This is a letter to all Daily Venus Diva and PLUS Model Magazine Readers from the Publisher, Valery Amador –
It’s Time for a Conversation… This is a shout out to ALL Curvy Women (and Men) who have embraced who they are and are living the ‘Vida Curvy’. For years, we have been on a mission to learn to love who we are… no matter what the size on the clothing tags. As we have learned to love every curvy inch of ourselves, we have started a revolution where the fashion industry finally caught on and are designing fabulous plus size clothing with color, pattern and style. Even the media has embraced curves like never before in 2010 with the portrayal of nude plus models in magazines and campaigns. All fantastic? Absolutely!
But there is a dirty little secret that goes unexamined… and this is the dialogue I want to open with you today.
With the October issues of both PLUS and Daily Venus Diva focusing on “Loving Your Body,” I wanted to take a moment to share a bit about what this really means… and what it doesn’t mean…
What Does Loving Your Body Mean?
YOU are more that a ‘pretty face’… YOU are a unique individual and through your very existence, YOU bring something rare and beautiful to the big picture we all call life.
YOU are the definition of joy… Your friends, family, or those you ‘choose’ to have in your life adore you (and if they don’t, find some who do because you deserve this kind of adoration!)
The numbers on your dress tag or scale are NOT the measure of your worth…
What It Doesn’t Mean…
That we can ignore what is medically happening on the inside. YOU have been given a precious gift… a body that houses the very soul and life-force of who you are. When you choose to embrace your curves without considering ‘healthy curves’, you choose to put yourself at risk of a greater danger to your health and well-being.
Why do I even bring this up?
This past February I went for a physical and was shocked to discover that I had the ‘triple-threat’, high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes. I was devastated, numb and depressed by the numbers on my tests. My doctor was very thorough in explaining what I needed to do; this included classes to attend as well as a bag of pills to take. When I asked her how long I would need to stay on these pills once I was able to get my health in order and my test numbers in check, she informed me that I would be on most of them for the rest of my life. Something in me snapped on that day and I was determined to change my life around… without medication if at all possible.
As I am not a medical professional, I don’t feel at liberty to discuss my actual journey towards health and wellness in this article (feel free to email me directly on this). But suffice it to say that I HAVE and AM turning my life around.
Has it been easy? No.
Is it a quick fix? Absolutely not.
Is it a lifelong commitment? A resounding yes!
Will I ever be thin? Not likely. And this is NOT what I am going for anyway. To me, it will never be about the numbers on the scale or the tags on my clothing. It will ALWAYS be about the numbers on my tests as this is the TRUE marker of health and wellness.
In our quest to love our bodies, we do need to address health and wellness. And today, I am hoping that you will open your heart and mind to one subject, Diabetes. This disease is not size specific (my father who was the perfect size for his height his entire life was an insulin dependent diabetic), and yet the rise in diabetes is at epidemic proportions. Why? It has much to do with what we put into our bodies, and what we are not being told about what we put into our bodies. THIS is the dirty little secret!
For example, the other day I was driving in my car and listening to the radio when I heard this shocking news… By now I am sure you have heard how badly high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is for you and the correlation it has to diabetes and obesity. On the market since around 1970, it is used in the manufacturing of many processed foods (many marketed as ‘healthy’ foods), including soups, condiments, lunchmeats, yogurt, breakfast bars, breads, cereals, beverages and even yogurt. Did you know that the manufactures of HFCS, are concerned about the bad press their product has been getting? Therefore, they are trying to re-brand HFCS by calling it ‘Corn Sweetener’. They are not reformulating, merely re-branding; they are not trying to make it better or safer… they are changing the name to try and coax people into believing that it is better for them by calling it something innocent, “Corn Sweetener.” Something is drastically wrong with this country when marketing takes precedence over health.
Yes, Diabetes in the Unites States IS an epidemic, and nothing can illustrate this point as quickly as the following studies from the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) on their study of the increase in diabetes in our country:
http://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/statistics/prev/national/figpersons.htm
http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/DDT_STRS2/NationalDiabetesPrevalenceEstimates.aspx?mode=DBT
When I looked at these maps and numbers, I was shocked. After showing the numbers to my husband, he commented that IF, in any other area of healthcare, we would see a growth on a chart as we did for Diabetes, our country would be in a national panic. Think back to the AIDS epidemic and how it has changed our country, or just last year when people were standing in long lines for half the day to get a the H1N1 shot due to the POTENTIAL pandemic, which was further incited by a lack of vaccines to go around.
Let’s get the dirty little secret out in the open and start a dialogue…
- Why, as a country, are we not making changes in the way we live our lives?
- Why are we not treating diabetes as an epidemic?
- And why are we not demanding healthier foods? Are we not worth it?
Please share your thoughts…
And keep thriving in all that you do….
Valery Amador
Publisher, DailyVenusDiva.com & PLUSmodelmag.com
Valery Amador, Daily Venus Diva -- Daily Venus Diva.
Dear Valery,
Thanks for opening up your secret and sharing. As you well know I also have the big D and it’s going on five years now in January.
I can’t beleive it.
I wanted to thank you for taking your time to remind us how healthy we need to keep our beautiful curves or else….and let’s not even think that far ahead into the negative world.
I for one am all for this article of yours, this change that I need to make for myself.
I don’t care what the scale reads, I care what my sugar levels read.
Love ya.
Curvy kisses and hugs.
Olga…
Thank you for sharing this and opening the conversation…
Mucho mas hugs and kisses…
V ~
Hi Valery!
Thank you for this article, I have some family members to share this with today. As we move forward towards size acceptance and finally getting more designers to make clothes that fit our individual curves, we are also being put in the forefront as women with a VOICE and with that comes responsibility. One thing that really stood out to me was when you wrote:
“Will I ever be thin? Not likely. And this is NOT what I am going for anyway. To me, it will never be about the numbers on the scale or the tags on my clothing. It will ALWAYS be about the numbers on my tests as this is the TRUE marker of health and wellness.”
I was like wow that is so TRUE! The numbers on the tests are the real indicators about what is going on inside our bodies. So if our numbers are high, how do we lower them and keep them that way?
There are many websites that offer different diet ideas but to me the word diet is temporary…this requires a change in lifestyle because almost everything that tastes delicious has HFCS and even worse those who are trying to stay away from HFCS are being duped when the ingredient is changed to read ‘corn sweetener’ – thanks for exposing this…it is a shame that in a world where many of us want to looks good on the outside – the focus on getting the inside in order is forgotten on many occassions – mind body and soul, as you said:
“Something is drastically wrong with this country when marketing takes precedence over health.”
“Yes, Diabetes in the Unites States IS an epidemic” – my grandmother passed away in her 50′s due to diabetes and heart failure, my mother and sister and mother in law also…THIS IS SERIOUS!
Thanks for this Valery – praying your conitnued health and strength….thanking God we have a voice to make a difference.
Love,
Limarie
I have recently lost some weight and started eating healthier but this is a life long process and my Dr. has told me to watch what I eat to avoid the big D especially since it runs in my family…I wonder if there is anything we can do as a community of full figured women to make a change as far as demanding healthier foods..?
Hi Limarie ~
Thanks for sharing!
And I am so sorry to hear about your grandmother… taken I am sure way too soon by a terrible disease that might have been preventible…
As far as what we can do? Our voice is connected to our wallets. If we are checking food labels and ONLY buying what is good/decent/healthy foods, this will send a message.
Where this becomes an issue for most of us, is that the marketing of products is so good that they make us believe 1) We need the products 2) We deserve the products 3) They are healthy for us when in many instances they are not and that 4) Super-sizing is a good value that we should take advantage of
The ‘diet’ industry is just that, an industry… it is a multi-billion dollar industry… and they thrive on people wanting to lose weight… but what kind of messages are marketing/product companies sending? Eat all these amazing bad for you foods… but you need to lose weight to look good/find love/be healthy, etc…. so many mixed messages bombarding us daily…
And the statistics are that 98% of people who are on a diet FAIL… (including losing the weight only to gain it back)… and what does this do to the diet industry? Keeps them in customers! Sad… very sad…. who likes to fail? And how do we feel when we fail over-and-over? Like we can never succeed… so we give into the marketing and fall back on what we now believe ‘we deserve’.
It is VERY difficult to break out of this cycle of belief… I know… but when the day comes where the light goes on in your head (for me it was my health ‘snap’ moment), I see the marketing differently now… I see it for what it is vs what they are trying to feed me (both literally and figuratively)…
Ultimately, you need to do what is right for you… and this comes with looking at your health numbers… it all starts there…
Keep thriving my friends…
V ~
…And yes, it IS a lifelong process, not a quick fix solution…
THANKS THIS IS SOOO TRUE!
High fructose corn syrup is simply a kind of corn sugar. It has the same number of calories as sugar and is handled the same by the body.
The Corn Refiners Association has petitioned the U.S. Food and Drug Administration asking that manufacturers have the option of using “corn sugar” as an alternate ingredient name for high fructose corn syrup on product labels because “corn sugar” more accurately describes the composition of the ingredient. The CRA wants to clear up consumer confusion about high fructose corn syrup by requesting that the FDA give food and beverage manufacturers approval to call high fructose corn syrup what it is: corn sugar. Consumers want to know what is in their foods and to have ingredient names that are clearly understood. “Corn sugar” accomplishes these objectives succinctly and simply. Most importantly, the term corn sugar enables consumers to readily identify added sugars in the diet.
The American Medical Association stated that, “Because the composition of high fructose corn syrup and sucrose are so similar, particularly on absorption by the body, it appears unlikely that high fructose corn syrup contributes more to obesity or other conditions than sucrose.”
http://www.ama-assn.org/ama1/pub/upload/mm/443/csaph3a08-summary.pdf
According to the American Dietetic Association, “high fructose corn syrup…is nutritionally equivalent to sucrose. Once absorbed into the blood stream, the two sweeteners are indistinguishable.”
As many dietitians agree, all sugars should be consumed in moderation as part of a balanced lifestyle.
Consumers can see the latest research and learn more about high fructose corn syrup at http://www.SweetSurprise.com.
Audrae Erickson
President
Corn Refiners Association
There are some excellent points in this article, and some supported with good sources like CDC. The info about high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), however, is mostly inaccurate.
It is simply a kind of corn sugar. Like sugar or honey, high fructose corn syrup has calories (4 per gram). Excessive calories, from whatever source, can promote weight gain. But replacing HFCS with sugar will not reduce obesity or improve health. They are nutritionally the same.
The purpose of the name change is to help consumers understand it better. HFCS and sucrose (table sugar) behave identically. This is not surprising given that both have virtually the same composition (roughly 50% fructose and 50% glucose).
A sugar is a sugar, whether it’s honey, high fructose corn syrup, table sugar, or fruit juices. You shouldn’t eat too much of any sugar. Likewise, we shouldn’t demonize any food or ingredient without the science to support it.
As a consultant to the food industry (like the Corn Refiners Association), and a college professor I use science to carry messages. Facts like those above are an illustration. Let’s learn the facts, stop demonizing foods, and provide consumers with more nutrition education to make wise choices.
Hi Pat,
Thanks for clarying that and congrats on all of your accomplishments. I am sure Valery will enjoy reading your post its very informative.
This is really interesting, I think that this is a really good topic to cover because some women and at times myself think that now that the world is actually opening their eyes and seeing that being a plus size isn’t so bad, that it’s an excuse to not exercise because they accept you, but you should still be healthy in exercising and watching what you eat!
I think the entertainment and fashion industry and those unrealistic expectations of what we should look like,are overshadowing legit health concerns such as diabetes,heart disease,heart attacks,breast and other cancers
All we ever see and hear is about getting people especially women thin thin thin, and all health issues are gonna be solved by being a size 2 or smaller
There should be a committment in just overall health
Plenty of us could lose a few pounds here and there like me, but plenty of thin fit standards
Of beauty are having heart attacks strokes etc
But if your not thin then we must all be ready to keel over and that’s not always the case
Marisa,
Hello sweety, I do agree with your comment. And may I add its very refreshing to see you here. I have always enjoyed listening to your words of wisdom. Miss ya.
Curvy kisses.