Author wants to change black culture view of fat
May 8, 2012, 11:18 AM | Updated: Oct 11, 2024, 1:42 pm
 Author Alice Randall is leading what she hopes will be a cultural revolution that gets black women to lose weight (Vanderbilt University photo) |
On the inside, fat is all the same regardless of race. But
novelist Alice Randall says there’s a big cultural
difference in how people of different races view fat.
“Four out of five black women are seriously overweight,”
Randall tells 97.3 KIRO FM’s Ross and Burbank Show. “One out of four middle-aged black women
has diabetes. With $174 billion a year spent on diabetes-related illness in America, and obesity quickly overtaking
smoking as a cause of cancer deaths, it is past time to
try something new.”
Randall says a big difference between black and white
culture is the perception of fat. While white culture
tends to criticize and stigmatize overweight people, black
culture in America has tended to embrace it in women.
“My own grandmother was big as three houses, we used to
say proudly,” Randall says. “Part of the complexity of me, when I approach
my own weight issues, is that I adored her and I think
she’s an example of beauty and power, and so we have to
recognize some of our men grew up with these large women
as mothers and grandmothers.”
Randall is hoping to launch a cultural
revolution with her book “Ada’s
Rules”.
Randall is promoting a fitness regime she calls 8-8-8,
which encourages people to walk at least 8 hours a week,
drink 8 glasses of water per day and sleep at least 8
hours each night.
“I don’t want my own grandchildren to be fat because I was
once fat. I think the day has come with one out of every
four black ladies with dialysis.”
Randall is challenging all overweight women to lose 10 percent of
their body weight, which she says would result in a 50
percent reduction in diabetes risk, saving both lives and
significant money.
“The billions that we are spending to treat diabetes is
money that we don’t have for education reform or
retirement benefits, and what’s worse, it’s estimated that
the total cost of America’s obesity epidemic could reach
almost $1 trillion by 2030 if we keep on doing what we
have been doing,” Randall says.
By Josh Kerns, MyNorthwest.com Reporter
