Because about 50% - that's one-half-of all African American and Hispanic women are overweight or obese;
When one or both parents are overweight or obese, 70 to 80% - that's 3 out of 4 - of their teens are likely to be overweight adults.
The explosion of overweight and obesity among ‘inner city’ African American and Hispanic children, teens and women highlights the need for an intensive focus on prevention, followed by control.
Health Power’s emphasis is on the need to:
Still Look Good, Feel Better, Be Healthier, and Live Longer!
The primary focus to achieve this goal needs to be on prevention because:
Ø About 50 percent (%) or one-half of African American and Hispanic women are overweight or obese.
Ø When one or both parents are overweight or obese, 70 to 80 %, or 3 out of 4 of their teens are likely to be overweight adults.
Ø Preventing overweight and obesity, while not easy, is much easier than curing it, as many affected persons know.
Ø A key reason there are so many reported weight loss cures is that most of them have little if any long-term effectiveness.
Ø Obesity is associated with an increased risk of developing such high cost and potentially damaging illnesses as:
- Type 2 diabetes
- Heart disease
- Hypertension
- Asthma
- Arthritis
- Some cancers
- Gallstones
- Psychosocial effects
- Stigma
The primary target population for prevention needs to be children, pre teens and early teens, and their parents, because:
Ø They are more likely to be responsive to parental influence than older teens. The older teens are, the more likely that their peers will have a greater influence on them than their parents.
Ø They have adopted fewer habits related to eating patterns and physical activity that support weight gain than older teens.
The next best thing to preventing overweight and obesity is control. So if one is overweight, or “getting overweight”, or obese, don’t let the pattern continue.
As you will see in several places on our website, and although we say it in different ways, the basic formula for preventing and controlling both overweight and obesity is:
Calories In = Calories Out.
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This is also known as the “Energy Balance Equation”, or
Energy (or calories) In minus Energy (or calories) out = Energy Balance
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Yet another way to describe and focus on overweight and obesity prevention and control is:
You must routinely burn off as many calories as you take in (eat)
Visit our Food and Fitness Channel, and our Overweight and Obesity Section, and check out our Tip Sheets for Minority Health to get started in preventing and controlling overweight and obesity in our networks – that means ourselves, our families (whether biological or not) and our significant others. In doing so, we will also be helping to ‘Stop the obesity epidemic sweeping our communities’.