Does This Clutter Make My Butt Look Fat?
So I was curious about Peter Walsh’s Does This Clutter Make My Butt Look Fat? and finally managed to reserve a copy at my local library. It’s not quite as fun as Clean Sweep was, but it’s full of common sense and useful suggestions. Classify it under self-help/inspirational, but don’t pick it up expecting any quick fixes or easy answers.
Walsh suggests that overstuffed houses and bodies tend to come from the same root emotional/scheduling issues and argues that if either or both are getting in the way of the reader’s happiness, then that’s bad. If you’re happy with your stuff and your weight, then Walsh has nothing to say but “congratulations.” It’s those who are unhappy that he wants to address.
As he did on Clean Sweep and does on Oprah, Walsh pushes readers to figure out what’s going on in their heads as the first step toward decluttering their houses and their bodies. He’s unsympathetic to excuses like “I’m too busy,” “I always cheat on diets,” and he’s suspicious of “it must be genetic because my whole family is fat.” In fact, he waves away pretty much anything but well-documented medical reasons for obesity. Medical reasons, he points out, do not account for 60% of America being overweight or obese. Besides, if you have a medical/physical problem that’s causing weight gain, you need to see a doctor about it, not read a book by an organizational expert.
Now, I know quite a bit about the history of fatness in the West, and although fat activists might disagree with some of his comments — for example, the estimated medical costs of obesity — I think that in general, Walsh understands and is sympathetic to the whole social issue of weight. Since his emphasis is on whether one’s happy with one’s body or not, rather than on what one “should” weigh, it’s hard to argue with him. He’s not defending points on a BMI scale or the definition of beauty. He’s asking you if your weight bothers you. And if it does, he’s suggesting a way to approach the problem.
Ultimately, Walsh argues, you are accountable for your own choices — whether that choice is what you bring into your house or what you put into your mouth. And if your choices are leading to consequences that make you unhappy, then change your choices. This might seem obvious, but I find it surprising how few Americans take the advice to heart. Got debt? Stop shopping. Lack time? Cut out time-wasters like TV watching. Clutter stressing you out? Ditch it or donate it. Getting fat? Eat better and move more. Yes, it takes time and discipline, and Walsh doesn’t pretend otherwise. His point is that only one person can change your life — you. And it starts with taking responsibity for your own choices and their consequences.
The focus of Does This Clutter Make My Butt Look Fat? is on weight and eating habits. Walsh asks readers to imagine their ideal lives and ask themselves if their “stuff” and weight are helping or hindering them in realizing that life. He dedicates a few chapters to uncluttering and cleaning the kitchen, noting that it’s hard to cook nutritious meals if the counters are buried under junk mail or the drawers are stuffed with gadgets instead of basic, functional cooking tools. He describes how to purge your pantry and refrigerator of unhealthy foods and how to develop meal plans and shop for meals. Organization and thinking ahead, he says, are the keys to eating well. If you aren’t organized, if you don’t keep the right foods ready on your shelves, you’ll all too easily slip back into ordering pizzas or stopping for takeout. No time for cooking? He makes several good points about how you choose to use your time. Again, it’s a matter of what you choose to do and what consequences you’re willing to accept as a result of those choices.
What does Walsh say you should eat? Fruits, vegetables, lean meats, whole grains; foods that are “colorful”; foods that aren’t processed. He makes a few specific suggestions (he leaves tea and coffee on your shelves but argues against sodas and white bread), but he insists that he’s not a dietician or nutritionist and says, rightly, that you know just as well as he does what’s healthy to eat. He agrees that diets don’t work and urges you to unclutter your house of diet books, creams, pills, and other junk. He doesn’t suggest specific meals, although he provides examples of meal charts from some of his clients.
Walsh’s approach isn’t going to help people with valid medical or physical reasons for being overweight, nor will it help people who have mental problems that manifest as hoarding tendencies. It’s not meant to. He aims his book toward any others, however, who may feel that their weight and/or cluttered living spaces are making them unhappy. I found his advice to be pragmatic and in line with much else that I’ve read, observed, and lived. He advises a path of moderation and emphasizes that in the end, the person who is responsible for making you happy about your house or your weight is you.
I agree entirely.
drupagliassotti @ March 27, 2008