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Serenasailor
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Justice for Mulrunji Doomadgee »Black Women Live Longest When They’re “Overweight”
Posted by Ampersand | June 20th, 2007
Jill at Feministe points out this Salon article arguing that big “rumps” are endangering black women’s health. The article is offensive in any number of ways. But it’s this paragraph in particular which struck me:
Recent press reports show why black women should be alarmed: More than half of us are obese — 78 percent are considered overweight. And, according to the American Obesity Association, the pounds are not coming off easily, due to “cultural factors related to diet, exercise and weight among African-Americans.”
Newsflash: There’s no such thing as a culture in which pounds do come off easily (at least, not in the long term). “Cultural factors” don’t make weight-loss diets hard; weight loss-diets are hard, for the vast majority of fat people in any culture.
The Centers for Disease Control finds that rates of […] premature death1 are higher among black women, and when we get these diseases, we’re sicker than white women.
It’s true that black women live less long than white women, on average. (”Life expectancy for white women is 79.8 years; for black women, 74.7 years.”)2 But it’s simply a lie to claim that black women are dying younger because they’re overweight.
Here’s a table showing relative risk of death, by sex and by race. This table, which I’ve posted before, comes from a study3 which is frequently cited by those arguing that fat is deadly.
But if we look at the details, we see that only for the very fattest black women — the outliers — is being overweight associated with higher mortality. What the statistics actually show is that black women, more than anyone else, have an elevated risk of death if they’re in the “normal weight” category, and live longest if they’re in the “overweight” category.
The “fat equals death” hysteria in the media is dubious for anyone, but black women above all shouldn’t be taking it at face value. In fact, black women who manage to become “normal” weight may be damaging their life expectancy. The knee-jerk belief in weight loss as the cure for most ills is bad advice for almost everyone, but it’s probably worse advice for black women than for any other demographic group.
But here’s the kicker: Womenshealth.gov reports that “compared with overweight white Americans, overweight black Americans are two to three times more likely to say their weight is average — even after they’ve been told they are overweight or obese by a doctor (emphasis added).
That’s her “kicker”? This author is completely ignorant of even the basic meanings of terms like “average” and “overweight.” Being “average” and being “overweight” are not mutually exclusive.
“Overweight,” as most doctors now use the term, means having a BMI4 between 25 and 30. As it happens, according to the most recent NHAMES survey — the most accurate survey of American’s weight and height yet done — the average American woman has a BMI of 28.2.5 So being overweight is average; the people this author sneers at for being ignorant have a firmer grasp of the facts than she does.
Finally, even according to the mainstream medical establishment, what matters about fat is not only how much you have, but where the fat is located on your body. The least health place to have fat, according to mainstream medical thinking, is around your waist. Fat on the ass and thighs is, even according to mainstream medicine, relatively healthy.
In addition to premature death, she also mentions higher rates of diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease and cancer in black women. These are legitimate concerns, but there are better ways to help women with these problems than by saying that “overweight” women should become “normal” weight, a course of treatment that will in practice not be possible for the vast majority of “overweight” people. (back)
”…for white men, 74.3 years; and for black men, 67.3 years.” Source. (back)
Adams, K., et al., Overweight, Obesity, and Mortality in a Large Prospective Cohort of Persons 50 to 71 Years Old. New England Journal of Medicine, 2006. 355(8): p. 763-8. (Pdf link.) (back)
Body Mass Index — Wikipedia has an explanation of what this is, if you don’t already know. (back)
The average American man has a BMI of 27.6. Source. (back)
This entry was posted by Ampersand and is filed under Race, racism and related issues, Fat, fat and more fat. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
40 Responses to “Black Women Live Longest When They’re “Overweight””
Rachel S. Writes:
June 20th, 2007 at 5:30 am
I read this article and another one on Buffy the Body. I’m going to write about this, but from more of a race perspective.
This comment was written by Rachel S..
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Elaine Vigneault Writes:
June 20th, 2007 at 5:42 am
Good article.
I think the reason weight loss is pushed so much rather than diet change or exercise promotion is because of our culture of weight loss drugs and surgery.
There are more concrete correlations between exercise and health than between weight and health, but exercise isn’t promoted as much because big pharma doesn’t make any money off exercise.
This comment was written by Elaine Vigneault.
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Okay, I Admit It, I Also Don’t Trust Scientists « Tiny Cat Pants Writes:
June 20th, 2007 at 6:33 am
[…] today I’m reading Alas, A blog about how we’re still bitching at women (in this case, black women) for being too dangerously unhealthy by being fat, fat, fat in which […]
This comment was written by Okay, I Admit It, I Also Don’t Trust Scientists « Tiny Cat Pants.
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mythago Writes:
June 20th, 2007 at 6:50 am
A misogynist, racist Salon article? I need to go lie down.
This comment was written by mythago.
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outlier Writes:
June 20th, 2007 at 6:55 am
I think the term “weight” has become a handy umbrella term that includes exercise and daily diet.
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marie Writes:
June 20th, 2007 at 7:12 am
Am I reading this right? This table shows that for women, being underweight is more highly related to risk of death than being overweight or obese for each category. Wow - that is something people should know!
This comment was written by marie.
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Kate L. Writes:
June 20th, 2007 at 7:59 am
I think the age range in this study is important . We are talking 50-71, right? So these numbers do not necessarily apply to people under the age of 50… am I reading that right?
Is there long term cohort data that talks about BMI/weight and risk of death over the lifespan?
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Sailorman Writes:
June 20th, 2007 at 8:11 am
marie Writes:
June 20th, 2007 at 7:12 am
Am I reading this right? This table shows that for women, being underweight is more highly related to risk of death than being overweight or obese for each category. Wow - that is something people should know!
Yes, you’re reading it right , but your conclusion is a bit off.
You are reading (correctly) that skinnier people live shorter lives. however, a lot of things that are unhealthy tend to make people thinner.
Get really, really, sick, for example, and you’ll likely lose weight. Get cancer–likewise. Start smoking–likewise. Get off your insulin–likewise. Start snorting coke, taking crystal meth… you won’t be as likely to be really overweight. Sick people are, generally speaking, somewhat thin.
So it’s a bit misleading when presented like this. A lot of folks disagree about the extent of the “smoking effect” etc.; some studies try to exclude smokers (which leads to debates about the “lying smokers” effect, lol). But nobody really disagrees that it happens. So these data may be close to the truth or may not be close to the truth; without knowing, they aren’t a great way to reach a conclusion.
Amp, I’m doing my best to explain this WITHOUT coming off as disagreeing with your (good) post, or side tracking it. hopefully it works.
This comment was written by Sailorman.
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Frankye Writes:
June 20th, 2007 at 9:24 am
Debra Dickerson is an idiot.
This comment was written by Frankye.
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NancyP Writes:
June 20th, 2007 at 10:53 am
Underweight or low “normal” weight can be explained by genetics (this subset should be perfectly healthy), but also by smoking, digestive diseases such as Crohn’s or ulcerative colitis, cancers of any type, substance abuse including alcoholism, depression, dementia, some cardiac and lung conditions, etc…all of which can affect lifespan. I do think the BMI may be useful, but tailored to individual patient over time. People should maintain weight at their “setpoint”, whether that be BMI 19 or 29, unless other conditions intervene - eg, type II diabetes management (again tailored to the individual patient - lose enough weight to get good glucose control).
Remember that medical maxim: First, look at the patient in front of you!
This comment was written by NancyP.
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Radfem Writes:
June 20th, 2007 at 11:02 am
Pity, they can’t be more concerned about the biggest killer of Black women, which is racism.
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Ampersand Writes:
June 20th, 2007 at 11:33 am
Kate:
Is there long term cohort data that talks about BMI/weight and risk of death over the lifespan?
Yes, there is: This study (pdf link), published in JAMA (which also uses a more representative sample), gives results for a larger range of ages — see table 2, on page 4 of the pdf file. However, this study does not break statistics down by race.
What the JAMA study found is that regardless of sex, age or smoking status, people in the “overweight” categories lived slightly longer, on average, than those of “normal” weight. The highest-risk categories were underweight (BMI under 18.5) and overweight (BMI over 30).
This comment was written by Ampersand.
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Robert Writes:
June 20th, 2007 at 11:45 am
The data that’s been collected goes a long way towards convincing me that the whole BMI enterprise is a charade. The optimum is where the optimum is - if you’re advancing the thesis that weight and mortality are tightly bound, then the prescriptive/normative weight should be at the point where mortality is lowest.
That the “optimum” BMI does not correspond with the actual mortality optimum leads me to think that the weight-mortality connection is just a smokescreen; the predetermined conclusion is that fat=evil and damn the data anyway.
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Myca Writes:
June 20th, 2007 at 11:59 am
Right, Robert.
Does anyone know how they DO determine the theoretical optimum for BMI, anyway?
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Ampersand Writes:
June 20th, 2007 at 12:50 pm
Sailorman, regarding the “smoking effect,” keep in mind that even when the study limited their sample to never-smokers, it was still the case that “overweight” people in this study lived slightly longer than “normal” weight people. The JAMA study, using a more representative sample, found the same thing.
(Even if you assume that some of the never-smokers are past or present smokers who lie about it, it’s reasonable to suppose that there will be a much larger proportion of never-smokers in the “say they never smoked” category than in the “say they are / used to be smokers” categories. So you really cant’ account for the results by saying it’s because smokers are thinner.)
Finally, it’s illogical to argue that mortality rates are higher among thin people because there are correlations between thinness and things that make you die sooner, while ignoring that there are also correlations between fatness and things that make you die sooner, such as diabetes (which some researchers think may cause, rather than being caused by, higher weights), injuries that restrict exercise, and yo-yo dieting. It’s intellectually dishonest to argue that the one must be accounted for while ignoring the other.
This comment was written by Ampersand.
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Sailorman Writes:
June 20th, 2007 at 12:56 pm
Didn’t we have this whole thing about 9 months ago? i was assuredly not trying to raise it from the dead, i swear–i was just pointing out that the extremely simplistic measure of “BMI” doesn’t necessarily match the much more complex measure of “health.”
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Petar Writes:
June 20th, 2007 at 2:06 pm
I think that people obsess with weight and BMI, while they should be concerned
with how they feel and how well their body works. If you cannot run up two
flights of stairs without running out of breath, you have a problem. If you
cannot remember how it feels to jump, climb, or hike a few miles, you may
want to do something about it.
“Oh noes! My BMI is 27, I’m gonna get sick” is retarded.
“I have a spare tire around my waist, and I waddle as I walk, but my BMI is the
one with the least mortality” is just as dumb.
Well muscled people have high BMIs but are usually healthy.
Very short people have high BMI without being unhealthy.
Many sick people lose weight, and thus have low BMI.
Any physically active woman is firmly into the overweight range.
All of the above push the ‘least mortality” point towards higher BMIs. At the
same time, there are a few industries that want you to think that you are
overweight. Still, I hope that most people know whether they feel good in their
body or not, and have a clue about how well it works.
By the way, I scuba dive, I rock climb, and I go on LONG hiking/kayaking trips.
I also used to go caving a lot. I have always tried to avoid people who looked as
if they would be a burden. This includes people who look fat (not heavy, fat)
or whose arms and legs are too thin. I would not presume to think that they
are unhealthy, or that they will live shorter than I will. But I would not like
to rely on them to move a boat, pull someone up on a rope, or carry a casualty.
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NancyP Writes:
June 20th, 2007 at 4:09 pm
First look at the patient! Is he or she healthy? “numbers” (glucose, LDL and HDL, etc) OK? Exercises moderately? Eats range of nutrients? Drinks lightly or not at all? Doesn’t smoke? Well, who cares about BMI! (if you are an internist)
Now, marked obesity (BMI 40+) is a problem in surgery and post op care. The average outcome of a spinal cord patient weighing 250 kg is going to be worse than one weighing 60 kg - but that’s due to care issues. Surgical wound healing can be an issue - thicker fat layer, greater likelihood of complications and longer healing time for an abdominal incision. Surgical access can be a ••••• also for some procedures, even with specially made instruments (retroperitoneal node dissection; non-laparoscope-assisted vaginal hysterectomy).
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A.J. Luxton Writes:
June 21st, 2007 at 2:37 am
Newsflash: There’s no such thing as a culture in which pounds do come off easily (at least, not in the long term). “Cultural factors” don’t make weight-loss diets hard; weight loss-diets are hard, for the vast majority of fat people in any culture.
Well, there have been studies showing that Southwest Natives (at high risk for diabetes) have their risk of diabetes and other health conditions drop dramatically when eating a traditional diet, rather than a standard American diet. This also tends to cause weight loss.
I’m of the opinion that some bodies manifest lots of fat as a result of not knowing what else to do with the food (which leads to poor nutrition, deficiencies, general unhealth) and the disorders that are caused by ill nutrition are often blamed on fat. Unfortunately for the Western tendency to oversimplify everything, good nutrition isn’t the same for everyone — different hormone balances, genetic types, and climates use food differently.
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crys t Writes:
June 21st, 2007 at 3:52 am
AJ: another big problem is that although the sort of low-quality food that is what is most available to people on low incomes in the West tends to make you fat, yet not every fat person is fat because they eat low-quality food.
If you’re a person who’s fat because you’re on a low income and accompanying shit-quality food, then you switch to higher-quality food, you may well lose weight. You also may not, but you may. And of course, eating better food will improve your health.
I’d never tell anyone who was fat and eating crap food that it was good for them to continue that way and that their health wouldn’t suffer. But the problem is that if they can’t afford anything better, or if they’re working hours (including unpaid work) that don’t allow them the luxury of real food preparation, I don’t see what the hell are they supposed to do about it.
That’s what burns me the most about the current fat-demonisers: the insistence on making it into a moral or “personal choice” issue when it’s a socioeconomic problem.
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Dianne Writes:
June 21st, 2007 at 4:14 am
Well, who cares about BMI! (if you are an internist)
Well, I do, although what I really care about is the body surface area (BSA) since that’s what I’ve got to write the chemo orders for. (Sorry, dumb oncology joke, couldn’t resist.)
The BMI is useful, if it is useful at all, only on a population basis. For example, while any given person with a higher than “ideal” BMI may be a short athelete with huge muscles and just enough fat to provide energy for the end of the marathon, that’s not what the typical person with a high BMI in the US is. So knowing that on average a moderately high BMI doesn’t increase mortality is useful insofar as it means that we’re probably more obsessed with weight than is good for us collectively.
Another factor in the “what makes poor people or minorities fat” issue that I don’t think anyone has yet mentioned is stress. Chronic stress releases corticosteroids (among other things), which, over the long term, do all sorts of bad things to one’s metabolism, including weaken the immune system, increase weight gain, raise blood pressure and blood sugar, and increase fat deposition around the waist, which is just the worst place for it. So the chronic stress of having to deal with racism and anti-poverty prejudice every day is probably part of what’s driving obesity in minorities and poor people.
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A.J. Luxton Writes:
June 21st, 2007 at 6:43 am
AJ: another big problem is that although the sort of low-quality food that is what is most available to people on low incomes in the West tends to make you fat, yet not every fat person is fat because they eat low-quality food.
Yes. I’d be inclined to say that it’s more likely for people to store fat because their body is receiving poor nutrition (causing a host of health problems) than various versions of other ways around, and also that I’m aware of the low-quality food problem, because of what my partner’s told me about the food available in Arkansas where her family lives. It’s not possible to find a *can of beans* that doesn’t have arcane preservatives or additives, or processed oils, in it. On a visit to Tennessee I found something similar to be true.
Another part of the problem is simply that living in such an area makes it difficult to discover what food one’s body requires.
It’s possible around here (Portland, OR) to find high-quality food on a low budget, but it requires some knowhow.
Dianne: chronic stress, and also unreliable eating schedules. Going hungry for intermittent periods of time tends to increase a body’s tendency toward storage.
Basically, fat is a survival response. If a body is retaining lots of fat, it may be because something (say, a nutritional deficiency, or a sugar imbalance) has triggered the need for survival mechanisms — it may also be because in that particular body survival mechanisms just trigger easily.
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Sailorman Writes:
June 21st, 2007 at 7:35 am
All this talk about Western food and worldwide food made me think of this (which you should all look at if you have a moment):
www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1626519…
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Barbara Writes:
June 21st, 2007 at 7:42 am
Thus use of BMI is fraudulent. It is a benchmark that is based on the size of adults in a place and time that probably has no bearing on whether it is optimal. It’s not that BMI couldn’t be useful, it’s just that decreeing a BMI of 30 as the limit of acceptability from a health perspective is arbitrary in the absence of correlation to adverse consequences. BMI over time might be more useful, BMI as a function of likelihood of having certain conditions or being on certain types of medications might also be useful. BMI in correlation with muscle mass is also probably more indicative (but you can’t do that just by plugging in numbers). But to just tell people that once they’ve reached a BMI of 30 they should lose weight is insane, and really, just cruel when you consider the frustration and humiliation that usually entails. The goal is health, and sometimes weight can be the means — I definitely know people whose health improved when they lost weight, although it was usually done in association with other changes as well. But weight is often merely a “barometer” of other unhealthy practices.
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Brandon Berg Writes:
June 21st, 2007 at 9:07 am
Dianne:
Another factor in the “what makes poor people or minorities fat” issue that I don’t think anyone has yet mentioned is stress.
But we don’t see particularly high levels of obesity in people with high-stress professional jobs, like lawyers, doctors, investment bankers, and executives, do we? Also, high-SES adolescents arguably have more stressful lives than their low-SES counterparts (because of the pressure to perform well in school), but adolescent obesity is negatively correlated with SES.
I’d chalk it up to time preference.
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Brandon Berg Writes:
June 21st, 2007 at 9:28 am
A.J. Luxton:
Chronic stress, and also unreliable eating schedules. Going hungry for intermittent periods of time tends to increase a body’s tendency toward storage.
I don’t think this fits the data. Intermittent fasting increases insulin sensitivity. See, for example, this study, where fasting insulin levels dropped by 57% (!) in subjects fasting intermittently. I guess you could say that this increased their body’s tendency towards storage, since storage is what insulin does, but they lost fat and gained lean mass. Also, insulin resistance is, AFAIK, negatively correlated with SES. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to attribute the health problems of the poor to intermittent fasting, which appears to be healthful practice.
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Kate L. Writes:
June 21st, 2007 at 9:33 am
Brandon, I have no idea why I am bothering to respond here, but I’m going to anyway.
YES, highpowered CEOS etc have stressful jobs - it’s not the same thing at all from working long hours and menial positions for crappy pay, doing laundry, cooking and cleaning for yourself and kids, and worrying about whether or not you are going to be homeless.
Poor/working poor people work long hours in sometimes stressfull situations - customer service is not an “easy” job - it’s never fun to be crapped on at work all the time. No, it’s not quite the same thing as “pressure to succeed” but the pressure to keep your damn job so your kids have a roof over their heads is pretty major. In addition to the PAID labor they do, they are also doing all of their unpaid labor themselves - stuff that those high powered people can either farm out to their wives or maids/lawn care people, etc. When the only labor you really have to perform is the one you get good pay and recognition for I’d argue you have less stress in your life than people who are doing paid labor they get NO recognition or respect and crappy pay AND have to do all the unpaid labor as well.
I have a very mid level position - a good bit of autonomy and recognition. I actually bring home an ok paycheck - at any rate, I’m being compensated appropriately for the work I’m doing probably. The stress in my life is not from my job. It’s from the jobs that I do AFTER my paid position - those are jobs people with more money simply don’t have to do.
I HIGHLY doubt that the correlation of obesity and SES has quite as much to do with “personal choices” and “use of time” as it does the ability to purchase other people’s labor, access to higher quality foods, etc.
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Nan Writes:
June 21st, 2007 at 9:49 am
Thank you, Kate L.
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crys t Writes:
June 22nd, 2007 at 12:45 am
Yes, Kate L., thank you for keeping cool enough to make a sensible response–I wouldn’t have been able to.
As if the stress highly paid professionals were under was anything like the stress a low-income person has. And as if those professionals don’t have all sorts of great stress-reducing options because of the cash they rake in. And as if those professionals couldn’t afford much, much better food and much, much better health care. And as if those professionals did as much real work as your average minimum-wage earner anyway.
Give me a break.
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Dianne Writes:
June 22nd, 2007 at 1:37 am
But we don’t see particularly high levels of obesity in people with high-stress professional jobs, like lawyers, doctors, investment bankers, and executives, do we?
I can’t speak to the other professions, but doctors are really only under chronic stress during residency. And, amazingly enough, most doctors gain weight during residency. I gained 30 pounds. This was not atypical. (I also lost pounds after the end of residency, without making any obvious changes in lifestyle…almost as though there were some biochemical change in my body…) Post-residency, there may be high-stress situations, but not the kind of chronic stress than produces high corticosteroid levels.
chronic stress, and also unreliable eating schedules. Going hungry for intermittent periods of time tends to increase a body’s tendency toward storage.
Agreed. This is anecdote, but…I remember a patient* I saw during residency who came to the clinic for an evaluation because of her weight. She weighed maybe 200-250 pounds at about 5′4″. So I asked her about her day, what she ate, how much she exercised, etc. It soon became clear that she was working more hours than I was–and I was averaging over 100 hours per week** (our of 168, in case that’s not clear). Naturally, she wasn’t eating on a regular schedule and didn’t have much time to exercise. One of her three almost full time jobs was as a telemarketer, which has to be stressful. Hmmm…why wasn’t she losing any weight? I was tempted to tell her that her best bet was to quit two jobs, start a union in the third, and go on strike for a living wage. I probably should have said that, it would have been the best advice, really, but was there a chance in hell that she could have followed it?
*Some details altered, made composite, or not given for HIPPA compliance purposes.
**That month. It varied from month to month. My personal best was just under 130 hours a week. No, this is not a good idea.
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Weekly Digest: June 22, 2007 | Elaine Vigneault’s Diary Writes:
June 22nd, 2007 at 7:54 am
[…] Overweight black women live longer than their skinnier counterparts […]
This comment was written by Weekly Digest: June 22, 2007 | Elaine Vigneault’s Diary.
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Brandon Berg Writes:
June 22nd, 2007 at 10:03 am
Kate:
According to the General Social Survey (the only source I could find on the topic), television viewing among adults is negatively correlated both with individual income and with family income (and was in the early ’90s, before the Internet was a factor). Depending upon how you define the classes, it’s roughly 2.5-3.5 hours per day for lower-income people and 1.5-2.5 hours per day for higher-income people.
This doesn’t mean that the poor necessarily have more leisure time than the wealthy, since the latter presumably spend their leisure time in different ways, but it’s hard to argue that they don’t have enough time to exercise or prepare healthful food (which really doesn’t take that long), or that they’re stressed to the point of breaking, when they’re averaging three hours of television viewing per day.
And time preference doesn’t mean the “use of time” one prefers.
crys t:
And as if those professionals did as much real work as your average minimum-wage earner anyway.
According to the EPI, 57% of people making less than $7.25 per hour work fewer than 35 hours per week. According to the Census Bureau, 72% of families below the poverty line and 57% of families below 150% of the poverty line have no full-time year-round workers.
I’m familiar with the stereotype of the poor single mother working three jobs to make ends meet, and I’m sure that there are some people who actually do this. But all the evidence I’ve been able to find suggests that this is not typical of the American poor in general.
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Kate L. Writes:
June 22nd, 2007 at 11:55 am
“According to the EPI, 57% of people making less than $7.25 per hour work fewer than 35 hours per week. According to the Census Bureau, 72% of families below the poverty line and 57% of families below 150% of the poverty line have no full-time year-round workers.”
Wonder how much the 57% factor is mitigated by the fact that bunches of middle class teenagers are the most likely to be working min. wage jobs and thus working fewer than 35 hours per week.
And just for the record, no full time year round work doesn’t mean you aren’t working 3 jobs.
Just last year, I was working 3 jobs - not a one of them was a full time year round position. Doesn’t mean I wasn’t working 3 jobs. I had 2 adjunct positions (taught classes 3 nights a week for different universities and different classes). I also had a 40 hour/week long term temp job. At the time, my husband was unemployed - thus had we been asked on the census at that particular point in time, despite the fact that I *was* working 3 jobs - they were all temporary positions. The people who are working poor are much less likely to have steady jobs. They are much more likely to have to piece together several part time temp gigs as well as under the table jobs in order to make ends meet. Not all work is measured by the census.
TV time is not anywhere close a measure of leisure time. So I’m not even going to go there. You haven’t addressed the point that rich people don’t have to do unpaid labor.
You also haven’t addressed the idea that min. wage/low paying jobs could potentially be *more* stressful than those “high powered” positions. I’ve lived in both worlds (to some extent) and I can tell you that for me personally (which I admit might very well not mean a hell of a lot) being lower middle class/working poor (there have been times when we qualified for gov’t aid in the last couple of years, but it’s hard for me to classify myself lower than lower middle class because of the level of education and potential I posess) is by far the most stressful situation I’ve ever been in. It’s not even the jobs I’ve worked (demeaning that they have bee, temping sucks), rather it is the culmination of 2 years of constant struggle to stay afloat. There has not been a single day in the last 2 years where I haven’t worried about losing our home, or even simply running out of diapers and not having enough money in the checking account to buy more. I’ve never ever encountered stress at that level, that sustained for that long (and I survived graduate school and all that “pressure” to succeed stuff). I also haven’t had a vacation in over 3 years. for basically a year, I didn’t even have sick days (as a temp, if you don’t work, you don’t get paid - when you are living pay check to pay check, that’s not an option). I’m not buying that people with high SES have more stress than I do (and I will admit I’m not even in all that dire of circumstances). I’m not saying they live stress free lives, but it’s certainly not more than the working poor/poor. If it was, why wouldn’t all those high powered people quit their jobs and lead simpler lives?
Let me tell you a little about my day:
I get up and get myself and my daughter ready, commute approximately one hour to work, drop her off at daycare and sit at a desk job for 8.5 hours. Then I pick her up, drive anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half home (depending on traffic). Right now, to cut down on daycare costs, my husband is working 4 ten hour days (plus a commute) so he is not home until after my child goes to sleep. I get home, have to throw together a supper of some sort that is reasonably well balanced, do the dishes, play with my daughter for a bit and then give her a bath and get her to bed(did I mention my child is 2 and the challenges that come with preparing and cleaning up a meal while simultaneously having to look after a 2 year old?). By the time all this is done, it’s 8pm. I have been up and “working” in one way or another since approximately 6:30am. Once my daughter is in bed, I straighten up a bit, might throw in a load of laundry or something and then, yes, I collapse on the couch for an hour or two before bed to watch some TV and unwind from the day. Weekends are an attempt to catch up with household maintainance and chores that didn’t get done during the week, spending quality time with my child, etc, grocery shopping and catching up on sleep. During the semester when I am teaching generally at least one evening class, I also use weekends as prep time/grading. I do have enough leisure time theoretically to exercise - I’ll be the first to admit. I don’t have the energy. There are other mitigating factors for me personally, but the average 60 hour work week (if you include the commute and here I’m counting when I’m teaching, which I’m not doing at the present time) PLUS all the unpaid labor I have to do is quite frankly reason enough to exhaust anyone.
I’m not denying that everyone should try to eat better and hopefully exercise some. Those are good healthy habits to have. But you’re going to have to come up with some *really* convincing evidence that this is not harder to do when you are lower income. Impossible? No. I would suppose not, but certainly not easy.
Not to mention the fact that sometimes there are simply more pressing issues to worry about. I’ll be the first to tell you I would like to lead a healthier lifestyle in terms of diet and exercise. I can’t *wait* until I have the physical and mental energy to make that happen, but for the moment it is the least of my worries since it is not causing any short or at this point long term health consequences. There’s simply other, more important things to concentrate on. I suspect I’m not alone in the fact that sometimes, it’s just not a priority. But a HUGE part of the reason it is not a priority is not because I care less about my health than people in higher SES brackets, it’s because I have more to worry about.
This comment was written by Kate L..
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Joe Writes:
June 22nd, 2007 at 6:18 pm
One of the huge advantages money gives to working out is that you can pay to make it convenient. You can pay for membership at the close gym. You can buy the equipment you like (all you need is a 10×10 space) You can hire a personal trainer to make sure that you get the most out of whatever time you want to put in.
That said, I know that if i really wanted to be ‘thin’ with nice abs all I’d have to do is eat less then I want e v e r y time, and work out instead of reading / bloging. (not worth it)
4 10’s are killer for trying to do anything but work and live.
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Radfem Writes:
June 23rd, 2007 at 9:37 am
Another factor in the “what makes poor people or minorities fat” issue that I don’t think anyone has yet mentioned is stress. Chronic stress releases corticosteroids (among other things), which, over the long term, do all sorts of bad things to one’s metabolism, including weaken the immune system, increase weight gain, raise blood pressure and blood sugar, and increase fat deposition around the waist, which is just the worst place for it. So the chronic stress of having to deal with racism and anti-poverty prejudice every day is probably part of what’s driving obesity in minorities and poor people.
Yeah. I work with women and men facing racial discrimination, harassment and/or retaliation in the workplace and a lot of the times, that’s when they report being impacted by hypertension, heart and other health problems. They may or may not be overweight by the latest conventional standards of dictating what that is, but they still have many of these health issues because of what they face from the chronic stress because of what’s happening on the job and how it impacts their lives off of the job as well. So I don’t think you should underestimate these factors.
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B.Adu Writes:
June 23rd, 2007 at 2:18 pm
The thing about ‘fitness’ thing is that it makes you feel how your life is if you are struggling, it’s just more effort you’ve got to squeeze out of yourself. You work at home, at work, then you work for ‘fitness’, it feels like a never ending cycle.
I daresay you could point to any numerous thing that people are doing wrong; still eating too much fat, calories, protein, carbohydrates,earing too fast, not walking/running far enough fast enough, not enough of a contrast between fast and slow endlessly on and on about what we are doing wrong, anything but accept the possibilty that the diet/exercise thing ( or healthy lifestyles/choices) or whatever else you want to call it, simply is fundamentally flawed.
Anything that requires endless tweaking and still fails the majority is rotten.
I would be happy if it worked it makes no odds to me, I spent a whole lot of time trying to make it all work, I didn’t object to it at all, until I simply could not suspend my disbelief anymore.
If I felt it was something I did wrong, I would say so, I genuinely don’t.
The same feelings came up regardless of the route I took, over and over again.
It is not a question of persuasion, and if it was, why would you think the above would be it? Why do the medical profession think that they are the answer?
Why do they think that you have not heard of exercise until they mention it, what magic do they possess?
Whether ‘obesity’ is or isn’t harmful is irrelevant if we cannot usefully prevent or cure it.
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A.J. Luxton Writes:
June 25th, 2007 at 3:49 am
Scheduled intermittent fasting != unpredictable periods of going hungry and poor nutrition.
Many, many low-wage jobs are kept at just under 35 hours a week so that the person working them cannot receive benefits.
This comment was written by A.J. Luxton.
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W. Kiernan Writes:
June 25th, 2007 at 3:12 pm
Thanks a million for posting that chart! Just last week I saw a similar-looking chart in a grocery store, fixed on the wall right next to the scale, by which I saw that I am just barely short of being “obese.” How disheartening. But now according to your chart, I find that my disgusting, life-threatening, near-pathological state of gross overweight-ness has increased my likelihood of dropping dead, relative to the middle of the “normal” group, by about minus twelve percent.
Now, as soon as I click the “submit” button, I plan to drink a beer, or as I shall call it, a “health and longevity beverage.” Here’s to you, Amp!
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lucia Writes:
June 25th, 2007 at 3:14 pm
I think the age range in this study is important . We are talking 50-71, right? So these numbers do not necessarily apply to people under the age of 50… am I reading that right?
Body-Mass Index and Mortality in a Prospective Cohort of U.S. Adults.” 1999, Calle, E.E., Thun, M.J., Petrelly, J.M., Rodriguez, C., Heath, C.W., New England Journal of Medicine. Vol. 341. No. 15. pp 1097-1105.
Studied people over 30. The results for blackwomen show the highest mortality for the very thin; I’m not sure how you’ll interpret the graph, but base on the mortality rate in that study, it would be very difficult to conclude black women should be advised to take any active measures to keep their weight under BMI of 30.
I plotted it here:
Graphs are smoother for white women than other groups because they had more white women in the study.
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littlem Writes:
July 2nd, 2007 at 9:20 pm
Thank you, Dianne. Will you be my doctor (GP)? It does appear as though you are one with a clue.
P.S. I am in NYC and will travel. My dermo is in Scarsdale, my endo in Boston, my dentist in the Catskills and my gyno in VA. I travel to them b/c they are geniuses who also have a clue.
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Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 6207
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, July 11, 2007 - 01:16 am: |
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I think "food deserts" are the real reason behind high obesity rates in our culture. Because nobody can explain to me why my aunts uncles elder cousins, ect, are in such great shape when all they eat is southern style soul food! They don't eat lots of fried food, but those dishes you hear of from back in the days they sure do eat. So to me it's the Mickey D's and the absence of supermarkets with healthy fresh food that's killing our ppl.
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Misty
Veteran Poster
Username: Misty
Post Number: 1009
Registered: 02-2006
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Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, July 11, 2007 - 02:27 am: |
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serena i red this somewhere else a few years ago and have been trying to find it ever since...LOL thanks for posting it....
i really think they're basing standards for overwieght on white womens frames...so i like the fact that the article brought out this important point.blacks and whites tend to store their weight differently.
alot of black women who they claim are "overweight" dont even look it to me. |
Nels
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Username: Nels
Post Number: 864
Registered: 07-2005
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Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, July 12, 2007 - 01:09 am: |
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Keep believing this kind of sh.i.t and you WILL die sooner rather than later. Fat kills, any way you cut it. |
Sabiana
Regular Poster
Username: Sabiana
Post Number: 147
Registered: 08-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, July 12, 2007 - 07:14 am: |
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Yes, being overweight is un-healthy. We should not still drop everything and stop working out at the gym (eating more healthy).
Obesity is still a problem but I understand what the article was pointing at. Instead of easily blaming obesity, we should be looking at other factors in healtcare, maybe how minorites are treated, how black people may be diagnosed differently from whites. (etc)---living conditions. The article sorta runs of the stereotype of all black women being fat. (at least the majority) compared to the white counter parts. And what of Hispanic women, or Asian Women, Native American women etc.?
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Misty
Veteran Poster
Username: Misty
Post Number: 1010
Registered: 02-2006
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Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, July 12, 2007 - 09:39 am: |
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Keep believing this kind of sh.i.t and you WILL die sooner rather than later. Fat kills, any way you cut it.
but nels long years of research just proved you wrong regardless of what you've been taught. they're not talking about obese black women living longer (thier lives are actually cut short) but overweight black women live longer than the ones at a "normal" weight....and to tell you the truth im not surprised by this. |
Misty
Veteran Poster
Username: Misty
Post Number: 1011
Registered: 02-2006
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Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, July 12, 2007 - 09:41 am: |
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sabiana, for black women being "overweight" is actually healthier because of the way we store fat.
its the black women who are obese or perhaps close to obese that are at risk and unhealthy. |
Abm
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Abm
Post Number: 9507
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, July 12, 2007 - 09:59 am: |
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I'd generally agree that Black women are fatter than they could/should be.
But as fat as Black women are they still as a whole are healthier than and OUTLIVE Black MEN.
So maybe THAT'S something brothas should consider as they demean and laugh at our corpulent sistas. |
Misty
Veteran Poster
Username: Misty
Post Number: 1012
Registered: 02-2006
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Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, July 12, 2007 - 10:15 am: |
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i'm not saying we shold go out and binge eat and eat and pig out on the wrong things....i have a health regimen that i follow as far as that goes.
but im saying it's not liek the ones who are "overweight" (not the oens close to being obese) need to lose weight either.
its obvious everyone should eat healthy. me personally i only eat meat once or twice a week and when i eat it its either fish or turkey. every now and then i eat a little beef (thats liek once or twice a month though). but sometimes i think im a little too skinny and wish my rear was larger.
for most black women though (who or not vegetarians or semi vegetarians) i would reccomend not eating pork or beef (if you eat it eat it like once a month).....but i do know jennie-O makes alot of good substitutes for pork out of turkey meat and you cant tell the difference at all. also turkey bacon is really good...so as far as im concerned pork isnt even nessesary.
so 1. eat fish and turkey (sometimes chicken but turkey is better for you than chicken)
2.dont eat white potatoes instead use plantains as a substitute or eat sweet potatoes
3. drink 3 tablespoons of coconut oil a day and a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar a day (i drink 3 tablespons)
4. at least walk (if you cant run) 2 to 3 miles a day
5. if you eat meat only eat it once a day ...for instance for breakfast eat fruts and vegetables and breads made out of wheat for lunch eat fruits and vegetables and breads made out of wheat or eat pasta and beans...... and for dinner you can have your meat (if you have to have meat at all)......i have alot of good mushroom and seitan recipes i use in place of meat.
6. if you want to go on a semivegetarian diet or a vegetarian diet...eat ALOT of whatever you're eating so that you can keep a certain amount of proten and fat in your body. thats what i do i on the days that i dont eat meat i eat ALOT of whatever i eat (vegetables, fruits, coconut oil. beans, brown rice, mushrooms quinoa, plantains, pasta)....as long as you do a bit of exercizing and dont eat after 7 you're fine.
on the days that you're not eating meat your coconut oil is a really good substitute for fat and colesterol...because coconut oil, coconut milk and coconuts have what you call "good cholesterol" and "good fat" and it they have so many health benefits and cures for certain diseases. i'll post an article on the benefits of coconut oil. but everything i read on coconut oil says its really good for cancer, diabetes, arthitis, hiv and aids (they say it works just as good if not better than the medicine), colds, fevers, acne psoriasis, and other skin problems .. but even if there is nothing wrong with you you should still make it a habit to consume 3 tablespoons of coconut oil a day in order to prevent all of these ailments. cooking in extra virgin olive oil (or just drinking it straight) is also very good for you
and if youre a vegetarian or semi-vegetarian its always important to keep avacados, beans and coconut in your diet. |
Kola_boof
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Kola_boof
Post Number: 4651
Registered: 02-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, July 12, 2007 - 10:33 am: |
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Great, great post MISTY!!! 
I get an awful lot of exercise.
But I have to eat meat or I'll die.
I love pork, too, though I only eat
it about once every 2 weeks, but
I do have to have pork--ribs, bacon
grilled chops.
BEEF is something I almost never eat.
Not purposely--because I like beef.
I just never really cook with or eat
it very often.
Of course, I consume TONS of chicken,
fish, crab, lobster, shrimp and turkey.
That's my primary diet, poultry and
seafood.
And I eat TWO TONS of vegetables over
that.
I try not to eat ANY bread. I eat it
rarely, but I love bread.
PASTA is another favorite food--but I
try real hard not to eat Pasta. I have
that as rarely as I willpower allows.
I have to make myself eat fruit, but
I love fruit--it's just that anything
"sweet", I don't gravitate to, so
I don't consume a huge amount of fruit.
I've never been a sweet eater unless I'm
having CRAVINGS for birthday cake--then I
will make a cake to get a slice.
I LOVE pies--esp. "sweet potato", so I
try not to make them unless it's the holiday.
I can eat a whole pie. 
Like any N. African, I eat LOTS of Yogurt,
which in Sudan is eaten the way Americans
eat salads. Instead of salad, we serve
lunch and dinner with Vegetable Yogurts.
We also eat a LOT of porridge (cream of wheat,
oatmeal or grits in America). I make a
YAM porridge that's pretty fantastic, and I
LOVE me some grits.
I do an enormous amount of cooking, but
I mostly make exotic veggies and seafood combinations.
I eat a lot of corn with shrimp, one egg
and hot peppers cooked in it.
I make my own cereal from scratch. Very
healthy and delicious.
I switched to 2% Milk (which was so hard for
me), but now I love it.
I drink A LOT of water and I drink tea w/honey
and lemon about 3 times a day.
I try NEVER to drink sodas.
Of course I "cheated" and had my "middle"
lipo-suctioned, but hey...once you've had
kids and start to age, it's just too much
work trying to get rid of these curses that
come at you. I had my waistline re-installed
and I'm very glad I "cheated" and recommend
it to other busy women.
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Misty
Veteran Poster
Username: Misty
Post Number: 1017
Registered: 02-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, July 12, 2007 - 07:11 pm: |
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kola,
i'm so pissed right now i had a really long (but good) response typed out to you but the storm blew my power out jsuty long enough for me to lose the response...i'll try to retype it damn. |
Renata
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Renata
Post Number: 2423
Registered: 08-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, July 12, 2007 - 11:06 pm: |
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One thing people forgot to mention is that not even the doctors can agree on what is overweight and what isn't. One doctor I went to said that I'm overweight. Another doctor I went to later said that any doctor who treated me for a weight problem should be sued for malpractice.
I would really love surgery in the future, so I will be asking you more questions about it, Kola. I need a serious boob reduction. My thighs are small, my butt/hips are small, my waist is tiny, but my breasts are way too big for my frame. If you can imagine Dolly Pardon (with an afro), that's basically my build (she's a Tennessee girl, so it must be all those biscuits we eat growing up.)
A friend of mine went from 180 to about 110 on the Atkins diet (which she's still on and don't plan on ever getting off). I don't trust a diet that won't allow you to eat lettuce and fruit, but will allow you to eat all the bacon you want. Something ain't right about that.
Misty, I might have to switch to coconut oil from olive oil. How does it taste (drizzled over food)? I seem to have an olive oil "habit". Can't get enough of the stuff.
Also, Kola, have you tried soy milk? It tastes so much better than cow's milk (to me anyways). If you get vanilla, it's sweet enough to drink straight, but not too sweet for cereal. |
Renata
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Renata
Post Number: 2424
Registered: 08-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, July 12, 2007 - 11:13 pm: |
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Here's something interesting, the doctor who said I was overweight was female. The one who said I was not overweight was male.
Of course, the female doctor was in her forties and had the build and weight of a teen girl (I swear I couldn't imagine her filling out a size 2), so everybody looks overweight to her. |
Misty
Veteran Poster
Username: Misty
Post Number: 1018
Registered: 02-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, July 14, 2007 - 10:09 am: |
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renata,
coconut oil actually tastes good when drizzled over english muffins...drinking it straight isnt bad...the taste isnt horrible or anything its jsut that you have to get use to drinking it....it doesnt taste good drizzled over anything except breads though.
i just drink 3 tablespoons straight. |
Misty
Veteran Poster
Username: Misty
Post Number: 1019
Registered: 02-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, July 14, 2007 - 10:28 am: |
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kola,
here is a much shorter version of what i had posted to you...lol...i know this is late but i just had a really good response typed out to you but just didnt feel like retyping it and was mad.
anyway, so i was going to say youre diet looks pretty good...i would just avoid eating meat as much as possible....even fish...i do know that fish has alot of essential oils that the body needs but its probably best to take fish oil pills. the reason its best to avoid all meat as much as possible is because meat rots in the system leaving free radicals to float around in your body...free radicals are what lead to cancer, alzteimers, diabetes, skin problems, etc.
not only that but the chemicals that they pump meat with are way worst than what they do to vegetables. i still eat fish about twice a week though i dont think thatcould be too bad....as long as you dont eat catfish (bottomfeeders) you're fine.
as far as eating shellfish goes (shrimp, scallops, oysters, clams, snails, lobsters) they all contribute to bad cholesterol and are whats helping to cause disease in so many people...not only that but they will eat anything.....since they stay at the bottom of the sea tyhey eat the waiste of other animals, they eat the dead bodies of other animals and even if a humans body was dumped into the sea they will eat it...this has actually been seen before (the shellfish eating dead human beings who were dunped into the ssea)....as much as i LOVE shellfish and they use to be my favorite foods i just cant cope with that idea...lol so i left them alone and only eat shrimp now every once in a blue moon. the idea that they eat dead humans and doodoo off the seaboard messes it up for me. |
Misty
Veteran Poster
Username: Misty
Post Number: 1020
Registered: 02-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, July 14, 2007 - 10:44 am: |
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as far as pasta and bread goes pasta and bread are actually healthy for you...pasta has alot of carbohydrates which is good.
i know i hear them say eating alot of pasta is fattening but this is the way i know when something is bad for me and when it's good for me. if its bad for me it bothers me after i eat it and i feel pretty bad...if it doesnt affect me in a bad way or if its good for me then i dont feel bad at all after eating it...i've never in my life felt bad after eating pasta.
as far as bread goes as long as you eat whole wheat bread then youre good...they also have whole wheat pasta and pasta made without using eggs. bread is very healthy for you and thats why i dont listen to these crazy dietiticians (if you can call them that) who say claim you shouldnt eat bread. it's very nessesary for our diet. if you want to you can look up the health benefits of eating whole wheat bread...there is nothing listed that says its bad for you (not unless youre allergic to wheat).....
another thing that really shouldnt be eaten are eggs and products made from cows milk (sour cream, cream cheese, cows cheese, cows milk, cream, yogurt, butter, etc.)...drink goats milk and products made form it instead.
another thing tro consider is to try baking with fruits and fruit juices in place of sugar. thats what i always do whenever i make pies and other deserts...i sweeten them with blended fruits or dried fruits (the ones that dont have sugar added to them).
by the way ive beeen looking for more recipes for exotic vegetables since my diet is very limited now...would you mind sharing a few of them? the doctor told my parents to not eat any meat then he told them not to even eat cooked vegetables....so im trying to figure out recipes with marinated vegetables, mushrooms, rice and beans that still taste good and dont have any kind of heat added to them.
he says theres a way you can marinate rice and beans without cooking them and make them soft.
i told my parents if i were them i wouldnt follow his advice completely and still eat a few cooked vegetables and soups...because i would think you would need something hot in your system everyday. |
Misty
Veteran Poster
Username: Misty
Post Number: 1021
Registered: 02-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, July 14, 2007 - 10:45 am: |
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i actually had alot more to add but now i forget what else i typed..lol |
Misty
Veteran Poster
Username: Misty
Post Number: 1023
Registered: 02-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, July 14, 2007 - 11:02 am: |
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here's one article that talks about coconut oil as a potential cure for hiv/ aids....too bad they havent done further studies on coconut oil and hiv since the 90s....guess it was working too well and the doctors were hesitant to prescribe it instead of their drugs. but there is evidence that it actually cured an hiv positive baby and made him negative.
Coconut Oil in Health and Disease: Its and Monolaurin's Potential as Cure for HIV/AIDS
http://www.coconutoil.com/Dayrit.pdf
here's an article on coconut oil and diabetes
http://www.coconutoil.com/diabetes.htm
here's one on coconut oil and cancer
"When Albert Schweitzer operated his clinic in tropical Africa, he said it was many years before he saw any cases of cancer, and he believed that the appearance of cancer was caused by the change to the European type of diet. In the l920s, German researchers showed that mice on a fat-free diet were practically free of cancer. Since then, many studies have demonstrated a very close association between consumption of unsaturated oils and the incidence of cancer"...read the rest at the link below
http://www.coconutoil.com/ray_peat_coconutoil.htm
A diet rich in coconut oil reduces diurnal postprandial variations in circulating tissue plasminogen activator antigen and fasting lipoprotein (a) compared with a diet rich in unsaturated fat in women.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstra ct&list_uids=14608053&query_hl=5
"Another study showed that coconut oil could prevent cancer and mutations unlike the polyunsaturated oils that can trigger cancer and mutations due to free radical formation.
In Iceland, another type of monoglycerides from coconut oil called monocaprin (monoglyc"
read the rest here
http://www.coconut-info.com/coconut_oil_uses_and_issues.htm
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Misty
Veteran Poster
Username: Misty
Post Number: 1024
Registered: 02-2006
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Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, July 14, 2007 - 11:05 am: |
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here is another article on the benefits of coconut oil (there are a TON but ive just posted a few)
The purpose of this site is to provide information on the health benefits of coconut products, particularly coconut oil. Coconut oil is rich in lauric acid, which is known for being anti-viral, antibacterial and anti-fungal. Coconut oil is also being used by thyroid sufferers to increase body metabolism, and to lose weight. Virgin coconut oil is also used for making natural soaps and other health products, as it is one of the healthiest things one can put on their skin.
At one time coconut oil received negative press in the US because of its high level of saturated fat. However, modern research has shown that not all saturated fats are alike and that the fatty acids in coconut oil, the medium chain triglycerides, do not raise serum cholesterol or contribute to heart disease, but are in fact very healthy. Also, some negative studies done on coconut oil in the past was done on hydrogenated coconut oil, which has been altered from its original form. Other studies have clearly shown that traditional Asian cultures that eat significant amounts of coconut in their diet do not suffer from modern diseases seen in western cultures that promote a low-fat diet.
Much research on the nutritional and medicinal benefits on coconut oil has surfaced in recent years. Much of that research has been done by Dr. Mary Enig. Dr. Enig has classified coconuts as a "functional food," which provides health benefits over and beyond the basic nutrients. She has specifically identified lauric acid as a key ingredient in coconut products:
"Approximately 50% of the fatty acids in coconut fat are lauric acid. Lauric acid is a medium chain fatty acid, which has the additional beneficial function of being formed into monolaurin in the human or animal body. Monolaurin is the anti-viral, antibacterial, and antiprotozoal monoglyceride used by the human or animal to destroy lipid coated viruses such as HIV, herpes, cytomegalovirus, influenza, various pathogenic bacteria including listeria monocytogenes and heliobacter pylori, and protozoa such as giardia lamblia. Some studies have also shown some antimicrobial effects of the free lauric acid."
As a "functional food," coconut oil is now being recognized by the medical community as a powerful tool against immune diseases. Several studies have been done on its effectiveness, and much research is currently being done on the incredible nutritional value of pure coconut oil. Please go to coconutoil.com to read about these studies.
http://www.coconut-info.com/
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Renata
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Username: Renata
Post Number: 2431
Registered: 08-2005
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Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, July 14, 2007 - 11:30 am: |
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LOL...DON'T EAT CATFISH? If you can't eat catfish, you don't have anything to live for ANYWAY. You may as well eat the rest of that junk and drop dead.
I didn't realize shellfish has a lot of bad cholesterol. But living in Louisiana (anywhere) and on the MS/AL coast will have you so sick of seeing shellfish that you will just want to VOMIT at the sight of it.
A lot of people in Atlanta are on something known as the "live food diet". You might like that. It's basically a way of preparing food without cooking it....even kale and collard greens can be chopped up and prepared in a way that tastes good without cooking it.
Thanks for all of the information on coconut oil. I'll more than likely try it. If it doesn't taste half as good as olive oil, I don't know how likely I'll be to keep using it, though. |
Misty
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Username: Misty
Post Number: 1033
Registered: 02-2006
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Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, July 14, 2007 - 07:33 pm: |
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LOL, i use to love catfish too...a better substitute for catfish would be tilapia though...they taste alot like catfish only they taste better (in my opinion) and are better for you eventhough they're bottomfeeders too....but they do tend to have a much better diet than catfish....their bodies get rid of harmful bacteria way better than catfish because of what they eat.
as far as the coconut oil goes, in my opinion olive oil tastes better but either way it's worth your health....it has so many more health benefits than olive oil and can be used for just about anything (skin care, hair care, it's used as medicine)..... people use it to tighten the skin up (removing wrinkles from the skin, to get rid of bumps and all kinds of skin problems. people also use it as a shampoo...if i wanted to i could use the same exact coconut oil that i eat for all of these things but i prefer to just take it orally rather than putting it on my skin and hair because i think it does more for the health that way. drinking it still helps the skin and hair although not as good as shampooing with it or putting it directly on the skin.
every once in a while my mom greases her scalp with the coconut oil that i use because she has bumps in her head from some type of skin irritation (we still dont know what it is)but the vegetarian diet that the doctor put her on is helping it to go away along with the coconut oil and the aloe vera juice that she's been drinking.....
as far as the live food diet...i havent heard anything aobut it before but i will look it up on the internet and see if i can get some good ideas from it...it sounds good though.
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Renata
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Renata
Post Number: 2432
Registered: 08-2005
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Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, July 14, 2007 - 11:52 pm: |
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Misty, really.....tilapia tastes NOTHING like catfish. It tastes more like whiting, just more expensive. |
Misty
Veteran Poster
Username: Misty
Post Number: 1036
Registered: 02-2006
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Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, July 15, 2007 - 12:25 am: |
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it tastes alot like catfish when it's fried |
Renata
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Renata
Post Number: 2435
Registered: 08-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, July 15, 2007 - 12:52 pm: |
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We're just going to have to agree to disagree on this one. Tilapia tastes GREAT when it's fried, but still not like catfish. |
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