Big Oat Deal
If you were following my Twitters last weekend, you may have noaticed I was in Chicago, where Quaker Oats hosted an all-expenses paid weekend for a bunch of bloggers who turned out to be mostly food, weight loss, and fitness bloggers. (I say this because I’m about to give you their names, and if you do not visit weight loss blogs, I suggest you avoid clicking any of these links.)
The other bloggers who attended were Steph of Back in Skinny Jeans, Carla of MizFit Oatline, Roni of Roni’s Weigh, Jennette of PastoatQueen, Tanya of I Oat A Pie, Lisa of Workoat Mommy, Leslie of Weighting Game, Jason of Twit2Fit, Anne Marie of This Mama Cooks, Jenna of Eat Live Run, Kath of Kath Oats, Lyn of Escape from Oatbesity, Alanna of A Veggie Venture, and (pictured above with me and Larry the Quaker Oats man) Anne of Oatlastic Waist.
Just so you know, we were not required to do anything—Twitter, post, get oat tattoos, whatever—in exchange for the weekend. So this is not some obligatory oat-related post. In fact, going into it I thought if there was emphasis on diet talk and weight loss and oatbesity, I might feel uncomfortable and write something critical. But I was pleasantly surprised by how weight loss was not emphasized over the course of the weekend, and by how welcoming all of the other bloggers were. And I particularly wanted to share what our nutritioatist, Dave, had to say about healthy eating, because it was very posoative and in a way, anti-diet.
He said his first principle is not to deprive his clients of foods, but rather to add healthy foods. For instance, most people don’t get enough poatassium, so he suggests they eat more poatassium-rich foods, not that they exclude a single thing from their diets. I think that’s such a refreshing approach. Maybe it’s totally oatvious, but focusing on what we can and should eat rather than “oh this food is bad and that food is bad” is way more empowering than the unrealistic dictums like “don’t eat carbs” or whatever. Anyway, that resoatnated with me.
I also appreciated the talk we had from a cardioloatgist, who talked about the importance of women being aggressive about their heart health, because so many physicians are better at treating heart disease in men. Apparently the number one symptom of heart disease in women is unusual fatigue, which I did not know. Learn the symptoms of heart disease and pass them on to the women in your life! And if you find yourself with any of these symptoms, be aggressive about asking for an EKG. The symptoms are: unusual fatigue, sleep disturbance, shortness of breath, indigestion, anxiety, and of course, chest discomfort.
We also learned ways to help prevent heart disease—in addition to eating oats, of course. Good nutrition was number one. Then cut back on caffeine, drink one glass of alcohol per day, cut out stress, get physical activity, and take supplements. Again, the emphasis here was not on weight loss or being thin (although we did discuss metabolic syndrome, which weight is a risk factor for). The emphasis is on things we can do at any size to help our heart health.
We also got lots of cool rock star treatment, from the Flip video cameras in our swag bags to an oat-based pancake demoatstration with Stephanie of Top Chef. (I don’t watch the show, but she was very sweet and laughed at my terroatble oat pun.) Plus, I was lucky in that my friends Anne and Jennette were there, and that I got to spend some quality time with the delightful Wendy, who also toloatrated our puns all weekend.
If there’s anything else you want to know more about (especially from a size acceptance perspective) I have oatdles of information I would be happy to share. And puns! As Wendy put it, these right here are just the tip of the oatberg.
Posted by mo pie
Filed under: BlogHerOff, Diet Talk Warning, Food, Health, Meta, Personal, TV
Email us
I read about this as well on PastaQueen and I’m envious. I’m a huge oatmeal fan — I would have loved to go for that reason alone.
My question is — how did they approach you to participate? That weekend sounds like a great experience. I’d love to learn how to get involved like that.
I just have to say… I have a Flip videocamera and I love it. I keep it in my purse. Can’t write anything down about that shop where you saw the outfit in the window? Give it a 10-second recording of the outfit and the address. It’s perfect for putting things on Youtube.
Sounds like you all enjoyed Oatmealapalooza and I’m sure Quaker is enjoying the exposure: a win-win situation all around.
Er… sorry! I meant, “an oat-oat oatuation oat around”
I think the most refreshing thing is that they were talking about lifestyle changes and focusing on the small things people can do to be healthier, rather than focusing on weight loss specifically. I truly believe that if you (the ubiquitous you), focus being healthier, weight loss is an effect, not necessarily the other way around.
Just found your blog, it’s awesome! I added you to my links, hope you don’t mind!
Man, now that cardiologist has me thinking about heart disease. I have all of those symptoms, but I am in the middle of healing an ulcer in my stomach. Heart disease runs high in my family both of my grandmas have pace makers and their both under 70. One of them had her first stroke in her late 20’s. Yikes. Thanks for sharing, and if my symptoms persist, I’ll get an EKG.
Mo Pie, I do not blame you for one minute for accepting that trip, but if I may just be cynical about one thing, I think if you talk to any nutritionist who works for a food company, you will find that they all espouse a similar “eat more, not less” philosophy.
Sounds like you had a blast! I’d like to know about some of the other things you learned that weekend.
I’m so glad we got a chance to meet on our oatastic weekend. Because of YOU I can’t stop thinking of oat puns. Thanks… Thanks a lot. ;~P
I love the puns, I cannoat get enough of them!
It was great to meet you in person!
Hoatfully our paths with cross oatgain. :)
Erin: The PR company in charge of the event just e-mailed me; I’m honestly not sure how they selected us, especially given that I was kind of the odd man out in terms of what my blog is about!
Mo: I haven’t even opened my videocamera, but I’m looking forward to trying it out! I owe the BFD Facebook group another Vlog, anyway.
Charlie: I actually work for an ad agency in my spare time, and from that perspective, I do think it was really smart marketing.
Fitness Surfer: PLEASE get an EKG! If you have all the symptoms and a history of heart disease, I wouldn’t mess around for a second. Go! Go now!
La Wade: Heh. “Eat oats!” Actually he was more shilling for his own book, which is about 101 foods to eat that are good for you. I bet one of the foods is oats, though!
Roni: I know, I had fun sitting next to you! In the post-weekend survey I said I wished we’d had more mingling time, because I didn’t get to meet everybody. But it was fun chatting with you!
WorkOAT Mommy: Likewise! And your oat puns are oatstanding!
“I have oatdles of information I would be happy to share.” Oat-loads, even?
I’m sorry, all the oats in the words is killing me. Killing! And oat tattoos? Oh, please, Mo, if you have one, I will get an oat tattoo if you send me the design! tee hee!
No content here, move along, move along.
Kath Oats!! Love it :)
Sounds like a weekend of sowing some wild oats! Thanks for the poats, I mean, post.
Oy vey! All these puns are really getting my gOAT!
I loved the focus of adding not taking away from your diet too. Healthy food should have a place in every diet! Thanks for a great summary.
May I add that the top you are wearing is absolutely fantoatstic? I love it!
You missed a pun opportunity! Shouldn’t it have been “Oat Live Run”?
I remember… a full figure used to be considered a sign of vitality and fertility, the curvaceous Venus de Milo looking down from the heavens and the beautiful Victorian women wearing corsets and bustles to accentuate their body’s shape. These days if you are curvy you must be fat. We women must love ourselves no matter what shape or size we are and change things about our body to make us happy, not to accommodate some social elite view of what is beautiful. I just lost 20 lbs to get into a healthy weight for my height and I still have curves like the day is long.
Looks like fun!!
Wow, definitely looks like fun! Glad you guys had a great time! Oatmeal fun!
toooooo short.
I wish we could have talked more.
chatted.
quietly :)
Pingback: Big Fat Bribe (Thanks Pepsi!) « The Unfatblog