What’s Really Eating Us? Black women and weight
In 2010, I saw a statistic on the CDC website that said something like by the year 2030, 100% of Black women were going to be overweight and/or obese. I shared that statistic with some male friends that I knew and I asked them what they thought about it. They thought for a minute and as they were thinking, they came to the conclusion that that statistic might have some truth to it. So I went out into the world and I observed the Black women that I came across in the supermarket, the drug store, on the street, etc and I saw some truth in the statistics as well.
I’m a Black woman in my 40’s and I’m lucky to say that I have never had a weight problem. As a matter of fact, a few months ago I ran into a high school friend of mine who stopped me on the street and he was surprised as to how I hadn’t changed a bit in weight or size. I’m actually one size smaller than I was now than what I was in high school.
Many people tell me that it’s genes, but none of the women in my family on my father’s or my mother’s side are a size 4, 6, or even an 8 except for my sister who is a size 6.
Some things that I have noticed in the our community when it comes to food is how we have a defeating relationship with food, diet, nutrition, and health and we also have a terrible relationship with science.
