"Fuck This Shit" An Autobiography For Riot Grrls #4
copyright (c) 1996 by Annalee Newitz
it is a "fat burning" diet
developed for obese heart patients who need to lose weight before major
surgery
(yet we are not obese;
we do not need surgery)
but on the other hand it is also recommended
in general
to "feel good" and "have energy" and of course
to lose weight
on the first day you can only eat fruit
and on the second only vegetables
on the third day both
on the fourth day you can have bananas and skim milk
then in the last few days, some meat and maybe
if your bowels are acting up
some bran
(but bread and cheese are BIG NO-NOs)
supposedly after seven days we will have lost 5-10 pounds
and can repeat the steps again for as long as we want
(first only fruit, then only vegetables, then later
skim milk, meat, bran)
we are told -- and perhaps, on a biological level, it is true --
that this will "purify" us by cleaning out our digestive tracts
but it sounds like magic and ritual to me
which is fine
because if I am good
(that is, if I don't cheat)
if my clothes fit the way my mother always wanted them to
(oh you look so beautiful, she always told me when I was
starving)
then I will not be raped
and I will not be passed over
for promotion
or for dating
or for general luck in my whole long life
(made longer of course
by my "energy")
after only one day (just fruit) I feel impervious to harm
as if one week of losing weight can make up for what I have considered
bad
because I -- retreating from some other thing -- called bad
eating
2-18-96
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