At 7:01am, I picked up our telephone and dialed my best friend, Rachel. I couldn't call before 7am, because I might wake someone up and get in trouble with her step-mom. She wasn't a lady I wanted to mess with, so I waited an extra minute just to be safe. 

I could picture Rachel racing to pick up the hallway telephone before her brothers grabbed it. Luckily, the phone was just outside her bedroom so she had an advantage. I could picture her dragging the incredibly long cord all the way to the front of her closet to assess the situation. 

"What are you wearing today?" I'd ask. 

"Ummmm, I think my skirt and long sleeve shirt. Do you have something that matches?" she'd reply.

Once we had our outfits dialed in, we'd walk to meet at the corner and make our way to school. 

Wall phones, dialing, waiting for the clock to turn.....it all seems rather antiquated compared to today's scenario. 

My daughter wakes up and can check her "Snaps"...

Emily Ratakjowski, model, author and podcaster, is next up in the line of celebrities saying and doing ridiculously fatphobic things. She posted a series of pictures on her Instagram from M Magazine and one of the pictures shows her standing in one leg of a pair of jeans that are several sizes too large for her very petite body. 

Think biggest loser, Jenny Craig or any other weight loss add showing someone holding up their "before" size jeans. 

What message does this convey other than blatant fatphopbia? Apparently the artistic director for this shoot has used baggy clothes before, but nothing to this extreme. Are the big pants supposed to accentuate her smallness? Do they show that being her size is healthy? Are they trying to continue promoting the ideal thin, white female? 

EmRata, as she's affectionately called, WROTE A BOOK ABOUT FEMINISM AND BODY EMPOWERMENT. The image posted hardly reflects her so-called body...

I grabbed the railing as I walk-wobbled along the narrow passageway towards the front. The boat swung from side to side as it motored through seven foot swells. The white capped Atlantic Ocean waves were out in full force. 

And so was my motion sickness.  

One zofran down, I had my sights on the bow so I could have the clearest view of the steady horizon line. I sat with my legs dangling off the boat and grasped the wire cable for dear life. 

After what felt like hours and a lot of deep breaths, we made our way out of rocky seas into the calm bay. 

Crystal clear turquoise water and schools of fish surrounded the boat. I had survived. 

As I bounced around in those rocky waves, I couldn’t help but think about January being the equivalent of rough waters for diet culture.

The volume is probably turned up on diet talk with your friends and family. People resolving to make this year be the year that things are different. 

It’s likely your...

I love a good list. I write lists every week and love putting together the annual list of your favorite articles from the year. I know you missed some good ones, so I’m wrapping them in a little bow for you to enjoy in the coming weeks. 

Instead of a list, I wish I could be like Oprah and call out your name and proclaim, “You get a car!”, but I can’t and that reminds me….

Why, Oprah, why? ICYMI, the WW board member and spokesperson who initially denounced weight loss drugs as “the easy way out” has now come full circle. She admits to taking a weight loss drug which has resulted in a noticeable weight loss for the mega star. 

This news is giving me all the feels, but I’ll just say these things for now.

Oprah might want to reconsider her involvement with WW since counting calories for the rest of her life wasn’t going to be the secret to lasting weight loss because 97% of people who attempt weight loss will not succeed....

Mom, we need to buy some rice cakes!”

”No we do NOT need those”. 

“C’mon, they’re so good and crunchy and we could eat them with peanut butter!!” 

Long pause while my cartoon thought bubble pictures snack or quick meal with peanut butter on rice cake.  

“Still a no”. 

“Ugh, you’re so annoying”. 

What gives? What’s wrong with a rice cake and peanut butter anyways? Crunchy? Yes. Protein? Yes. Air filled wafer loved by dieters all the way back to Jane Fonda’s leg warmer wearing days? Yeah, and there’s the problem. 

You might not question the rice cake, but I do. You know why? It can be the start of a very slippery slope that lands you smack in the face of diet culture.  This isn’t the same satisfying feeling of flying down the slip-n-slide on a hot summer day when the ice cold hose water is eased by the scorching hot sun rays. That’s all fun and...

I see you, 2023. 

Bright, shiny and new, like all the new kid's bikes under the Christmas tree. 

Maybe you're eagerly sharpening your pencils for those New Year's Resolutions because those new shiny bikes already seem very 2022.

Maybe you're tempted to plop, "lose x number of pounds" or "cleanse every three months" at the top of your list. 

Don't do it. 

Those list toppers are for those who don't know that diets don't work, except for a tiny fraction of people. 

Those list toppers are for those who believe there's still a way out there that will make them permanently smaller. Believe me, there's nothing new here in the land of dieting. It's all damaging to body and mind and doesn't work no matter how it's packaged and sold. 

Those list toppers are for the ones who still hold out a glimmer of hope that they'll not only lose weight permanently, but also win the lottery. I'm not sure which scenario has the worst odds, but they're both pretty...

By 8pm, I was searching for a way out. FAST. 

Last Saturday, I found myself bumper to bumper in a sea of people all vying for a view of the Rockefeller Tree and the Sax Fifth Avenue light and music show. 

There’s nothing like New York during the holidays and because it was a balmy 55 degrees, everyone and their mother, brother and sister were out trying to absorb some of the city’s magic. 

Thankfully, our stroller was a small buffer between us and the next person, otherwise it was body to body weaving through a narrow passageway bordered by metal barricades until you got your chance to take your picture and move on. Normally, I would balk at such a massive crowd, but It was warm and the three kids with me and my mom were willing to slog it out to experience some special holiday cheer. 

After a while, though, we were all done and needed to. Get. Out. We could only withstand that scene for so long before needing to find a less crowded street so our...

I screamed so loudly that the guy wallpapering my house opened the front door to see what happened. 

I ran with my shaking dog over to where he was standing on my front porch and together we inspected her for blood. Turns out retired fire fighters turned wallpaper installers are good for emergencies. 

One minute earlier, the neighbor's dog came out of their yard into the street and attacked our dog. 

After we spotted a wound, I called the vet. 

Two minutes later, we loaded the still shaking dog into the car. 

Twenty-five minutes later we arrived at the vet's office. 

As I held our shaking puppy and paced the waiting room, I noticed a sign. 

In big bold letters, it said "Did you know that 50% of dogs are OVERWEIGHT?"

Ugh. Even the dogs aren't immune to the constant bombardment of weight loss. Thank god dogs can't read, use social media, read magazines or watch TV, but too bad their owners can. I'm all for taking great care of dogs, but I think...

I had an epiphany this week. 

I was listening to, On Our Best Behavior, by Elise Loehnen, on Audible and in her chapter about gluttony, she talks about diet culture and the impossible standards to which women are held (cue America Ferrera’s speech in the Barbie movie). 

Out of the whole chapter, one key word stood out: satisfied. 

I got to thinking and wondered, do you ever feel really satisfied? Or do you spend more time thinking about how much you feel unsatisfied in your life? Whether it’s your relationships, your kids, your career, the things you own or don’t own, your house, your car, the things you did or didn’t do, how your time is spent or how your body looks, there’s always something that could be better. 

Americans thrive on the idea that their value and worth can be achieved just around the corner. We’re all baked into a culture of strivers. What’s next? How can I better myself? There’s nothing wrong with...

Sometimes you get news that makes time stand still and feels like someone has pulled the rug out from underneath you.

This past week our family received terrible news that my 49 year old cousin passed away after battling cancer for four long years. Even though we knew she wouldn't be with us forever, we were shattered to learn she was gone. She was one of my first best friends and remained close to me for over four decades. 

We bonded throughout our childhood over dance recitals, fancy parties at the Italian Community Center, hair styles (so jealous my Aunt was a hair stylist and could cut her hair!) and countless bad 80's fashion mishaps. 

Hands down, what bonded us the most was food. Every Sunday night we'd meet at my Nana's house for her famous pasta, every holiday we shared meals together, every birthday we cut cake together while our Uncles cut the cheese and we worked our grandparent's food booth at Festa Italiana. We ate food together, made food together...