How To Improve Food Culture in Black Communities

This picture appeared on my Facebook newsfeed with the caption, Snack Closet Goals.

I see eight boxes of cereal, 11 bags of chips, three boxes of Cheezits, and I can’t quite tell how many bags of candy and Kool-aid juice pouches are in the bottom shelf. A lot.

A year ago, I would have posted the same, I never cooked. At 23, I asked my mom how to heat brown n’ serve bread rolls; the ones you literally break apart and put in the oven for 15 minutes.

Take-out and delivery became my primary source of food. When I did “make something” to eat, it was mostly cereal. I would drink half a gallon of apple juice with a large bag of chips and call it dinner. The relationship between African Americans and nutrition is a complex mess of factors. Until I began my Paleo journey however, I never realized “black-itis” was an actual problem.

African Americans have a history of higher rates of obesity and health-related illnesses. The Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Minority Health found approximately 48 percent of African American adults (20+ years of age) are obese. African American children also have higher rates of obesity; approximately 21.4 percent of African American children are obese compared to 13.6 percent of white children.

Admittedly, there are historical and genetic considerations. There’s also a catastrophic access problem. Living in Baltimore for three years, I saw first-hand the lack of supermarkets, farmers’ markets, and fresh produce in convenience stores that across the bridge in Northern Virginia, a predominately white region had in abundance. Cooking and nutrition classes in middle schools and high schools across African American communities are non-existent. African Americans are also more likely to see food advertising with low nutritional value (more on that later). I’m sure Black families and children making these decisions about what to eat would choose healthier options if it were available.

Nonetheless, we need to address soul food culture and Black consumerism when it comes to food.

Saving Soul Food for Sundays

I would be lying if I said I didn’t eat all of my great-grandmother’s cornbread when she was alive. She lived with my mother and I for a few months, and every day coming back from school I had hoped she would leave some of her sweet, buttery cornbread on the stove.

Soul food has this nostalgic quality that encompasses family and memories spent with loved ones. But, when these meals are part of our day-to-day lives they become a hindrance to our health.

Having these meals with no portion control contributes to obesity and/or diabetes, a common illness among Black Americans. What’s worse, is during the weekday we cheat and eat processed versions of what our grandmothers made (Kraft’s mac and cheese, KFC’s fried chicken, Bojangles, store bought pies, etc.) also contributing to high cholesterol and sugar intake.

Instead of saving soul food for special or weekly occasions, we eat these dishes 3–5 days a week which yes, may do something for our soul but ruin our physical body in the process.

Black Buying Power v. Big Advertising

According to the Selig Center for Economic Growth, “African-American buying power is estimated at $1.2 trillion in 2016, and will grow to $1.5 trillion by 2021.” And increasingly, African Americans and other persons of color are buying with the intention of supporting Black owned business with #bankblack and #buyblack movements. However, advertising plays a huge role in dictating what we eat, and they want us to eat junk food.

The Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity, African American Collaborative Obesity Research Network (AACORN), and Salud America! analyzed marketing data from 26 major food companies. In their 2015 report, the study found Black youth saw almost twice as many TV ads for candy, sugary drinks, and snacks than White children. Fast food and other chain restaurants spent a total of $61 million in black-targeted TV alone in 2013.

In a Los Angeles Times article, Shiriki Kumanyika, an epidemiology and biostatistics professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine notes, “You get an information environment that’s coming from this advertising that sends a repeated message to Black youth and Latino youth about what foods are important.”

The article continues that this advertising to our youth works. The “Snack Closet” Facebook post received 139,000 likes and 449,115 shares. And often, kids persuade their parents to buy processed foods leading to a cycle of unhealthy eating and obesity.

Once we become more mindful of when we’re craving these foods and the reasons behind it, we can change African American food culture. But that just sounds great, right? How can we actually tackle this issue?

Here’s What You Can Do To Address The Food Problem

This is a vast issue that can’t be solved by a single blog post, but here are some ways that has helped my healthy eating journey. And maybe with enough people using these measures we can create a healthy eating movement within the African American community.

1. Support Organizations that are Addressing the Food Access Issue

The best solution to almost every issue is to educate yourself. Here are a few organizations that are tackling food access in marginalized communities. These organizations have valuable information on their websites that can provide more nuanced points to this issue and throwing a donation their way would be helpful.

Common Threads- Dedicated to providing education on nutrition, healthy eating, sustainability, and garden development in underserved communities across the United States.

The Food Trust- Develops curriculum resources, web content, and community based programs to expand access to healthy, affordable food across the country.

National Farm to School Network: Advocates bringing local food sourcing and agriculture education into school systems and other education settings.

2. Paleo Dieting Works

I absolutely swear by it. The Paleo diet basically eradicates sugar, grains, and processed foods from your diet. It is derived from research that our bodies are not used to grains and most man-made agriculture, so we eliminate it and eat natural meats, fish, vegetables, nuts, and seeds instead. There’s no calorie counting or portion control involved, just understanding when you’re actually hungry and eating healthy foods to nourish your body. Eliminating over-priced snacks also saves money on groceries.

Here are some examples of easy weekday meals my boyfriend and I cook:

Sausage and Peppers: A pack of Italian sausage with one green and red pepper can make a great, easy dinner.

Ground Beef w/ Mushrooms and Eggs: We were attempting to make hamburgers (without the bun) but they fell apart in the pan, so we cut up some mushrooms and put a few eggs in the mix. It’s been one of our favorite meals so far.

Eggs and Bacon (or any meat): It’s a Sunday tradition to eat scrambled eggs and bacon for Sunday breakfast in our home, something everyone can cook and enjoy. If bacon isn’t your thing, eggs are a Paleo staple so eating eggs with any meat works.

I went straight Paleo for two weeks then transitioned into eating Paleo weekdays and Sundays. Saturdays are my Cheat Days to eat whatever I want. However, every time I eat outside Paleo I go into a food coma, which makes Cheat day not as fun, but solidifies why I’m eating Paleo in the first place.

Because the Paleo diet consists of lean meat, fish, and vegetables it can help improve glucose tolerance and insulin resistance, reducing the risk of diabetes and heart disease. Paleo dieting also helps with weight loss and increases your energy during the day.

Paleo Leap has easy guidelines to get started on your journey.

3. Produce Doesn’t have to be Organic.

Slate has an interesting article concluding marginalized communities’ health crisis is a result of poverty not access. While I disagree that this is solely a poverty issue, the article does capture a piece that I have to mention in addressing food and public health. The assumption is many Black Americans in poverty don’t think what could happen to their bodies 10–20 years down the line; they have more important things on their mind like how to survive on a day-to-day basis.

But what the article doesn’t address is that many third world countries are significantly healthier than Americans. And as I briefly mentioned above, fruits and vegetables can be cheaper than buying snacks and junk food.

Many African Americans that are struggling economically need to know that eating healthy isn’t some lofty idea that only wealthy people have the luxury of doing.

When people think of healthy they think organic, but Whole Foods and Trader Joes are not the only places to buy healthy food. Buying non-organic produce will do just fine. I go to the Shoppers right by my home, and purchase non-organic produce along with frozen fruits and vegetables. They cook the same as organic food. Moreover, Americans who eat organic probably don’t know what’s so special about organic in the first place.

You can buy fruits and vegetables frozen and/or non-organic at a market and live a healthier life, like many people around the world.

Comedian Dave Chappelle said something in his latest stand-up special that resonates with this post, “You know what kills more black people than anything? More than police and terrorism? Salt.”

Jokes aside, I hope we take that to heart. With recent movements in the Black community, there is more momentum than ever to tackle this issue. It starts with making smart choices in our eating habits, educating ourselves on why healthy eating is important to our community, and could end with us at the forefront of a healthy food culture.