Eradicating High Blood Pressure and Diabetes within the Black Community
Program Success 15 Fall 2021
Eradicating High Blood Pressure and Diabetes within the Black Community
Nearly not enough focus is placed on nutrition , and diet within the black community . The hard truth is that finances can never replace the value of health within ones life . Material wealth can come and go several times . Yet once ones physical health dwindles it ’ s possibly gone forever .
The black community is plagued by the ancestral curses brought upon through the indoctrination of slavery . This is especially so in regards to food consumption . “ Soul Food ” as a term derived from the way foods were cooked with love and care by the enslaved in the America ’ s . They were basically given the scraps from the animals that the plantation owners didn ’ t sell to the market , or eat themselves . Pig feet and pig ears , ox tails , chicken feet and gizzards , and all of the fatty parts of the animals . To add on to this animal fats were , and still are primarily used to cook .
According to the CDC and The Diabetes Journal the consumption of fatty foods , and saturated fat are associated with an increased risk of diabetes . Being overweight , or obese increases the chances of developing diabetes . The NIH-National Institutes of Health studies show that biological risk factors-including weight and fat around the abdomen are primarily responsible for higher rates of diabetes for Black Americans compared with White Americans .
The other killer plaguing the black community in America is high blood pressure . Fatty meats , salt consumption and environmental factors are the main drivers . Research show blacks outside of America do not share the same high rate of the disease . This has caused social scientists to attribute the unique experiences of
discrimination and economic inequality as part of the cause for the difference . CDC statistics show these percentages in American demographics for high blood pressure ( 40.4 %) Blacks , ( 27.4 %) Whites ) and Mexican-Americans ( 26.1 %.)
Studies also show that a change in diet from consuming fatty meats , saturated fats , processed sugars , a lot of salt , along with adding a lifestyle more focused on ‘ mental quality of life ’ can lessen the probability of becoming a victim to both ; diabetes and heart disease . Let ’ s focus more on eradicating these generational curses from the Black American community .
By Therone Shellman Author / Educator