Try This: Understand Size Distortion

Weight is a difficult subject for me. I have always been a wide girl, even though I'm petite. I've struggled with weight all my life, and I feel able to talk about it now because, strangely enough, I have lost ten pounds since I started this blog in October. I'm bringing this up because I had a recent reality check about sizing distortion in women's clothing, and while not a foodie topic, I feel like I should discuss it here. Size distortion and portion distortion are the twin devils of American culture - as the "size to be" gets smaller, restaraunts push bigger and bigger portions to eat. They might be different issues, but they are inextricably linked. What you eat determines what you weigh. It took me 20 years to really grasp that concept, and now that I've got it, I'm getting healthy - but there are still a lot of people out there who don't get it.

One of my favorite things to do when there's nothing to do is browse dresses online and pick them out for my "after" photo. I mean, cute dresses exist for the big girl, but supercute is a bit beyond our reach. One of my favorite sites is ModCloth.com, and now that I'm finally seeing real progress (yay, double-digit losses!) I started looking at their sizes. And wow. They are tiny.

After a bad run-in with their customer service team - it's always a joy to be implicitly called fat by a stranger who wouldn't know you from Eve - I channeled my snow day and seething energy into a little research. Because as much as we know about Barbie's unnaturally distorted figure, what do we know about real women and their natural figures?

According to the CDC's 2009 summary of data collected between 2003 and 2006, the average American woman (AW) is 5'4" tall, weighs 169 pounds, and has a 37" waist. According to American lingerie manufacturers, she wears a 36C bra. And based on her BMI (29, the borderline between overweight and obese) and research about the relationship between the waist-to-hip ratio and weight-related health risks, she has 43.5" hips. That's about a Misses size 18.

That's what "normal" looks like, but normal is overweight. What does healthy look like?

The one thing that won't change is her height. So the hypothetical ideal average (HI) is stil 5'4". Since she's average, let's put her at 125 pounds, right in the middle of her ideal weight range, 110-140 pounds.

The AW has 37% body fat. The ideal is 20-25%; too much lower and hormones and reproductive organs are disrupted. Let's say that at 125, HI has 23.5% body fat. Based on the reversal of a fitness calculation system developed by the US Navy, she would probably have a 28" waist. Since she's healthy, she probably has 38-40" hips. And since she's no longer overweight, like the AW, her bust is likely in line with the old average of a B-cup bust. That's more like a Misses size 8.

Now what about ModCloth? Since the data I've used this far is for the "average" woman, it makes sense to reference their medium size. To create the average for the ModCloth medium, I took a random sampling of 20 dresses from the "Under $50" section and averaged their bust, waist, and hip measurements. Only half of these dresses had any stretch, including smocking, stretch material or elastic. Most of the dresses that had stretch had it only in the waist. Not all of these dresses listed a hip measurement.

Another ModCloth problem is how they do their sizing. Rather than testing the garment on a dress form to see what sizes it can fit, they lay the garment flat and measure the bust, waist and hip size across the front of the garment. I have enough problems with this method, but what it comes down to is that the measurements listed are approximately half of the measurement the garment will fit. The average I came up with was 16"-14"-18.5" - that would fit roughly a 32" bust, a 28" waist, and a 37" hip. That's a Juniors size 5. Juniors sizes are meant for girls just starting puberty, so the bust and hips are slightly smaller. A full-grown, curvy woman would have to decide between a garment with a too-big waist or a two-small bust/hip.

So let's compare:

• The average American woman is 42-37-43.5, a Misses 18.
• The healthy ideal for the average American woman is, hypothetically, 34-38-39, a Misses 8 or 10.
• And the Modcloth average medium is 32-28-37, a Juniors 5.

Even if the average woman was perfectly healthy, she couldn't fit into the average ModCloth medium. Her waist would fit, but her bust and hips would not. If she noticed this and decided to try and lose more weight in order to fit into her dress, she would probably be unsuccessful, because hips, as you know, are bones, and when you're fit, they are probably as small as they will get. Breasts, too, are hard to reduce without surgery, or extreme malnutrition.

Two inches may not seem like a huge difference, but consider this: one pound of body fat has a volume of roughly two cups, or 29 cubic inches. Even assuming that HI can lose those two inches on her bust and hips to fit into that supercute dress, it would equal a total volume of 116 cubic inches off the waist and hips alone, equal to four pounds. You can't lose weight in just one area, so she would probably lose eight pounds total trying to lose those two inches.

That would put her at 117 pounds, which is so light, it's the bare minimum for giving blood. One nasty stomach bug could be very dangerous to her health, and one restaraunt meal would blow almost all her calories for the day. She will have shifted away from a healthy medium, towards an unhealthy extreme that may encourage further size distortion and lead to eating disorders and a whole host of other psychological problems. Let me be clear: this is bad. And while my encounter with ModCloth's distain for the upper sizes left one bad taste in my mouth, this information leaves another that is far worse. Discriminating against curvy girls is one thing, but discriminating against healthy girls is far worse, and the slim margin is so enticing as a means to lose "just a little more" that I find it sickeningly insidious.

So the question is: where do we go from here? How do we tackle the difficult issue of size distortion? How do we affect change?

Try This Recipe: Mock Risotto With Vegetables

That turkey chili from last time was really good - and good thing, too, because the friend I was cooking with had somehow made it to the ripe age of 20 without ever trying chili. I don't know how that happened, but I do know I've won him over. Depending on who you talk to, I'm good at that.

One thing I'm not good at: moderation. I always forget how much bigger rice and beans get when cooked, so I made about double what I needed. Half went in the chili, and half went into the fridge for a midweek meal. My absolute favorite thing to do with leftover rice is fried rice, but a close second is mock risotto. This recipe makes five to six generous helpings of creamy, veggie-studded comfort food - the perfect thing for the middle of a long, rainy week.

I used:

2 1/2 cups cooked rice

1 1/2 cups cooked beans

2 cups water (more as needed)

1 cup milk

2-3 T olive oil

1/2 T red pepper flakes

1 large clove garlic, chopped

1/4 cup chopped onion

1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese

2 T grated parmesan cheese

3 cups zucchini, quartered lengthwise and thinly sliced

2 cups mushrooms, sliced

1 1/2 cup spinach, shredded

Put the rice and beans in a large pot, and add milk and water to cover. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently, and then lower the heat and cover. Check on it every five minutes or so, and scrape up any bits that get stuck to the bottom. (Or leave some. They get yummy.)

Coat the bottom of a large pan with 1 T olive oil. Add the red pepper flakes and put on high for up to a minute, to infuse the oil with spice. Add the onions and sweat them for about a minute. Add the garlic and sweat it while the onion starts to caramelize. Scrape into the rice mixture, and stir until uniform. Add the cheeses and stir them in, as well.

Add a little more oil to the pan, and lightly saute the zucchini until just wilted. (It's ok to do this part in batches. I was using a small pan.) When it's done, add it to the pot, too.

Prime the pan again, and this time, saute the mushrooms over low to medium heat. Once they heat up, they'll shrink and release liquid into the pan. (A small pan is actually better for this part.) Once they release that liquid, give them one good stir and place the shredded spinach on top. The mushrooms will finish cooking (and taste like wonderfully mushroom-y mushrooms, since they kept all that liquid nearby) and steam the spinach. Once all the spinach is wilted, reduce heat to low until the mushroom juice is all cooked off, stirring frequently.

By now, the rice mixture should be thick and somewhat porridge-like. If it's still very watery, remove the lid and raise the heat for a few minutes, until it reduces somewhat. Old rice won't always absorb all the liquid, and that's ok. Once it has thickened, add the mushroom and spinach. Remove from heat, cover, and let sit for five to 15 minutes so the flavors can blend. Serve with grated parmesan.

Serves 5-6

Nutrition info for a serving of a generous cup (up to 1 1/4 cup): 272 calories, 43g carbohydrates, 6g fat, 21g protein, 8g fiber, 398mg sodium.

Dinner Tonight: Turkey Chili

Right now, I'm broke. The university has messed up my last few paychecks, and between preprofessional society dues and gas money, the one I did get is already gone. Such is the life of a college student.

That said, I was craving real food. The food at school is pretty uniformly terrible, as I'm sure you've gathered by now. What real food can you make on a budget? Something with dry rice and dry beans, because those are, pound for pound, the cheapest and most filling foods on the planet, I kid you not. My darling roommate shared some of her ground turkey with me, I picked up extras from the salad bar, added the dry rice, dry beans, and seasonings I keep as my pantry, and BAM - cheap, healthy and filling college student meal, with enough to share and plenty of leftovers for later.

Want some? You need:

1 cup dry beans (I used red kidney beans)

1/2 cup dry rice

1 T olive oil or other fat

1/4 large white or yellow onion

2 cloves garlic

1 cup chopped bell pepper, red and green

1/2 cup chopped baby corn or corn kernels

1/2 lb ground turkey or beef

1 jar of your favorite salsa

The thing with dry beans is that you have to soak them first. I rinsed them this morning and left them to soak while I was in classes. If you want to skip this part, use dried beans. Once the beans have soaked for a few hours, drain them, cover with water, and boil with the lid on until they are mostly tender. In a bowl, wash the rice until the water runs clean. Add the rice and more water to the bean pot and recover; cook for about another 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, elsewhere...

Chop your onion and mince your garlic. Set them aside and chop your other veggies. Lightly coat the bottom of a large pan with olive oil, put over medium-high heat, and add onion and garlic. Sweat for a few minutes, and allow them to start caramelizing before you add your peppers. Once the peppers are tender, scoot all the veggies to one edge of the pan, and add your meat, stirring frequently to break it up. Season to taste with chili powder, cumin, and oregano. (The right balance this time was something like 1 T chili powder, 1 t cumin, 1/2 T oregano. Start small, and taste often.)

When the meat is done, toss in the baby corn, stirr it all together, and add the salsa. You can take this off the heat until your beans and rice catch up, if the beans are being picky like mine were. Mix it all together in the pot. Serve on a bed of raw spinach, and top with some shredded cheddar cheese.

Serves: 5

Nutrition for 1 cup chili served on 1 cup spinach with 1/4 cup shredded cheddar:

401 calories, 36g carbs, 20g fat, 27 g protein, 12g fiber, 307mg sodium.