So Let's Sweat!

I was surfing the web for different health statistics on Black women (yes because I’m a little nerdy) and sure enough the first ones that pop up were obesity and heart disease. According to www.womenshealth.gov and a number of other sites heart disease is the number one killer of Black women. Heart disease is almost always directly connected to diet and life style. One in every four Black women is obese and one in every four Black women over the age of 55 have type 2 diabetes. The stats are tragic and disheartening. The main solution that is always given to counter and prevent obesity, heart disease and diabetes is exercise. The main plague that seems to flow among Black women is an overall lack of activity. We’re not exercising.

I have to admit that before I embarked to holistically take charge and change my mind, body, and soul I was never exercising. My rational was very stereotypical.

1. I never made the time to take care of myself and set aside time to exercise.
2. I was receiving positive feedback about my body type from males.
3. I didn't want to mess up my hair that I spent 100+ dollars on at times to relax and straighten
4. Eating whole foods always seemed out my wallet’s range

Now, exercising has become more than just a 30 minute run and weight lifting; it is a physical and mental activity that affects not just the body but the spirit as well. However, I can’t help but notice the general lack of black women when I’m at the gym. There could be a number of reasons for this, the main ones that come to mind are the ridiculous prices of gym memberships these days and their strategic location away from minority areas. Lucky for me the gyms on campus are free to students; however that doesn't draw in many black female students.

Another thing I notice, because I love to surf the net for exercising blogs, was the lack of blogs written by black women on health. This isn’t to say that blogs written by women of other racial or ethnic backgrounds are of no help to Black women, but sometimes information is retained better when the face it’s coming from looks like yours and more importantly the blogs that have drawn me in tend to take a black feminist approach to health.

Some of my favorite blogs written by Black women are:

http://sistahvegan.wordpress.com/

http://thefitnessgoddess.blogspot.com/

http://byanygreensnecessary.com/blog/

http://www.nattral.com/