black…MYstory

I’ll admit it. I really need to lose weight. I am back on the “vegetarian” bandwagon and really cutting back on fried foods, refined sugar and high-fructose corn syrup.

The reason, beside my personal health, is that of my son. My eating habits become his eating habits and I don’t want a kid doomed to a life and health problems associated with obesity.

I go out to eat and see no shortage of people who are severely overweight. I used to wonder why foreigners would call Americans “fat” but, when I got off my butt, stopped watching so much TV and actually saw for myself, I noticed that Americans are fat. TV doesn’t have a lot of shows with fat people as central characters so, it’s easy to fall under an illusion that this is not the issue.

But, let’s face it, we can get a day’s fat from one burger and a day’s calories from one meal so, it’s no small wonder why we’re in the shape we’re in.

Now, a report from a study performed at Johns Hopkins University should send up red flags for us all. It predicts that, by 2015, a full 75% of all adult Americans will be overweight.

As black folks, we should be especially concern because, of the following:

An alarming 80 percent of black women aged 40 or over are overweight and 50 percent are obese.

While it doesn’t specifically refer to black men, trust me, too many of us are “big-boned”, as well.

So, black folks, let work on losing that middle. Our lives may depend on it.

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