, after all, a young woman and as such know that my value to society depends on me being fit. Somehow it’s not quite the same for men. I have heard countless times guys calling a slightly overweight girls “fat cows”. Women are merely affectionate about men’s growing bellies, they call them cuddly and teddy bear-like which can hardly be considered insulting.

But growing they are, men. According to a study published by Oxford University, men are eating more and exercising less. In 1986 around 7% of British men were classified as obese, in 2008 the figure was 25%. The official statistics show that nearly half of British men are overweight, compared “just” a third of women.

Why is it so much of a bigger deal then when a woman is overweight? Is it because forcing women into pursuing painfully thin and pretty much unattainable ideal of beauty has always  been one of the means to control women? I don’t know, but I’m not having it anymore. No more should us ladies take pressure and insults from the lardy guys. Move over you fat bull! 

Pierce, you're fat! 

Kissing My Vitamins Goodbye

I have recently made a fundamentally life changing decision to give up vitamin pills. I know it doesn’t sound quite as impressive as giving up drugs, alcohol or cigarettes, but believe you me, it is a big deal for me. I have been taking my daily multivitamins for as long as I can remember. I’m one of the “vitamin fanatics”, people taking supplements once a day or more (and I’m not alone, apparently 32% of us in the UK fall into this category).

My belief in omnipotence of vitamin supplements was passed down from my mother, who still keeps sending me little pill bottles for Christmas. On top of that I really liked believing in the magic pills that would make me forever young (vitamin E), happy (St John’s Wort), lose weight (Green Tea pills) and, of course, give me a super strong immune system (not rare for me to have four colds each winter).  

However after a lot of debate with my very smart and cute boyfriend and reading some research (and this great article from The Independent), I have come to a conclusion that I can, shock horror, actually get all the vitamins I need from my diet.

More and more studies are also showing that there’s no evidence of any benefit from multivitamin intake. And quite worryingly, overdosing on some vitamins can actually do you, especially your liver, more harm than good. God forbid, my liver does not need any excess strain on it.

So if you see me shaking in the corner, not to worry. It’s just new, less toxic me, getting over my vitamin withdrawals.