My alternatieve incentive
Maybe you noticed the new hit among slimmers. It's about the biggest incentive people have. Yes you guessed it: money. It's proven that, as long as you can get money as a reward, slimming is more succesful than through any other program.
So schemes pop up giving you your own money (of course) back if you reach your goals. Fitness clubs do the same: every week you attend, you get a proportion of a hefty lump sum back, stored for you at the Clubs' account. The worst one of all this money-driven motivational schemes is one I read about recently. If you fail in your attempt to lose weight, you don't simply lose your money. Instead it goes to a 'cause' you most dislike (you list this before you start). My site Global Fat Exchange aims to realise the exact opposite.
I welcome everyone who likes the idea of a moral incentive to lose weight - give whatever you can miss if you are succesful. Or alternatively: someone close to you could sponsor your efforts and pay to a Food Program (to charities) on your behalf.
No More Hunger - Squirty cream film on YouTube !
Please click here to see the film I've made with the help of my son Leon.
We had a lot of fun squirting 3 cannisters of cream (real graffiti artists !) somewhere in a godforsaken place in Groningen.
Sugar & Money (header of website)
This is my very first 'Art' in which I made use of food (sugar). I chose it as the header of the site because it is still important to me. Food and money; no one likes to be without either one of them. The world economy is based on it.
I clearly remember what drove me to make this. As a mature student in Art school I ran out of time very often, combining studying with work and a young family. One evening, we were already having dinner, I was in a state of panic: I need to present tonight OR better stay at home pretending to be ill. I was lucky this work came to me in a 5 minute dash through the house: from the pantry (1 kilo of sugar) and a jamjar of loose change. My teacher was very pleased and encouraged me to do what was close to my heart.
"Material somehow always leads to something immaterial" Anish Kapoor.
India & right to food bill
The summer of 2009 we travelled in India. Among the million beautiful sites I was taken by this Goddess of Hunger. She is more than 1000 years old and is part of the rich collection of statues in one of the many temple complexes in Khajuraho (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khajuraho) - I hope to find out more about her and tell her story here one day. India is a country not anymore known for its problem of widespread hunger. A few decades ago India was almost synomymous with poverty and famine. These days we hear about Bollywood, business and IT, developments that have made many Indians very wealthy and proud of their achievements. The unfortunate truth is that India still has a very large population that doesn't benefit from the new times. Even stronger, they seem to be getting worse off as inequality increases and food distribution seems a bigger challenge than food shortages.(The Right to Food Bill in India 7 August 2009)
_______________________________________________________Goddes of Hunger
She condemned him
To Hunger —
But infinite, insatiable Hunger,
The agony of Hunger as a frenzy.
From Tales from Ovid, Ted Hughes
Waste not, want not
Hi there - this must be one of the most boring expressions in the English language 'Waste not, want not'. For me as a Dutch person it is special, as I cannot think of a good equivalent in my language. Strange for a country that used to be known for its thriftyness and calvinist attitudes. But I cannot use it enough - Waste not, want not. The Guardian has an article (25-09-09) under the heading 'Waste means want for others'. And the subheader 'Rich countries could alleviate world hunger by binning less food'. Clear stuff, even without the article you understand the gist of it, I assume. The article also taught me a new expression: bogof - buy one get, one free. Apparently people often buy the free 'one' for the bin. Finally I learned of yet another initiative, 'National Zero Waste Week', encouraging people to go one day without putting anything in their bins. I am happy to say that it's not only the UK that springs into action. The Dutch Voedingscentrum has started encouraging people here in the Netherlands to think about food wastage too. Subsidised by the government.
Ons aardse huis (Our earthly home)
75 gram vet voor een vrouw en 95 gram voor een man per dag. Dat is wat nodig is voor het normaal functioneren. Deze hoeveelheden, omgerekend naar een jaar intake van zowel de man als de vrouw heb ik gekocht in de vorm van hard vet (verzadigd vet - nogal slecht dus). Van beide hoeveelheden, bijna 35 kg en iets meer dan 27 kg. heb ik twee huizen gebouwd. Het werk heet 'ons aardse huis' - de gladde huid van het vet voelt als een lichaam.
Mijn doel is niet om het eten van vet in twijfel te trekken. Maar het is wel een werk waarbij mensen gaan nadenken over hun eigen gezondheid en de verantwoordelijkheid die we hebben om goed op onszelf te passen. In dit verband wordt er ook in de Bijbel gerefereerd aan 'ons aardse huis', ons lichaam.
75 g. of fat for a woman and 95 g. for a man per day. That is what is necessary for normal day-to-day functioning. I bought these amounts, calculated for a yearly intake, for a man as well as a woman in the shape of hard, saturated fat (the bad stuff). Of both quantities, almost 35 kg and just over 27 kg. I build two houses. I named the work 'our earthly home'- the slippery 'skin' of fat feels like a body.
I did not aim to cast a doubt about eating a normal quantity of fat. It is a work that makes people think about their own health and the responsibily that we all have to look after ourselves. In this context the Bible refers to 'our earthly home', our bodies, too.
Sugar and Spice (and all things nice)
A closly related work of art to 'our earthly home' is this sugar carpet - made of the total average intake of a Dutch person - 32 kilo's of sugar to be exact (www.suikerstichting.nl). This amount is the actual intake - wastage and so on is already taken into account. A very beautiful picture.....or do many suffer ill health because of it ? See more among food and art photos.
Alli (gebruikers, reken even mee: geld in de wc)
Wetenschap is bijna kunst. We leven in een land waar we het voorrecht hebben om 'vet voor het toilet' te eten. En dat mag dan ook wat kosten.
Het enige overgebleven geregistreerde geneesmiddel om af te vallen in Nederland is Alli en kost 58 euro per maand. Alli werkt omdat per dag gemiddeld 3 maal 4 gram minder vet uit ons eten niet in de darm wordt opgenomen, dat is derhalve dagelijks 12 gram vet om extra uit te poepen. Zoek het gerust na: bij de voedingsgerelateerde-neveneffecten - (overigens een prachtig eufemisme voor diarree, nu ik toch bezig ben op dat niveau!)
Die 12 gram vet staat voor 36 kcal. In een plak kaas zit 6 gram vet- twee plakken kaas minder per dag is dus ook 12 gram vet winst. Zou je die twee plakken kaas vervangen door light jam dan eet je in totaal nog net iets minder kcal. en net zo veel/weinig vet dan met Alli.
Human fat can safe lives
Dit is nu precies de kunst. Lees het hele verhaal zelf http://www.irfak.org/ .
"Overtollig vet kan mensenlevens redden" (26-11-2008, Netwerk)
English summary: A Dutch artist pretended ever so lifelike that a free liposuction was available for those who wanted to donate their fat to a food program for the 3rd. world. She made nutrion-rich cakes that could be used as emergency rations wherever a famine ocurred. With 50% human fat. All very serious and businesslike, with a television appearance and posters and a website. 'Human fat can safe lifes'. People reacted as predicted: they applied for the free liposuction and wanted to donate their fat.
Needless to say that it was all revealed as a ART project.
Bob Dylan Partners With The World Food Programme
Published on 24 September 2009 (full story)
'Christmas in the Heart' CD gives half a million school meals to hungry kids worldwideNEW YORK -- Royalties from Bob Dylan’s forthcoming Christmas album will be donated to the World Food Programme (WFP) at a time when a growing hunger crisis threatens the lives of 108 million people worldwide.