A Healthy Diet Solution for Women of Color

Mrs. Rosemary Harkins, Ph.D.

Black women face alarming obesity rates. In order to counter this epidemic, these women must research healthier food choices and change their outlook on how and what they eat. Learn about the best diet for African American women.

The wonderful thing about diet is that you can change it. Anytime you want, any day you want. To commit to a healthy lifestyle, start by visiting your doctor and getting a complete physical, screening for medical ailments, such as diabetes. Then with your doctor's approval, begin the best diet for African American black women.
 
Any doctor will tell you to put down that frying pan. Especially in southern American culture, frying is one form of cooking that is used often. This turns even the healthiest choices, such as vegetables (yes, southerners fry vegetables!) into the unhealthiest splurges. The grease, fat and oil from fried food alone are enough to cause serious heart problems, obesity, and diabetes.

blackwomenshealth.com was started by Dr. David P. Pryor, M.D. The website provides diet tips for African American women. It also discusses specific foods to consume, instead of the fried, fatty options. Here are some low-fat food choices that Black Women’s Health recommends:

• Buy lean cuts of meat such as skinless, white meat chicken and turkey. Avoid red meat and fatty options such as lunch meat and bacon.

• Select fresh and frozen vegetables as opposed to the canned variety. There are more nutrients in vegetables that are fresh or frozen.

• Choose low-fat salad dressings like balsamic vinegar. Avoid the creamy, cheesy dressings with all the fat.

• Buy cold cereal and hot cereals that can be cooked on a stove. Instant hot cereals do not have much nutritional value.

In general, also think of eliminating desserts. Not completely because you are human but learn to cut back on sweet treats and refocus your taste buds to yearning fruit and vegetables. How is this possible? The more refined sugar—the sugar that is in sodas, cookies, etc.—people eat, the more they crave. To stop the cycle, avoid eating these sweets. Instead, drink more water and opt for organic, fresh fruits and vegetables. Once you have stopped consuming an overabundance of refined sugars for a little while, you will begin to notice that fruits and vegetables taste sweeter. Thus, you will retrain your body and mind to crave the healthy stuff!

Also, learn to steam vegetables as well, instead of frying or smothering them with creamy sauces or melting fatty cheeses atop. Let your taste buds adapt to “naked” vegetables. You can bring out their flavor with a bit of spices; for example, some people sprinkle a tiny bit of salt, pepper or even Adobo on vegetables. As you learned in this article, the key to a healthy diet for black women is to retrain the mind. Examine your food choices carefully, shop and eat healthily and only splurge a little.
 

References
 “Obesity and African Americans," The Office of Minority Health, the U.S. Department Health and Human Services

 blackwomenshealth.com. 
"Food, Identity, and African-American Women with Type 2 Diabetes: An Anthropological Perspective," Leandris C. Liburd, MPH, Diabetes Spectrum, American Diabetes Association, July 2003, vol. 16, Number 3, 160-65.