Good morning! Happy Sunday! Did I mention that I am so happy to be home?
Breakfast
Mal and I slept in this morning and then made a pancake breakfast for ourselves. Of course, I used Mal’s favorite recipe for the pancakes. I topped my pancakes with banana slices and maple syrup. Delish.
I washed my breakfast down with a glass of iced coffee and a piece of chocolate from our new Advent calendar that I bought at Harry & David when we were in Medford. Mal and I are several days behind, so instead of alternating who gets the piece of chocolate each day, we both get one! Obviously, this makes us very happy (because we are big dorks).
While cooking pancakes, I listened to an interesting piece on NPR, which was part of an ongoing series on obesity in America. It was called “Spandex Stretches To Meet U.S. Waistlines.”
At first, I thought it was a tongue-in-cheek piece. Spandex supporting the obesity epidemic? It seemed like a stretch (pun intended) to me, but then the piece presented a number of interesting opinions and research to support their argument:
Brett Godwin, a size 4, says spandex is overused. “I think that spandex is made to accommodate people who are overweight. I’ve seen some terrible sights. They are overweight, and they would put on the tightest spandex things they can find, and they just look absolutely awful.”
Alvanon’s Gribbin says spandex is a “democratic” fiber because “the product will morph to the body as opposed to limit the body. But many wonder whether spandex is encouraging people to be bigger.”
“They were designed to be a straight skirt, and muffin tops don’t look good in pencil skirts,” she says. “But now I’m the proud possessor of a pencil skirt that can somewhat camouflage a muffin top.”
Women buy 78 percent of all apparel sold in the United States, and health officials say 65 percent of them are overweight or obese.
Paschal loves spandex, she says, but feels conflicted. “It’s dishonest. It lets you get away with wearing things that you probably shouldn’t just because it expands to fit. I think it is deceptive.”
I’m not sure I buy into the whole argument, but it was still an interesting piece to hear.
What are your thoughts? Is spandex stretching to meet waistlines?
