Black Women and Fat: Comments on the NY Times Piece

Black Women and Fat: Comments on the NY Times Piece

May 07

So… this morning I was emailed a link to the article “Black Women and Fat” by Alice Randall posted in the Opinion section of the New York Times webpage. Actually, the link they sent me said “Why Black Women Are Fat” and since those are the words in the link, I’m not sure if the title was changed or what. Off top, an article that’s supposed to tell me why black women are fat doesn’t sit well with me. In general, articles that make generalizations about black women don’t sit well with me. Lately it seems that there have been a lot of articles, books, and specials on TV that talk about black women- our relationships (or lack thereof), our choices, and now our bodies. According to them I like to be fat, partially because my man likes me fat, but maybe I shouldn’t worry about that, because they also say that the black men are in jail and it’s unlikely that I’ll get married anyway. I’m totally getting off topic here… let me get back to the original topic of black women… and their fat.

I will say that I don’t refute the facts in the article. I just don’t like the parts that make up the opinion. The majority of black women ARE overweight. Black people DO have much higher rates of obesity than whites, and being overweight can be a risk factor for other serious medical issues. Alice Randall is a black woman, a well-respected author, and seems to be in the process of getting to her healthy weight. I respect her for all that, but this is the line that kills me:

too many experts who are involved in the discussion of obesity don’t understand something crucial about black women and fat: many black women are fat because we want to be.

I know a lot of black women. A whole lot. I have never, ever in my 27 years of life heard a woman tell me that she wants to be fat (except for those weird specials on TV). Have I heard women say they want to be thick? Have some curves? Not get skinny? Yes. Fat? Not so much.

But… what is “fat” though? A lot of the statistics are based on the BMI (Body Mass Index) scale- a crude scale based solely on height and weight that was developed using mostly white people. For myself, the scale says I need to be below 147 to be “normal.” Personally, I’ll be cool at about 165. Maybe this means I want to be fat. Studies have shown that black women have a lower percentage of body fat at the same weight in comparison to white women. Also, black women to carry more weight in the hips and thighs, which is a lower risk than carrying it in the tummy. (I could source this info, but I don’t feel like it right now. Check back. I’ll do it some other time.)

Another thing that I found particularly troubling:

How many middle-aged white women fear their husbands will find them less attractive if their weight drops to less than 200 pounds? I have yet to meet one. But I know many black women whose sane, handsome, successful husbands worry when their women start losing weight. My lawyer husband is one.

Ms. Randall, what women do you roll with?! I think this takes the idea of black men like their women “thick” to the extreme. I do think that men worry when their woman makes a drastic change- which could be in the form of a major body change or erratic behaviors while dieting. That’s fair. Men NOT finding me more attractive hasn’t been an issue on my weight loss journey. And aren’t people using Kim Kardashian as the standard of beauty these days? That’s a far cry from Twiggy. The obesity rates are climbing every year in the U.S. Being fat isn’t exclusively a black issue.

Maybe I just don’t get it. I do have to remind myself that this is an OPINION piece. We all have out different ones. What do y’all think? Are black women fat, because they want to be? Do black men take issue with their woman wanting to lose weight? And what’s the line between “fat” and “thick?” Is what’s culturally acceptable how most women base their goal weight?

 

I’m a Running Pace Coach!

I’m a Running Pace Coach!

May 04

After 2 years of being a participant in my running club’s Beginning Women’s Running Program, I volunteered to be a pace coach this year. When I joined the program, I could barely run a couple of blocks without having to take a break. This program gave me the strength and confidence to be a runner, and it’s something I wanted to be a part of doing for other women. The women in my pace group are absolutely fabulous. They’ve already gotten to the point of running over a mile and a half straight. I run with one of the back of the pack groups (about 14 min/mile). I wanted to work with the back of the back, because I know the feeling of being a slower beginner and wanted to be able to offer some motivation. I’m really enjoying being a pace coach, and I think my runners like me too. I like to think that they have the coolest pace coach in the program.  I’ll let y’all know how it’s going!

Roasted Veggies Recipe

Roasted Veggies Recipe

Apr 21

Usually, I like to cook batches of things I can mix into other meals throughout the week. One of my fav things to do is roasting veggies. It’s super easy, and you can change it up with different spices, vegetables, or marinades. I use the veggies as a side dish or add a meat and brown rice for a stir fryish dish, but they can also work in a pita with some hummus as a veggie sandwich.

Ingredients:

Veggies of choice: I used 2 zucchinis, 1 squash, 2 Roma tomatoes, and a container of baby bella mushrooms

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Seasonings of Choice (or have marinated the veggies)

Nonstick cooking spray

Instructions:

Cut up your veggies. Try not to cut yourself.

Spray your dish with a non-stick cooking spray.

Dump veggies on pan.

Season. Here I used sea salt and Trader Joe’s 21 Seasoning Salute (Bootleg Ms. Dash).

Drizzle on some olive oil.

Give your veggies a good rub down. I just toss them around with my hands to coat them with the oil and seasonings.

Stick in oven at 350 for about 20 minutes or until veggies are tender.

See how easy that was?!?! I vary the veggies based on what I have in the fridge. This was my first time including tomatoes. I went to dinner with my mom this week at Logan’s and got the grilled veggie skewer as a side. They had tomatoes on it, and it was so good grilled that I decided to add it to mine. I like being able to cook something that’s good for me and flavorful without a lot of work. Try it! Let me know if you like them.

 

 

 

Leftover Peach Cobbler

Leftover Peach Cobbler

Apr 09

#thestruggle I don’t do well with food. I admit that. This is why I plan my meals and usually don’t have junk food in my home. I had some friends over this Easter weekend and strategically packed up Tupperware for them to take the majority of the leftovers home. I’m kinda selfish like that. I would much rather my friends be fat than me :-/. Somehow, I forgot to give them the peach cobbler. I’m hoping this wasn’t a subconscious decision. Ah well.

Eating for events/holidays can be hard. I’m a glutton for the good stuff. These are some of the tips that work for me in foodie situations:

Eat before you go. I know on most holidays people show up with their tummy tank on E. Eat your breakfast! Showing up starving only leads you to eat even more of the goodies.

Make good food choices. I actually take a mental inventory of food available. I eat a lot of veggies and smaller portions of the other stuff I want (most of the time). Yesterday wasn’t one of those times.

Know your limit. You don’t have to eat until you have the itis. Eat until you’re comfortably full. Don’t wear your stretchy pants. Stretchy pants encourage fat people behaviors.

Move more. Since I knew I had a potluck coming for Easter, I upped my workouts on Friday and Saturday. I also have a Wii, so Just Dance is a fun activity for after dinner.

Just enjoy the moment. Live! Food is good. Most of the best times in our lives involve breaking bread with our peeps. You ate too much peach cobbler? (I did.) Ok. Move on and eat better tomorrow. Don’t keep eating the leftovers for days if it’s going to keep you from your fitness goals.

So… I’m giving away some of the leftover peach cobbler (Thanks for taking it off my hands, John!). Tomorrow, I’ll do better. Better is what we do with our tomorrows.

Holla!

Cherry Blossom 5K and Black Girls Run DC

Cherry Blossom 5K and Black Girls Run DC

Apr 03

Yeah… I haven’t been consistent with my blogging at all. I’m working on that (for real this time). I had such an amazing run this weekend at the Cherry Blossom 5K that I wanted to share! My friend that was supposed to run with me ended up not making it. I put on my Black Girls Run shirt that morning and ended up meeting some ladies from the Black Girls Run DC Chapter. So glad I wore that shirt! I ended up running the race with them, and it was a great group! I’m always so happy to workout alongside other women of color making it a point to be healthy. I joined there Facebook group and plan to meet up with them for some of their runs. As for my race results, this wasn’t my best 5K, but I’ll take it since I haven’t been running as much lately. My chip time was 40:09 which is 12:56 min/mile. I decided to take myself to brunch after at Eatonville- even though the run in no way made up for all of my brunch calories consumed. Post-run brunches are the best. I had the Callahan… oh, and bottomless mimosas for only $12. #WIN

More pics from the race…

 

 

 

 

Healthy New Year!!!

Healthy New Year!!!

Feb 06

So this is it! Another year of Healthy Black Girl blogging! I definitely took a long break over the holidays, but I’m happy to say I’ve been on it in the meantime. 2011 wasn’t a stellar year for my weight loss, but it was a great year in my fitness. The running really improved for me in both speed and distance. I also like to think I’ve grown in other dimensions of health- emotional and spiritual. I have a lot of great things in the works that you’ll be hearing about in future blogs. Thanks for sticking with me on the blog. I wish you a happy, healthy, and prosperous new year!

Much Love!

HBG

My Life Lessons from Running :)

My Life Lessons from Running :)

Dec 18

I’ve been getting into the running pretty tough, and it’s really training me in more ways than one. A lot of things in running mirror real life situations. Here are a few of the lessons I’ve learned so far…

You’ll never get to the finish line if you never cross the start line. The surest way to not succeed at something is to never start. If you had asked me to run a block a couple of years ago, I would’ve looked at you like O_o. In 2010, I made the New Years Resolution to run a 5K- just one 5K. I felt like I was gonna die after finishing my first race, but I did it. I get a high every time I cross the finish line, and that feeling is enough for me to keep doing it. I recently signed up for winter half marathon training with my running club. Half-marathons are 13.1 miles. I’m really looking forward to reaching that distance.

Everyone has to run their own race. When it comes down to it, you can have the best coaches and all the supporters in the world, but you have to WANT to cross that finish line on your own. Nobody else can do it for you, and you can’t do it for anybody else. When I started out running, I made friends with a couple of other girls in my running group. We all started out in last summer’s Beginning Women’s Running 5K program, finished it, and planned to move on to the 10K program. As the 10K program went on, we all became less committed and stopped running. This summer we all did the 5K program again and again planned to move on to the 10K program and complete it this time. Again, my 2 running buddies dropped out of the program. However, this time I stayed in the program. I made NEW running buddies that have similar goals. I ran my longest distances ever, and I greatly improved my time. I had reached out to them in hopes that they would stay in the program. Unfortunately, everyone that starts out with you won’t always finish their race. You can help people and support them, but you can want something more for someone than they want it for themselves. Also, we can’t depend on other people to keep pushing us either. You have to want it for yourself. We each have to run our own race.

You get out what you put in. Running ain’t easy- especially for long distances. I train. I do speed workouts. I eat well. I hydrate. I buy and wear the proper gear. When I don’t, my runs suck. When I do, my runs are awesome. You want a good outcome? Put in the work.

There’s always room for improvement. I think the overachiever in me likes this part of running. It never gets old, because I can always set a new record by running a longer distance or running faster. I can pick new races that have routes I’ve never done before. There are always new goals to set. Such is life. Right now, I’m trying to do better and better in several aspects of my life.

You’re much stronger than you know. No matter what distance I’m running, I get tired. It’s usually when I’m about a mile away from the end. A lot of times I even think about quitting and cutting my run short- especially when I’m running alone. There is no satisfaction in quitting though. I’ve discovered from my workouts that whenever I want to quit, I always seem to have a little bit left in me. When you push yourself, you’d be surprised at how far you can go.

I’m sure I have a lot more lessons I’ll think of or experience. What has your training taught you? Feel free to leave it in the comments!