Exposed

One of the many good parts about going on vacation is that I generate a lot of material for the blog. It is probably a combination of the facts that without work I can think about other things and being outside of my normal environment exposes me to a variety of different material. Having spent two days at a water park in Virginia and then going to Virginia Beach I was exposed to a lot of people in bathing suits (most of whom I would have preferred not to) and I developed some anecdotal conclusions.

The prevalence of obesity in this country is at epidemic proportions and the percentage of obesity varies amongst races and genders. Although, obesity effects all races and is increasing in all races it appears to be most prevalent amongst African American (AA) females. I would watch crowds go by and notice one after another obese AA female, while only rarely seeing one over 40 years old and of normal weight.

The percentage of AA females with obesity and morbid obesity is astonishing and it appears that their body image is unaffected and/or ignored. Many walk around in highly revealing swimwear exposing their folds. I give them credit for not being fixated on the "perfect" body we are bombarded with in the media and feeling comfortable in their own skin. The incidence of eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia are much less in AAs. They are much more mentally healthy about their bodies but it is at the expense of significant health risks and a shortened life span.

Some would say that healthy food costs too much and that is why a higher percentage of AAs are obese. I do not buy it. It seems as though the message of skinny equals healthy and fat equals disease has been lost in the AA culture or it is just chosen to be ignored. This is difficult for me to understand and I wish there was a way to remedy this.

On the other hand many white women are often fixated with their bodies and have distorted body images. Due to this obsession, they suffer from eating disorders in higher proportions. They tend to be overly concerned regarding their appearance. Although they may be physically healthy with lower weights they are mentally unhealthy with their body image.

So two racial groups with opposite problems. One obsessed with their bodies and one unconcerned. One leads to poor mental health and one leads to poor physical health. This is a deficiency in the two respective cultures. After coming home I searched to investigate the actual rates of obesity among different races and genders and my anecdotal conclusions were confirmed. Just an observation with no easy answers.
(http://obesity1.tempdomainname.com/subs/fastfacts/Obesity_Minority_Pop.shtml)