A common stereotype is that large women
eat nothing but junk food and
never touch fresh fruits or vegetables.
My great-grandmother Elizabeth
was as stout and sturdy as a woman can be.
She lived on a farm in rural NH and worked hard all day every day.
She filled her family up on greens, beans, apples and whatever else they could grow. Oh yes, and bacon and eggs, home-made
bread and pie, lard and full-fat milk, meat and wild game.
Elizabeth lived a long and active life,
and yet by today’s standards would be at an “unhealthy” weight.
My grandmother Dorothy, daughter-in-law to Elizabeth,
was a tiny, naturally slender woman.
She also kept a huge garden, raised a big family,
and, in addition, stood on her feet in a factory all day.
Just like Elizabeth, she lived a long and active life.
But only Dorothy would be considered a “healthy” weight today,
simply because she had a thin build instead of Elizabeth’s stocky body type.
Both Elizabeth and Dorothy had the exact same lifestyle,
filled with lots of physical labor, and the exact same diet
filled with home grown vegetables and unprocessed food,
but each had bodies of very different size and shape.
This is not a stereotype, it’s the truth:
Women can be healthy at a range of sizes and weights.
We need to stop judging people’s health, level of activity and eating habits based on their size!
Not everyone has the luxury and pleasure of a local farmer’s market,
or even a decent produce section in a local store!In many places, junk food is far cheaper and more available
than the vegetables once commonly grown out in the backyard garden.If we really care about health, let’s not stop at “eat more vegetables”,
let’s promote the availability of them too!
Here is a close-up of the painting.
Not only am I excited to paint tomatoes, but this year, after getting permission from the zoning board to put a vegetable garden in my front yard, I am growing my own!
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Lovely piece. I love the flowers along with the produce.
A bunch of flowers always makes me feel happy; they feed the soul!
When I was preggers with kid 2 I had to go to a specialist due to my age. I referred to him as Dr. Doom. I really do think that he had a fat prejudice. He was convinced that I had high blood pressure before I was pregnant although my regular OB said I didn’t. EVERY time I went to see him my blood pressure was high. He could not be convinced that it was just in his office. He even sent me in because he was convinced my OB would want to induce me. She did but not until a week later simply because it was close and the baby was getting big. Ya know what? My blood pressure is perfect two years after giving birth and I’m still big. Hmmmm…
A really lovely painting, Elizabeth. Yes, it would be so much easier to “eat healthy” if we had access to fresh fruits and veggies as beautiful as the ones in your picture. Good luck with the garden!
I love this piece. My family is learning to eat from the local CSA garden this year. What an adventure it has been.
Hi there. Stopping by from SITS. First of all, you are very talented. Wow. Second, you have to get permission to grow a garden. What the? I live in the mountains and I guess we are just a little more lawless : )
I have always eaten healthy, because as long as I can remember, I’ve preferred healthy food and didn’t much care for “junk”. (Sweets… that’s another story.) I’ve always enjoyed fresh fruits and vegetables – especially home-grown. Until a few years ago, I was always too skinny. I did NOT enjoy it, and my life was not perfect.
I gained 25+ pounds just after I turned 40. For the first time in my adult life – excluding pregnancy – I have womanly curves! I have hips, a derriere, and wear D-cup bras, after a lifetime of being nearly-A. I have tummy rolls, cellulite and a double chin. My doctor says my health is “perfect”, my BMI is “ideal”, and I am happier with this body shape than I’ve ever been. Funny thing is, my eating habits have not changed a bit since my skinny days.
Beth, that’s so wonderful that you are happy with your body now! It will be a perfect world when we’re ALL happy with ourselves, whether skinny and “boyish” or curvy and “womanly”.
Thanks for sharing this! Arg on having to go to the zoning board just to plant TOMATOES!
We cleared the spot, put up a lovely 8′ tall fence to keep out the neighborhood deer (rabbits, raccoons, wood chucks) and were shocked to find out that our town had a “no fence in the front yard” rule…
I like the tomatoes, both in real life and in your painting. My grandmother was a farmer’s wife, stout and short. She seldom ate anything but what was from their own land. She lived to a few days short of 98!
Love your painting and your post, Elizabeth! And like some of the other commenters, I went “what the —?” at the notion of having to go to a zoning board to plant a vegetable garden, even if in your front yard. But then I have a vegetable garden in my front yard. That’s where the sun is!
Thank you Peggy! As you know, people of all sizes can be healthy, and that’s what I am trying to illustrate with this painting.
I love the wonderful health at every size resources that you have on your site http://www.healthateverysize.info/
I have the same story in my family in all the old pictures, the women on one side of the family were very curvy and full-figured and the other side of the family were lanky and thin. but both sides of the family came from “the country” where they all had to work hard for a living!
Very enjoyable and encouraging.