Is Obesity the New Normal

You are not alone. The CDC says that more than a third of Americans are obese and another third are overweight. Only 30% of people in the U.S. can now be considered at a healthy weight. The question is: How long will you be part of this new “normal”?

I talk to a lot of Black Women about weight and weight loss.  One theme I hear all the time is that they “don’t want to be skinny” or “I don’t want to lose my curves”.  I totally understand that and I’m on board.  I love my body and I refuse to look at myself negatively because of the American beauty status quo and it’s obsession with “thinness”.  However, I do have a problem with obesity being seen as normal. It is not the case that all black women are overweight and unhealthy.  There are a lot of women, of various hues, that are larger than the standard bears would like but healthy and extremely well.  My issue is with those who are not.  My focus is on making sure that we as ourselves the hard truths.  My focus is on shining a light on the fact that many of us could improve our health and our lives by losing a few pounds and there is nothing wrong with acknowledging that.

I’m not ok with anything unhealthy becoming normal in the black community.  I want our normal to be health.