Today we live in a society where technology is more advanced but our health has greatly declined. We have created ways to communicate across the world, yet we no longer take walks with our loved ones. Instead, we text them. We have created cars that go from zero to 60 miles in 60 seconds, yet families no longer run at parks. Home cooked meals and family time have replaced with frozen dinners and fast food.
With so many advances in technology we have created busier schedules and unhealthy lifestyle behaviors that have lead millions of American’s to a great epidemic.
That epidemic is obesity.
Obesity is defined as any individual with a BMI (Body Mass Index) of 30 percent or higher and according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), within the last 20 years there has been a dramatic increase in the rate of obesity within the United States ,especially amongs African Americans. Research shows that 57.6 % of African American women are obese and 47.8 % of the African-American population is obese.
To be fair, BMI may not be the ideal measurement for Black women due to our genetic makeup and our natural tendency to carry more body fat and muscle tissue than non-African Americans.
I am 5 feet 6 inches tall and the BMI scale has me at 24.9, which places me close to being in the ‘unhealthy’ range and by no means am I overweight or unhealthy.
6 Ways You Can Shrink The Culture Of Obesity was originally published on blackdoctor.org
