2008 Woodie Awards
Obesity: the silent killer
LaCheryl E. Whitlow
Issue date: 10/5/05 Section: Lifestyles and Health
Briskly walking by a stranger, she desperately tries to catch her breath. Her body is sweating, her heart is pounding, and she is highly fatigued just trying to reach her destination. As she struggles to walk into her 8 a.m. class and take a seat, she soon realizes she can't find a desk to accommodate her size. Frustrated, she quickly grabs an unattached chair and pulls it to the back of the classroom while simultaneously reaching for a king size Twix candy bar.
Obesity is not only a disease common among many races, but a killer of the black race. Merrian-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (11th Edition) defines obesity as a condition characterized by the excessive accumulation and storage of fat within the human body. According to the United States Centers For Disease Control and Prevention an, estimated six out of 10 Americans are obese; of that percentage black Americans make up a significant amount of these statistics.
With that in mind, calculate a few external demographics such as family background and location and obesity becomes as abstract as non-objective art. Culturally, the idealism and justification behind the thought of being overweight has softened the reality of such a critical issue within the black community.
"Oh you're just big-boned" or "It's just baby fat " has poised the painful motif of obesity for many African American children and adolescents with the purpose of promoting self-esteem, only to later be informed through media/society that they are seriously overweight. While this harsh reality may be important, many black Americans still perceive being big or thick as a symbol of beauty and health.
On the contrary, mainstream society views corpulentness or obesity as a huge problematic and uncontrollable issue. For starters researchers developed a method termed Body Mass Index (commonly referred to as BMI). This system takes height and weight, as its primary focus by means of measuring "body fatness." The following is the actual formula for circumspecting one's own body mass index: BMI= Weight in Kilograms/(height in meters) 2.
Obesity is not only a disease common among many races, but a killer of the black race. Merrian-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (11th Edition) defines obesity as a condition characterized by the excessive accumulation and storage of fat within the human body. According to the United States Centers For Disease Control and Prevention an, estimated six out of 10 Americans are obese; of that percentage black Americans make up a significant amount of these statistics.
With that in mind, calculate a few external demographics such as family background and location and obesity becomes as abstract as non-objective art. Culturally, the idealism and justification behind the thought of being overweight has softened the reality of such a critical issue within the black community.
"Oh you're just big-boned" or "It's just baby fat " has poised the painful motif of obesity for many African American children and adolescents with the purpose of promoting self-esteem, only to later be informed through media/society that they are seriously overweight. While this harsh reality may be important, many black Americans still perceive being big or thick as a symbol of beauty and health.
On the contrary, mainstream society views corpulentness or obesity as a huge problematic and uncontrollable issue. For starters researchers developed a method termed Body Mass Index (commonly referred to as BMI). This system takes height and weight, as its primary focus by means of measuring "body fatness." The following is the actual formula for circumspecting one's own body mass index: BMI= Weight in Kilograms/(height in meters) 2.
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