So now it’s okay to be overweight?

I’t’s funny. I was obviously overweight here but I thought I looked great and very sexy. Now, I gain a pound and I am mortified.

Despite a recently released  study that found that overweight people live longer than normal weight or thin people, it’s still not okay to be fat. Not in my family or the world I move in at large.  I’ve met a few men who like a few extra pounds on a woman but the majority of non-Hispanic, non black men prefer slender well-toned women or at least of  average weight.  My grandmother would probably say something like “Why would you want to live longer if you are fat?.  It’s generational to a degree.  My friend Diana’s mother’s response to the news that one of her friends had committed suicide was:”Why would she kill herself? She was a size 8.”

Written on a trailer truck in Mexico: Flaco pero no de Hambre (Skinny but not from hunger.)

The only thing I envy is people who can eat what they want and not get fat. I grew up in a family where being overweight is a mortal sin, the legacy of my grandmother Ana Linda who used the Roman tradition of purging as a way of maintaining her curvaceous figure. This resulted in many bulimics among the grandchildren and an unnatural dissatisfaction with our bodies.  I was never what one would call fat, but I was a bit chubby when I was growing up and on-and-off since. To my mortification just when I reached puberty, my mother one day threatened that if I gained one more pound she would start buying me Chubbettes, the Sears line of elasticized clothes that made you look like a chorizo or tamal depending on your body type. At first I thought the obsession with weight control was limited to our branch of the family. But recently, I was heartbroken to hear my cousin’s daughter tell me that her father had told her she looked fat in her wedding dress.

Fortunately and unfortunately, for most Mexican immigrants the issue of weight is, well, a non-issue.  Fortunately, because people tend to say “así es”  which means that’s the way he/she is  and accept them without undue pressure and they grow up with a better self-image. Unfortunately, because for a long time people have thought that there’s little they can do to control their weight, because they think that’s the way they were meant to be.

Once a upon a time, when  most Mexicans  ate our traditional diet of beans, corn, chile, fruit and vegetables and worked in the fields, people tended to be thin.  Our bodies became efficient at using every calorie we put into it. But once we began living off high calorie fast foods heavy on highly processed ingredients and sodas full of high fructose corn syrup and artificial flavors, this new way of life wreaked havoc on our bodies.

But outreach efforts by health organizations of all kinds –  including Mexican consulates — who are alarmed at the escalating cases of and rising costs in treating diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, overweight, cancer, and even dementia, among our people are at least starting to raise awareness that something must be done, and that it can be done.

Sadly, the biggest factor in the fast-growing number of these illnesses and conditions is that people don’t know what they can or cannot eat. For instance, recently a woman with a visible limp followed me out of the Mexican consulate. She was moving very slowly, and as we walked to the bus stop she volunteered that she had gained a lot of weight recently and that it was affecting her feet, making walking painful.

“I know I need to get on a diet but I tried one of those weight-off supplements and immediately gained the weight back when I started eating again.  What can I do?” she asked. “What diet works best?”

Having been a medical social worker for several years in El Paso, Texas, I explained that diets don’t work long term but she could start by eliminating anything white, except maybe cauliflower and jicama, from her diet. White, I explained, usually indicates that something has been over-processed. Take flour, rice, and sugar for instance. In their minimally processed states, these ingredients aren’t white. The poor woman almost cried. I understand. It feels like so much work, when what most of us want is a magic pill that will melt away the pounds.

The big secret (which is really no secret, as doctors have been telling this to us for years) is to change our way of eating and, most importantly, to exercise. Believe me, I know. I’ve fought the battle ot the 5-pound up-and-down forever and right now I am winning and I feel pretty good about myself! But it is really what you eat that makes a difference.   It is within our power to change our bodies.  The recipes in this new section will help you by bringing exciting new flavors that you an put together in a jiff.