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All this chest pounding made for a wonderful hula under the coconuts. And is there anyone among us who ever saw bubble-head Suzanne Somers pitch the Thighmaster on TV and didn't want to raid the kitchen for a bowl of frosting and a few Hot Pockets?
But you couldn't help noticing that two words seemed to have been excised from the million-pound vocabulary: exercise and nutrition. Some of the liberated even insisted there was no conclusive evidence linking obesity with health problems.
Denial is a wonderful thing. But before you dash out for doughnuts: "Many people have genetics that lead to a huskier look, and often that huskiness is not fat. [But] there are people we all know who used to be fat, then permanently changed their life-styles, and are now thin." says Dr. David Heber of the UCLA Center for Human Nutrition. Obesity most definitely increases risk of heart disease, Heber adds.
While Smith says NAAFA advocates healthy foods and exercise, you couldn't find a jumping jack or a bean sprout at the march. But 1) they were out in the healthy California sun and 2) there was nothing to eat but a few cookies.
That's progress. The first convention, in 1972, was held at a New York City deli.