The "Potato Patties" recipe below, seems to be a variation of the Irish dish called "Fadge". Which makes sense, since there are lots of ethnic Irish in Texas. (The legend is, that the Bitner's have some Irish in them.) The Irish traditionally eat "Fadge" with their "fry up" breakfast. The British, (and Irish) eat a "traditional" breakfast known as a "fry up". You can type "fry up" into www.google.com and get the exact ingredients. That breakfast is similar (but not the same) as our traditional "American" breakfast of, fried eggs, sausage, ham, and pancakes etc. The English eat beans with their's.

RECIPES:
Here we go. Here is the revision of the recipe that Granny sent me.

1 Cup of corn meal

1 Heaping tablespoon of flour (regular white wheat flour)

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1 egg (I beat the egg before I put it into the dry ingredients.)

1 cup of milk (either buttermilk, or "sweet" milk. Regular milk is, also known as "sweet" milk.)

1/2 teaspoon of baking soda for butter milk OR 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder for "sweet" milk

My second try came out thin----I mean the cornbread was not very thick in the end. I think my skillet is bigger than Granny's was. You can use the hard vegetable fat or "Crisco" instead of the bacon drippings. But I think of it this way----would God naturally give us a food that was bad for us?? Does man know more than God? Can man "invent" a healthier alternative to the foods that God has "created"? I myself think the bacon drippings are a lot more "healthy" for us than hydrogenated vegetable fats. I had to use Crisco because my bacon was a little green around the gills. You aren't going to use much bacon drippings anyway. Gee whiz!

Prepare your cast iron skillet:

Grease the bottom with bacon drippings or other animal fat. Cover the pan well. Put the skillet in a 400 degree F oven. (200 C / Gas Mark 6) You get the pan and grease nice and hot.

Meanwhile prepare batter: Combine dry ingredients; add eggs and milk, mixing well. (It is good to use a whisk or a fork here.)

Remove skillet from oven when grease starts to smoke; scrape batter into skillet. Batter must start to sizzle as soon as it hits skillet.

Place in oven and continue baking for 20 - 25 minutes or until browned on top.

Granny's Original Recipe

Here is Granny's original letter. (Typed in as she wrote it, to the best of my ability. The spelling is "hers".) The postmark says, "Lubbock Tx 24 Jan. 1984". On the back of the envelope it said, "1 egg in cornbread". Not only did she send me her cornbread recipe, but she also sent along directions for making potato patties (a variation of "fadge").

Tuesday a.m.

Dearest Robyn,

Just a note to tell you a little bit more on the corn bread. No matter which you use, corn bread mix or regular corn meal, their should be a recipe on the pkg. [Little did she know, but the recipe on the package is nothing like the recipe she used her whole life, and tried to send me.]

For cornbread made from regular meal, take about
1 cup of meal
1 heaping Tablespoon flour
1/2 tsp salt
about 1/3 cup milk, if you use buttermilk, use 1/2 tsp soda, if sweet milk 1/2 tsp Baking pd.

Hope this will help.

To about 2 cups of mashed potatoes, 1 egg 1 heaping tablespoon flour, 1/2 tsp salt. Mix & drop patties in greased frying pan. Good luck. (Cook slowly)

Hope you are thinking about the cooking school. You want know till you try it We have to keep trying different things,

Love u

Granny


Sometime in 1990 she sent directions for Chicken and dumplings.

On the Chicken & dumplins, I add some flour to a little water & mix & add to the chicken, & this makes the juice thicker. I found this clippin in your dads paper, Love u Granny (Don't know what the "clippin" she sent, was about. The article was probably about something like, my brother Darren's graduation from college?)

Then in 1991 Granny sent me some recipes out of the paper for "potato cakes". 6 April 1991 postmark. The letter she wrote was her way of saying that all was well and that there was no new "news" to tell.

Monday, Windy & dry this morn. As far as I know everybody is able to eat & go. Love u Granny Thought you might like this potato patties recipe

Mom (Teddye Jo) has always been able to make good beetroots. She cooked them a special way. One time she gave me her method over the telephone. Be warned, she is not always able to duplicate her famous dishes. One thing she told me as she gave me this, was that she kept an open can of frozen orange juice in the freezer door. It was for taking a spoon full here or there to flavor various dishes. I think if I remember correctly, these measurements are not exact. Mom may have said "about" as she gave them to me. You may have to experiment with this one to get it "right" to your taste. I was writing hurridly as she gave me the recipe. So I probably used my own abreviations and my own short-hand to write it down.

How to cook Beets by T.J.

Boil till tender the beet roots

Peel the beet roots

Then slice them

You put butter / salt / and sugar (to taste, I assume)

Then you put in 1/4 cup of orange juice made from the frozen can you keep in the freezer. She said it was 1/4 cup made from 1 teaspoon of frozen juice.

Then you put in very little vinegar. (probably apple cider vinegar---which type, white or brown, I don't know.)

Bring to a boil again.

If this recipe comes out anything like the way I remember it tasting from childhood-----then it is a very good recipe!!

Here is how Papa (Joe) told me to make "gravy". This is a wonderful thing in small amounts. It tastes better than it looks.

2 tablespoons of animal fat; 1 tablespoon of flour; 1 cup of milk
You can use the grease or fat after you cook (fry) sausage, use the grease after you make bacon or fry a chicken.

Brown the flour in the grease. Stir it with a fork or a wisk. Add the milk. Heat it to thicken it. Stir it constantly with a whisk or a fork so you don't get lumps. I learned "real quick" that no matter how runny you think it is at the very first, NEVER add more flour to the above ingredients. It WILL thicken up as it cooks. I had to learn a lesson in patience. I once made a nice thick dish of some mess, which Papa told me, was called "booley"(spelling? boolie?). He said they ate it in East Texas when he was a kid. (I can't find "booley" on the net so that I can verify the spelling. If anyone knows how to spell it properly, let me know.) I have a friend who is originally from East Texas. She says that "booley"? is originally from Louisiana. It is a "Cajun" dish.

Papa Joe's recipe for "Chicken and Dressing".
Traditionally the chicken would be stuffed with the "stuffing". "Dressing" is the "Southern" (U.S.) way to say "stuffing". To use cornbread for the "stuffing" or "dressing", is the "Southern" way. "Up North" they use "light bread" or regular wheat flour bread. This present recipe seems like a much easier way make the "chicken and dressing".
You will eventually need a baking pan, sized to fit the amount of the ingredients you end up with. You can make it for a large group of people, depending on the amount of the ingredients. Papa gave me the recipe for a small group of people.
Of course ideally, it is best to get a chicken that has been "properly raised". I mean, a chicken that is "flesh colored" and not the sickly yellow of most "store bought" chickens. The very best birds are allowed to roam around and eat the worms, grasshoppers and other foods that chickens naturally eat. The natural diet of the chicken does not necessarily include "soybeans and marigolds"! If you can freshly grind your own corn meal, that is ideal also. The stuff in the stores is probably a little old or rancid. But since the "ideal" is not always available, do the best you can.

Put the whole chicken or pieces in a pot of water with "poultry seasoning". Not too much "poultry seasoning". ("Poultry seasoning" is what they call it here in the U.S. I don't know the ingredients. It is various herbs and spices that work well with poultry or fowl [birds]. They mix them together and sell it as "Poultry Seasoning".) Add salt and pepper to taste.
You boil the chicken until it is "done" or cooked. You let it get tender. SAVE THE BROTH! Then you take the chicken out of the broth and pull the meat off the bone.

Then you make a batch of corn bread. You either use the recipe above or you use a mix. (Mix = pre-packaged dry ingredients you add milk or water to.) Most, mixes I have seen have sugar in them. If you use the recipe at the top of this page, you may add sugar to it to make the "dressing" slightly sweet. I would assume that if the apple is sweet enough, you may not have to add sugar. To the corn bread batter, mix the following,1 stalk celery cut small; 1 small onion cut small; one small apple cut small. Cook the cornbread as per the usual instructions until done. Ok, now take the cooked, cooled cornbread. Crumble it into the baking dish. Put the chicken meat into it. Pour enough broth over it so that the mixture will stir well. Bake it until it is cooked. It will come out with a consistency similar to a dense cake or brownies. I know of no dish on earth quite like this one. Man, am I getting hungry!

Now here is how Papa Joe makes "Chicken and Dumplings".
He uses flour tortillas for the dumplings. Granny used canned (tinned) biscuits for many years. I have used biscuit mix, biscuits before. If you can't buy canned biscuits or flour tortillas and you want to know how to make biscuits or flour tortillas write me and I will tell you how. I have recipes, but they are copyright. You can also look them up on the net. I do not mean "cookies" when I speak of "biscuits". "Our" "biscuits" are not sweet. What the British call "biscuits", we call "cookies". (I wish we could go into the chicken business. NOT! "The 'Ideal' chicken company. The best chicken is an 'Ideal' chicken!")

Again, you will need a nice "ideal" chicken to cook. If you don't have an "ideal" chicken available, then use whatever you can find. Kosher and Halal are supposed to be good. Then there's "Amish" chickens. I think the "Amish" chicken is not always truly raised by the Amish or according to Amish ways. At least our local "Amish" chickens are not truly "Amish". I don't think the true Amish can use that name as a trade name on products. I looked it up, just because it says "Amish" that does not mean it is any better than regular "store bought" chickens. The word "Amish" on the label is no guarantee that it is a free range, organic chicken. We do not eat much chicken around our house. During W.W.II, the city we live in, had a law allowing each household to own two laying hens. I was wanting to see if they ever repealed that law. It would be nice to have some real eggs for a change. "Growing your own" is the only way I know of to get an "ideal" chicken for cooking. I know there are good farm producers available, but I haven't found them since I haven't looked for them. You have to make sure the chicken is not fed the standard "feed" with soy and such items. They need to spend time outside to be truly "free range". Just because they are in a bigger barn with air circulating, that does not quite cut it. Factory farming is still factory farming.

Finally, take your nice "ideal" chicken and boil it until it is done. Add the usual salt and pepper as you cook it. I think you should cut the chicken into pieces before you cook it. You cover the chicken in milk and water. You cut the tortillas in strips. You put the strips into the pot with the chicken. Bring the pot to a boil for about 20 minutes. This is different than Granny made it. I don't think she put milk in it. If you want it thick add a small amount of flour in water like Granny instructed above.


I am done for now. If you have any recipes to add to the collection-----PLEASE DO!!!! I wish my mother could duplicate her famous "cleaning out the refrigerator soup".

I have to clean the kitchen from my earlier mess...... Robyn

Our One Pan Meal
Here is a recipe we make a lot around here. I don't know what you would call it.
Take some meat, just about any kind from beefsteak to pork roast. Lamb is very good!! Put some olive oil or butter into an oven dish that you can cover. (Just enough to keep the meat and vegetables from sticking. Just a little bit in the pan if you leave the fat on the meat. A tablespoon or less.) Leaving the fat on the meat allows for good flavor and helps keep the food from sticking. It also makes the fat easier to remove. It sometimes falls off the meat. Put meat in the oven dish, with carrots, potatoes, and spices. We don't salt it because we salt it to each one's taste when the dish is done. It needs salt in my opinion. Then you bake it until it is done. If you are in a hurry, you can cut the meat into bite-sized pieces and it will cook much faster.

How Mom Makes A Roast
Here is how my mother makes a beef roast in the oven. Put the roast in a covered baking dish. Take a package of Lipton Onion Soup Mix and mix it with some water. Pour it over the roast. Bake it at 300 degrees F. from 2 to 2½ hours. Put potatoes and carrots in for the last hour. Yummy!!

Lamb chops ala Joe Bitner
Put lamb chops in a baking dish with pepper, salt, and butter. (Please use real butter!! Keep our cows in business!) Cover the dish and cook it until done. We eat a lot of lamb chops. Yummm!!

A Great "Cleaning Out the Fridge" Soup-Great Multigenerational Cooking!! It is a simple recipe really, but it takes a lot of words to tell how to make it. (This one is long.)
Here is a really good one. It came from Olney, Texas. It eventually makes a wonderful soup!! This is a family recipe from Carolyn, my stepmother, and her mother (Ina Mae).

First off Ina Mae made a roast to the following specifications.....

Wipe meat with paper towel all sides, [I guess, after you rinse it with water] then rub salt and black pepper on meat. I use onion and garlic powder too some times.

Brown meat in a small amount of oil--brown on both sides. Reduce heat to low--not simmer--
Add about 1/2 cup of water, cover and continue cooking---either in heavy pan on top of stove or in a 350 degree oven. Adding more hot water as needed to keep it cooking in liquid.

When meat cooks tender, and ready to eat, remove meat, add more hot water to make as much gravy as desired. In a small amount of cold water add about 2 tablespoons of flour and mix well, add to liquid in roaster, and bring to a boil, return meat to roaster, and let simmer until of right consistency.

After we ate the roast and it sat in the refrigerator a day or two.... The following were added to a soup pot and cooked a few hours to make a very good soup..... Any of these items are optional of course....You use whatever you happen to have on hand...

Stew Roast / With Gravy
Salt / Pepper
Garlic Powder
Sweet Basil
Thyme
Two Bay Leaves [fish them out when soup is done]
Diced tomatoes
Small Can [Tin] Tomato sauce
Canned [Tinned] Vegetables Of Whatever Varity You Happen To Have On Hand-----DO NOT DRAIN!!
Fresh Vegetables If Available
Also Add Any Appropriate Item Cleaned From Refrigerator
Appropriate Amount Of Water

Here is a recipe from the country of Latvia. The best way to describe Kefir is that it is almost like a cross between yogurt and buttermilk. It is not a sweet item like our western fruit yogurts. It should be from raw milk with natural enzymes and healthy bacteria in it. It is a fermented milk product. I acquired a taste for a pasteurized kefir I found at our local store. I was enjoying the lack of heartburn because of getting some good lactobacillus. Then our store quit selling the cow's milk variety and sold only the "soy" variety. Yuck!! They are selling it again now. Yea!! This recipe is an example of European foods. The flavors of their food are much different than the modern processed foods we eat here. They eat "sour" as much or more than we eat "sweet". This one's in metric measurements. Most good cookbooks have conversion charts.

Cold Beetroot Soup with Kefir
2 litres kefir or curdled milk (or sour milk with lumps)
600 grams boiled beetroots
1 fresh cucumber
5 hard boiled eggs
salt
dill, chives, parsley or other greens
some citric acid if you wish

Grate the boiled and cooled beetroots or cut them in cubes. Peel, slice and cut the cucumber. Put them into kefir, which can be thinned by beet-water (it can be 1litre kefir and 1litre beet-water). Add salt and citric acid to taste. Chop the greens and add to the soup. Cut the eggs into quarters and put them in the plates when served. Serve cold with a spoonful of sour cream.

Robyn's Commentary (er rather, her Rant):
Here Is My Commentary. I have a similar commentary on the "healthy eating links page". Oh! And, don't forget to view the page titled, "A Story From Robyn's Journey Through Life" if you want to learn even more about this subject.

Since February 2002, I have been reading, off and on, a book about the "diet INDUSTRY". Losing It America's Obsession With Weight and the Industry that Feeds on it by Laura Fraser. If you read the "healthy eating links page", you can see that nutrition is a pet subject of mine. I have learned a few good things along my journey through life. (See, "A Story From Robyn's Journey Through Life".) Diets to loose weight are not good---they don't work. People who spend their time trying to loose weight on low calorie diets are usually doomed to failure. It seems to me that some of the really obese people, in this country, dieted their way to that weight. It is not willpower that you need to stick to a low calorie diet. A lot of the low calorie diets are "starvation" diets. It takes much more than will power to stick to something like that. Then when someone can't succeed at one of these diets, they have failed yet again. So the berating and guilt sets in. The person may eat to try and satiate the guilt.

The thing is, I was reading the Weston A. Price Foundation website. http://westonaprice.org/ . I was reading an article about the diet of the Native Americans. It was not at all like the "ancient man" type of diet that some "experts" sold to unsuspecting people via their book. I learned of this condition known as "rabbit starvation". If the Native Americans were unable to hunt their traditional foods, they ate rabbits instead. This did not have proper nutrients for them. So some people ate rabbits so much that they were bloated. They could not get their fill. I think that same type of thing is why we have such rampant obesity in this country. People are eating junk thinking it is food. And others eat for their "healthy lifestyle", not knowing the things they eat are junk. They eat themselves silly trying to satiate a "hunger" that just won't go away. I assume that if you are not getting proper nutrients, no amount of eating will cure the desire for food. (As I write this, the Inuit are fighting to preserve their way of life. They are trying to preserve their traditional foods. They are unique in that their remoteness has allowed them to retain their traditions. They do not suffer diabetes in the numbers that aboriginal peoples to the south experience. I think a lot can be learned from the Inuit.)

I just looked up "rabbit starvation" on the net. I saw something, which I found "funny". The one web site that purported to teach "health", said that "rabbit starvation" was a result of the person getting too much protein. This web site is very influential apparently. They were promoting the "ancient man" type of diet. All the web sites I found, that told how to survive in the wilderness, said that you need fat to survive. They warned, that if you only ate rabbits, you would die. These web sites said that the way to know if you have gotten enough fat, is to eat the fat until it does not taste good any more. One site said that beaver tail was a highly prized source of fat. Don't take my word for it! Just go to www.google.com and type in "rabbit starvation". I was on the "advanced search" page and I typed it in as an "exact phrase".

"You'll Never Know the Difference". Ha!
Rather than eating "slow foods" and better yet, "the foods of our ancestors"---we eat junk. If a recipe calls for "sour cream" we say, "Can't eat that, it is unhealthy". We do not think we can eat the dish with real "high fat" sour cream, once a month or once every other week. The dish tastes so good that this thought never crosses our minds. We go out and buy some soy yogurt or a chemical "no fat" sour cream product. We substitute the "no fat" stuff for the sour cream in the dish. Then we feel like we can eat the dish every day. "I did good, I used no fat sour cream!" Ha! What an oxymoron. It cannot be cream without any fat!! There are times we put up with the bland taste; the lack of flavor. We tell ourselves that it tastes just as good. Or we say, "It does not taste near as good. But my heart loves me". This is not necessarily true, read the Weston A. Price Foundation website or the Transfat Info. website. Sometimes we add things like sugar to the dishes to make the bland no fat version taste better. Would God give us taste buds on our tongue that taste fat, if there was not something good about it? The CBC program "Marketplace", their consumer program, did an informal testing of doughnuts. They found that the brand of American doughnuts which, are new to Canada, taste better than the Canadian's traditional brand. They took both doughnuts to a lab. They found that the American doughnuts had more fat content. I would guess that we humans have a natural "love" of fatty foods. Why are we fighting our natural biology trying to eat the "unnatural" diets of the "Dictocrats"?
I lived in a household with the mentality of the "low fat" / "no fat" substituting when I was growing up. I am glad I did not buy into it.

THOUGHTS ON, DIETING TO LOSE WEIGHT:

"Thimk!" before you diet!!!!!!

I think that if we ate properly and not according to the "diet Dictocrats", we would have less obesity (and associated diseases). If we could ban certain types of weight loss methods we would be better off as a society. The doctors don't always stress to their patients the dangers and life long side affects of intestinal surgery for weight loss. They seem to be so interested in money they don't stress the dangers of the "diet drugs" either. The one diet drug disaster that caused the heart broblems in the 1990's need never have happened. People are too eager to lose lots of weight quickly. No one knows what sort of strain people are putting on their hearts by losing large amounts of weight quickly. If a person looses a large amount of weight quickly, and then they gain it back just as fast----what strain does that put on someone's heart? Would the strain be even more deadly if the person losing and gaining, already had damage to the heard because of chronic longterm obesity?

It has always been my understanding that people in accidents can lose drastic amounts of weight while they are in the hospital. Also, it seems to me that the doctors and nurses try to keep the person's weight up so they can keep their strength. I would think it would not be good for any sick person to begin losing weight. So it would seem that the extremely thin people we are seeing more and more are at a dissadvantage if they get into an accident or suffer some terrible sickness. Also in this "vein", I know that anorexics, do great damage to their hearts by not eating. It is my understanding that, when you do not get proper nutrients, the human body starts to "eat" or get its nutrients from muscle. NOT FAT. The heart is the largest muscle in the body. I would assume that the heart is the first muscle attached, since it is the best for the purpose. I am not sure.

All I know that when trying to lose weight, you have to BE VERY CAREFUL! As they say in England, "Mind how you go!". Don't fall for every fad diet that comes along. Eat a sensable diet of "real foods" as much as you can. A great principle from the Bible is "All Things In Moderation". Make sure you eat a variety of real foods. Make sure you get enough food. If you go to bed hungry---or you are hungry at odd times in the day, then you need to adjust your intake. Maybe you are hungry because you have a defeciency in something. Don't eat too much of one thing. Get plenty of water and sleep. But don't sleep too much. If you drink too much water you can drown. Get some exercise. Take romantic walks in the evening with your sweety. Don't over exercise.

I also think we need to change how society views "size"!! A woman that is a U.S. size 14, is NOT necessarily a fat person! (A U.S. size 14 is a European, size 44 or UK size 16.) I would enjoy being a size 14 again. When I was a size 14 I was given this message by some of the adults in my life, that I needed to loose weight. Size 14 is the beginning size for the "plus" sizes. Those of you who knew me when I lived in Littlefield (My high school years) will know, that if I had lost too much weight I would have been very sick.

I saw a newspaper clipping that told about the measurements of Miss America contestants. They started that contest in the 1920's. Women were shorter then. Even though women in the pageant are getting taller all the time, their weight and "size" measurements, are decreasing. To me, this is a bad message to send to women. "You are only beautiful if you are smaller than a size 14". I saw an interview with a model or actress. She was saying that "industry" people wanted her to loose weight. She was a size 14. The program presenter said she was brave for sticking to her guns and not loosing weight. She was remaining a "plus sized actress". It is awful, when we as a society view normal sized women as being "fat". I was shocked. This woman did not look fat at all. If she lost weight she would be anorexic. This woman was considered a "plus sized" woman. She looked "normal" sized to me. She did not look overweight at all. Why can't the "plus" sizes start at a more realistic place-say size 20 or 22?
By the way, a woman has to have at least (I believe the figure is,) 15% body fat on her body or she won't be fertile!! We have infertility rates going sky high. The "over-thinning of America" could be one of the causes.

I don't believe that people should be obese. I just believe we need to look at people realistically!! Just because you are a "person of size" that does not automatically mean you are unhealthy!! One woman, who is a size 14, might be a "normal" sized person. Another woman who is a sized 14 might be overweight. I wish we did not lump everyone into the same height/weight chart! Everyone is trying to promote "diversity". Yet we are not promoting diversity of body shapes. Women who are size 14 or larger can be perfectly healthy. When I was sized 14 the doctors never found anything wrong with me. I am not sure the general public realizes it, but it is possible to be too thin. We should love people and accept them regardless of their size or shape. We shouldn't look at someone as "unhealthy" just because of their size or shape. Look at an athlete. I saw an athlete in a documentary. He was a tri-athlete. He did the grueling races. He saw a doctor regularly---maybe even more often than the average person. The doctor declared him fit to run in these races. They interviewed his doctor and the doctor said he was not overweight. He was all muscle. Yet according to the way "they" figure things, he was considered obese.

I know obesity in children is a problem. But there are kids who are "naturally" chunky. There are some people who are not thin. They are genetically "plus sized". They are not all grossly obese. Everyone probably has heard of the kid who ate no different than anyone else, yet they were always a little chunky or pudgy. They had baby fat they never outgrew. Why do parents take those children and make them diet? Not everyone is meant to be thin. I am not talking about 300 pound children. I saw some women on television. They were very large. At least two of them said that they dieted to their current weight. They talked of how their parents watched every bite they ate. "Don't eat that". "How many of those have you had"? They showed childhood photos. The girls did not look all that overweight. (I am getting angry, I had better stop writing this section.) See the page titled, "A Story From Robyn's Journey Through Life" to learn why I was getting angry.

Clothing for "People of Size"
While I am here, another pet subject. Clothing manufacturers, should make clothing for "people of size" that is more realistic!! There is nothing like buying a shirt that is the right size, EXCEPT the armholes are small. I got bigger everywhere yet my arms stayed small? No! Then they don't make bras that fit right. AND YES, I did take a proper measurement and do a "proper" fitting. The fancy beautiful "seat cover", (I mean, lingerie) shop won't sell things in my size. At least I operate on that premise, since they did not have my size before. (I re-checked, they still do not have my size!) I spent a long session on the phone with a market research person one day. I was very happy! I got to try and explain that the famous beautiful lingerie "Did not come in my size". "Would you buy our lingerie?" "Yes! If it came in my size." "Do you ever visit our shops"? "What's the point? Nothing comes in my size". I know I could loose weight and fit into these clothes. (In theory.) But what do I wear until I loose the weight? And what happens if I NEVER loose the weight?

I bet this whole "commentary" sounds feminist. I am not a feminist. I have just learned about the issues surrounding "people of size" from feminists. I find the whole subject interesting. Yet it makes me very angry at times. I write about women more than men in my "commentary". I think this issue affects men too.

I have found two news groups that deal with "fat acceptance". The moderated one looks to be the nicest. News groups are on "Usenet". Ask your local computer expert how to subscribe and view them. They are free. They are wonderful tools and I have learned a lot from them. There are a, gazillion different subjects. Each newsgroup is a different subject. If you don't want to subscribe to news groups, but you want to read them and now post on them, go to "google groups". http://www.google.com/grphp?hl=en

This is from my "Healthy Eating Links Page":
Two good web sites for "people of size".
National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance http://www.naafa.org/ I am not sure if I agree 100% with that one. It is a starting point for resources. The NAAFA web site also gives people something to think about.
This next one seems to have some good resources. I saw some good clothing companies. I even saw an ad for a seat cover (lingerie) shop. This web site had a page with a list of good books to read on this subject. Size Wise http://www.sizewise.com/
I think of "fat acceptance" like this, "What do I do until I loose the weight?". And then, "What if I never lose weight?". "My size does not necessarily make me 'unhealthy'"! "Why are you, Mr. Business Owner, trying so hard to get rich off my ability or inability to loose weight"? "I can be "healthy" and "beautiful" no matter what size I am"!! "I have to accept myself, whether or not I loose weight. I have to love myself now. I can work at losing weight if I so choose. I have to be positive 'in the mean time'. I can't wait until I get thin to love myself. I might not ever make it to 'when I get thin'".


Ok. I'm done with my rant now. (Not really, but I have to stop before I get myself into even more trouble.)

Here are some articles about dieting to lose weight. Most of them are from the BBC News web site. You will find this list included on the page titled, "A Story From Robyn's Journey Through Life".

This first article is from the BBC News website, as are a lot of the articles below
It is about how women are obsessed with their bodies. Even "normal sized" women will say that they need to lose weight. It is a real shame that we are promoting this behavior in our culture!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/966757.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/2192744.stm This is from the BBC News web site. Girls are more apt to diet than boys. Girls, diet even if they don't need to loose weight.

http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/358300.stm This is a very good article! Restricting a child's food choices makes them want the forbidden food even more. Duh! As if we did not know that already. I think children should be taught how to eat properly-rather than just saying, "you can't have that" all the time. From what I understand, it is an uphill battle to change a child's eating habits. But I think, if from the beginning, all a child knows is good food, they will eventually prefer it to "junk". I always liked the foods I grew up eating, better than "foreign" or "strange" foods. (This probably meant that Mom had difficulty getting me to eat, if she tried anything new.) The foods I grew up eating, have become "comfort foods" to me. You can't keep a child from being exposed to "junk". But I think if the foods they get at home are mostly good food, then it will work out in the end.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/2144997.stm Women who follow fashionable diets may be putting their health at risk.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/2143836.stm An anti-dieting book was written by a Canadian-Chinese woman. It tackles the big Asian dieting craze.

Another one from the BBC News site. They still use midwives a lot over there. The article is about how midwives are losing their specialized skills, because they are using them less and less.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/2180682.stm

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