Retailers Trimming The Fat: Is Weight Loss A Solution For Plus Size Gals To Remain Fashionable?

Just read an article online about the fact that a lot of clothing makers are scaling back on their production of plus size clothing.  The recession has been hitting all retailers and they are searching for ways to bring costs under control to ride out this storm. 

Everywhere you look, from magazines, to ezines, to blogs and list-serves, everyone is discussing some aspect of weight loss.  We are predominated by thoughts about how we look and what labels we are wearing.  If what you focus on grows, why aren’t we all thin?  I don’t get it- Plus sized people are the norm—just check out the stats at the Centers For Disease Control [www.cdc.gov] What I read there is that 62% of women in the United States wear a size 14 [or larger] and on average weighs 164 pounds!  So those size 2, tall thin Victoria Secret Models are NOT the norm!! Could have fooled me judging from most magazine covers!  It’s not just women either- 66% of all people over age 20 are overweight or obese, meaning the majority of us can benefit from some degree of weight loss.  Our kids are not faring much better, 19% of kids age 6-11 and 17% of those 12-19 years of age are overweight. 

This isn’t exactly great news for the plus size gal who wants to wear clothing suitable to the style of the moment and to flatter her figure.  I know, been there done that.  Back in the late 70’s—geez, fat preteens had NO choice—I painfully recall my first trip into a very frumpy Lane Bryant---and the polyester pants I had to deal with.  Per the New York Post June 1 edition, although people are cutting back on costs in all areas, those who are plus sized appear to be cutting back proportionally more on clothing than their thinner associates (8% vs. 3%).  Ok, so I am blessed with no longer HAVING to buy plus-sized clothing—I feel for my sista’s tho. 

Their (NYP) possible reason really made no sense to me, why would one believe that those who are plus sized might be more willing to cut clothing costs to help with family expenses than those who are not plus sized?  Are plus sized women more family oriented, less concerned about weight loss and fashion, or could it be that plus sized clothing simply costs more money, making this a purely economic issue??

Plus size clothing costs 10% more to produce although, in my mind, they more than make that up in added costs to the consumer-if you haven’t checked the price tags on plus size clothing, unless you shop at your local big box store, it’s a lot more than $2-$3 more for “extended sizes” they offer and with everything else, labels sell and the costlier brands are more fashionable.

Frankly I think these retailers are cutting off their noses to spite their faces.  America is NOT getting any thinner, despite all the education and information out there on healthy eating and exercise.  Our health care costs going through the roof attest to that fact and that we as a nation spend the most $$ healthcare and are one of the least healthy nations in the world.

It’s not reasonable to simply say that we all need to lose weight.  More than half the population in the US is in the “need for weight loss” category.  There are weight loss solutions out there, just ask me. Rant finished.

It's more then just a Garden

I came home today just exhausted and I promptly fell asleep for 90 minutes—got up and looked around and saw everything I still needed to do—and went outside to check on the garden.  Granted I physically didn’t feel better but as I was working on taming my spaghetti squash and training my cucumbers (or are they melon, I forgot where I planted them ) ) I started thinking about the therapeutic use of gardening—and how just caring for the plants brought me to a place of peace, gave me purpose without stressing me out and for a while I forgot about my physical pain.

 

I picked basil, parsley, arugula, lettuce and tomatoes—

My tomatoes may not be perfect and beautiful but like every human it is what is on the inside that is what is truly important - and these are delicious!

 

 

 I call this my Basil Parsley Bouquet- there is nothing more wonderful then the smell of freshly cut basil and parsley--I love the purple basil contrast with the green :)

I accidentally pulled up one of my potato shoots and to my surprise there was a tiny potato attached—smaller than a grape tomato.  Since it was in my straw bale garden it was clean, dirt free and after taking a picture, I ate it—a tiny raw potato that was so delightful

 Nearly every morning and evening I go outside, sometimes I work on the garden, water it, and sometimes I just take a survey of what’s going on—

  Like noticing that tomatoes in my straw bale garden don’t have the flower rot or cracking issue that the ones in my traditional raised bed have. 

 I marvel at how well my potatoes are growing in the straw—and I wonder why I am so attached to growing potatoes—I’ve had 2 years of failed attempts. And the corn—I can’t even eat it because I’m allergic to it but I have been fighting off rabbits and birds to get the few standing stalks that I have and they are hearty and healthy----

Why I wonder—why do I do these things—?? 

In my heart I do know why—it is in my blood, my heritage, my genetic memory as well as my conscious one.  

My father’s garden----I remember it SO well…it spanned an acre and we spent so much time there—planting, weeding, harvesting—row after row of tomatoes, peas, beans, peppers, squash---the cantaloupe and watermelon never did well for him—maybe that’s why I’m trying so hard.   

My Mom would can quarts and quarts of plum tomatoes, sweet banana peppers, watermelon rind pickles, pickles—sweet, dill... Refrigerator pickles----you name it….and the potatoes..

If my memory serves me correctly, the new potatoes were ready around the 4^th of July—and they were always so amazingly good---I associate the 4^th of July with New potatoes all the time—our town had a parade on the 4^th and new potatoes--—it makes me smile thinking about Triangle park, the garden, my Dad, the times I spent ( often begrudgingly at the time—for as a child on summer vacation, who wants to weed and plant and harvest?!)   

My mom taught me how to can and I still think that those are the best veggies ever—homemade plain sauce from home canned plum tomatoes, fresh basal, parsley and onions—can’t be beat.  I can still see the shelves in the basement with rows upon rows of canned goods—that allowed us to have amazing fresh tasting foods in the middle of the NJ winters.  

Corn—fresh Jersey Sweet Corn—in my 11^th and 12^th year, my Dad decided to plant acres of corn—his friend down the street had a tractor and a seed planter—those years I learned how to drive that green John Deere and keep the hopper on the seeder full—back then I had no clue I was allergic to corn—there is nothing more sweet then a fresh picked ear of Silver Queen raw… Summer days spent on the back of my father’s pickup truck after picking corn at Englishtown Auction selling a baker’s dozen for a buck….

 

All this was swimming through my head as I was lovingly taming my tomato plants, tying them up to keep the green tomatoes up off the ground and less easy fodder for bugs--- 

 

I kept staring at my potatoes—and I remembered—it’s not that I DON’T remember things but when you are looking at your 50^th year on earth, some things are filed away a little deeper because you don’t use it as often.  As if it were yesterday I had this vision of a potato field, row up on row of green potatoes, the huge irrigators and I was in NJ at my great grandfather’s home.  “Bampop” was a potato farmer—although the planting that I saw at this time were not his doing—he had farmed that land—I remember my mother telling stories of going to her Gram’s house—of her great grandparents’ home nearby—my memory is so faded, but it is just a good feeling---I have pictures in boxes of my Grammie, Delta Duncan McCarty and her sister Carol Duncan Pierson as kids…thinking about all that life and history that is back in NJ as I stand in front of my miniscule in comparison garden in Arizona…. I’ve read historical books on the history of Monroe and Cranbury just to get a glimpse of my family line and history—

 

All this came up tonight because of my garden…So many people in my life are now gone forever…their memories alive in my heart and mind--

I love my Garden--because it is more than "just" a garden....it is part of my life history ~JmF~ July 5, 2013

 This is my original raised bed garden which has served me well since last year and my wonderful husband expanded it for me so it's now twice as big---

  


Another View

I love this little plant--it is a Rutgers Tomato plant that the rabbits had chewed down to the stem and it has rebounded itself and has flowers now :)

A perfectly green tomato, no blossom rot, no cracks, can't wait until it's red!  If you haven't researched straw bale gardens, they are amazing!  You can garden anywhere!

Another view of my tomato plants going wild :)