Demeter's Garden

There is an article in the NYT this week about people who think they have food allergies that they may or may not have. We all know the health food industry drill. You think a certain food might be bothering you. You stop eating it, you feel better.  Or you get one of those fancy new IGE antibody tests, and it tells you that your body is producing antibodies to gluten, so you give it up. Except, chances are you aren’t allergic to any foods. According to WebMD, only about 1% of adults have food allergies. You know, the folks that can’t eat peanuts because they’ll go into anaphylacytic shock and die? That’s them. So I agree with the overall premise of the article, which is that a lot of people think they have allergies when they really don’t.

HOWEVER.

A lot of people do have an intolerance for a specific food. If I go out and drink a big milkshake, my body doesn’t produce enough lactase to digest all of the lactose. I get sick. And I think the article fails to mention that some folks may not have an allergy, but they may still get sick from particular foods. I’m not allergic to milk, but it’s a pretty serious heath concern to me. Does it seem to anyone else that the NYT article makes it sound like these “food fears” are all in people’s heads? That kind of dismissive attitude from the medical establishment isn’t good for anyone. It’s that attitude that leads to people seeking health advice from sources other than medical professionals (like the checkout girl at the health food store, who’s mom totally had the same symptoms as you and stopped eating grapes and it cleared right up).

Congress passed a bill in 1999 that banned the sale of “crush” videos. Crush videos usually depict women stepping on and crushing to death small animals (like hamsters). Evidently people get off on this stuff.  I’ve mentioned these sick bastards before, and they’ve shown up on the radar again today.

Today the Supreme Court overturned the law that banned these videos. In their ruling they declared it unconstitutional saying it could be interpreted too broadly and could be used to cover more things than intended. Of course, the HSUS is already working on a new, clearer bill.

In case you weren’t depressed enough at the mere fact that there is a market for this shit, let me leave you with this parting thought. We live in a country where it’s ok to watch a video of a woman stomping on hamsters just so you can get your rocks off, but two people who love each other can’t get married if they happen to be the same gender.

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From a post titled “The Joys of Plus Size Shopping” from Wisebread.com:

“Dresses will always look better than anything else on you. Never wear pants. They weren’t meant for you. Wear at your own peril. Don’t wear belts or cap sleeves or bulky sweaters and for heaven’s sake don’t show up in shorts. Don’t even look at these items in stores. Even if you do find your size those things are always going to look tacky and you’ll always look like a caked sausage.”

See? When I told you that dress pants/work pants don’t look good on anyone over size 12, you didn’t believe me! Seriously check out that post though, it’s great!

There is something I want you to do this week, if you have not done it recently: give your regular monthly bills a once-over. I pay most of my bills via auto-draft with paperless statements, so it’s easy to not think about them very much. But every so often, you need to go over your bills and make sure you’re getting the best price.

1. First, the natural gas bill. Evidently my gas company offers a more competitive price per therm if you are a good customer with a history of paying on time. I never knew this until I bothered to look, but it was all on their website, I just had to email them to change over to that plan. I didn’t even have to talk to anyone on the phone (I hate phones, seriously).

Of course in the name of being both frugal AND green, I’ve been trying to keep the gas bill under control by using less. I’ve been trying to monitor the dryer to make sure I don’t let it run to long (I live in a condo where outdoor drying is definitely NOT an option). If the load is all dry except for one ore two items, I’ll hang those two in the bathroom to finish drying. I’m also notorious for keeping the house at 68 degrees in the winter, and yes, I have uttered the phrase, “Put on a damn sweater”. We had a particularly cold winter in Atlanta this year, so making our home more energy efficient was important. My husband replaced the weatherstripping on all of our doors. It was cheap, easy (it took him less than an afternoon to do) and helps keep the drafts out.

2. Next, the cell phone. I highly suggest looking at your cell plan and figuring out how many minutes you actually use. Here’s the thing, as I said before, I HATE talking on the phone! I’ve never even come close to using up all my minutes, so I’ve always had the cheapest rate plan possible. I use the phone mostly for internet, so I have an iPhone, which has it’s own data plan. I took a look at my bill and decided to cut down my texting plan. I’ll text less, but with the iPhone I can just as easily send an email, so it shouldn’t be a problem.

3. Internet and Cable TV are must haves in my world, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to pay too much for them. You have to love the fact that the cable companies and DSL companies are always fighting for your business. If there is anything you should negotiate and re-negotiate on, it’s your internet service. This is one change where you’ll have to call customer service, however. My husband got us a better plan just by asking.  We’re paying the same price, but for a much faster speed. If you call, make sure you have the competition’s most recent offer handy, and if they offer you a low price, make sure to pay attention to how long it’s good for, as they tend to offer a lot of introductory rates.

Some of these changes might seem tiny. I only took about $10/month off of my cell phone bill. It’s still worth it, though, especially when it takes little or no effort. If I can take $10/month off of three separate bills and save $30, that’s movie tickets and popcorn money for my husband and I, and all I had to do was spend a few minutes looking over my bills. How are you saving money? Let us know in the comments!

I love this recent article from Women’s Health, Nutrition rules you don’t have to follow.

As someone who works until 7:00 PM at least one day a week, this was my favorite debunked rule:

“The advice: Shut the kitchen down after 7 p.m. to prevent weight gain.

Why it’s useless: After a long day at the office and a trip to the gym, you either eat dinner at 9:30 or starve.”

What common nutrition advice is completely impractical in your world?

I’ve started posting Atlanta Green Living articles at Examiner.com! Here’s a link to my first post, Community supported agriculture in the Atlanta area.

Don’t worry, I’ll still be posting here too, although it will probably be more personal and opinion kind of stuff.

I’ve heard this theory before: when the economy is going well, skirts get shorter. Do you think it’s true? If it is, then a new survey shows “cautious optimism” about the economy, based on skirt lengths. You can see the whole survey here. Personally, after wearing long maxi boho style skirts for the last couple summers, I’m looking to get some shorter ones this year once it’s warm enough to go without tights. Maybe I’m predicting better times ahead!

The average American woman is a size fourteen. FOURTEEN. Myself, I wear 14/16 depending on the brand.

Today I went shopping, or at least I tried to go shopping. I was a popular, alternative/trendy neighborhood of Atlanta. We won’t name any individual stores, but lets just say it was exactly plus size friendly. Now, I know most of these stores cater to teens, but it would still be nice to see something above a size 10 in there. The crazy thing was, a good portion of the shoppers were gals my size! If 25% of your shoppers leave without buying anything because nothing fits them, WHAT THE HELL KIND OF BUSINESS MODEL IS THAT!?!

Let’s get something very clear: I’m not trying to be skinny. I like having curves. I try to stay at a healthy weight (and I’m a tall girl, so I’m gonna be at least a size L no matter how skinny I get) but I am not dieting. I don’t want to look like a supermodel and the world isn’t going guilt me into it. And I am healthy.

Anyways, if you’re a curvy lady and you want to find some clothes that actually fit you, here are some suggestions:

Torrid. I LOVE TORRID. And they aren’t paying me to say that, they don’t have to. They carry size 14+, although sometimes they have a size 12. I especially recommend this store to ladies with a naturally well endowed chest. I actually found a vest that fits me there! I wear a DD bra size, I have NEVER found a vest that fits before!

The Curvy Goddess. I’ve just discovered this blog about plus size shopping. She’s UK based but she lists some great US retailers on her site.

Mookychik has a great list of Plus Size retailers. They are also UK based (it seems to me that the UK is way ahead of us in plus size fashion).

Missphit. I’ve just discovered this plus size line, and  I have a feeling I will be giving them a good chunk of my money very soon.

Fat Girls Like Nice Clothes Too. Because we do. Blog about plus size style, she has good taste.

Curves and Chaos. Another blog, another lady with great taste!

And last but NOT LEAST, the recent plus size photo spread from V magazine! Love it!

We all need to feel some sense of community, and that can be hard when you feel like you’re the only Pagan in town. Maybe this will inspire you to connect with your brethren!