Today, I want to focus on healthy living. My motivation for this came from an article that I was reading this morning regarding obesity rates in the US. I was a bit bothered by the article, because it stated that all in all, 36% of Black Americans and 29% of Hispanics are obese, and that health officials weren't at all surprised by these figures, because "racial differences in obesity rates have been reported before". It even broke down by states where the obesity ocurred the most; turns out that Maine had the highest obesity rate for Blacks, while Tennessee had the highest obestity rates for Hispanics.
The article went on to say that just like other problems in society, economics is a big driver of the problem. But it also said that in addition to economics, individual attitudes played a huge part as well. One of the CDC epidemiologists was reported saying that "Blacks and Hispanics are more accepting of high weight, and that heavy people satisfied with their size are not likely to diet and exercise."
Now really, is there any truth to that statement? I would say that his statement is partially valid. I say partially because I think that that mindset is not just associated with Blacks or Hispanics. I mean think about it, how many times have you ran across those "confident" people that are good with their size, and even try to knock those that are smaller...Some of you may remember the many comments made by the comedian Mo'Nique about smaller women being skinny b*tches, or even her beauty pagent for women, Mo'Nique's F.A.T. Chance. I by no means am an expert on what makes people tick, but one would have to question if stuff like that, actually contributes to the problem.
So what does all this mean for us? What should we be doing to combat these problems? Do we start with the mind in hopes to impact the body, or vice versa?
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