Road To Health and the ENT Doc.

So I am listening to 98.1 this morning and Tavis Smiley was on there promoting his, "Road to Health" tour sponsered by Kaiser Permanente. So he was calling off all of these random facts about health in the black and brown communities and it was extra disturbing to me. And it really wasn't anything new, it was just the fact that I guess I was listening to it on the moring commute not expecting to hear it. Except he lost me when he said that the black community has produced historically the best athletes yet they are the most unhealthy people... there is no correlation. Just because A does not mean B. Come on now Tavis. But seriously, it is so sad that black people are so unhealthy. And a lot of it is all about eating. Actually, I think all of it is all about eating. In the old days, black slaves had to eat things that were NOT supposed to be eaten because it was the only thing they were given. They were not given the more "healthy" parts of animals... naw naw... they were given the parts that white people refused to eat (uh lets see... chitlins, pig ears, feet, hamhocksm, gibblets all come to mind and more). That junk is not good for you... I don't care "how good it is"... it is not supposed to be consumed by humans. Blacks in the past ate this because they had to survive... but blacks now eat it because of tradition and it is making them unhealthy. It's all about this culture of good soul food... but man, you are becoming so unhealthy because of it.

It makes me think of the movie, "Soul Food". I had never thought about that movie until I watched a "Boondocks" episode where Riley goes to say how the movie was about a black family who ate alot of bad food. Then "big mama" got sick and died of all the things that black people usually die of and then the family kept the tradition alive by gathering every Sunday and eating the same food that probably contributed to big mama's demise.

I can't help but think that things that help instill a culture in black people are also killing us... hmmm. Think about it.....

Don't Hate, Just Look and Appreciate. Thanks

Yeah, so one of my track coaches was telling the graduating seniors last year how we were going to be hated on by everyone at our grad school/jobs in the next year. Why? He said because of the track body. I was like, "Whatever, it isn't even that serious" and kinda ignored it, but I am finally starting to get this reaction from people. It's really sad actually. It's almost like people are so insecure with how they look, they have to always say something about someone else. People are always going around commenting on my body in one way or another. The remarks range anywhere from "You have a really cute shape" to "You need to eat". The comments closer to the first one, I don't really mind, but the second comment is just so wrong on many levels. First of all, I am 134 and 5'5.... which is like a GREAT ratio. I don't need to eat, the problem is is that YOUR ASS needs to STOP eating. I am sorry your BMI sucks, but there is no need to hate on my because of it. And sometimes, it's not even the comments, it's what's NOT said. I'm starting to notice people staring at me. And they are never looking at my face, there are always looking at my middle sections. Last comment, so today, this lady was like, "I have to eat steamed broccoli and cauliflower everyday at lunch so I can look like you. You're ridiculous". I wasn't offended by this comment, but it was the comment that sparked this post. It's almost like it is unnatural for people to be in shape anymore and I really don't understand why.

And another thing that bothers me, people act like I didn't work for what I have. I worked out 6 days a week and twice on 4 of those 6 days. It took a lot of sacrifice, so don't act like I am just so lucky that I look this way.

This is just coming up for me because at work, I wear "real people" clothes and I am not always in sweats and stuff so people can see the shape. When I go to law school, it's back to tee shirt and shorts for me... this attracts too much attention. And no I am not being cocky because anyone who knows me knows that I am on the opposite end of that spectrum.