A new book due to be released in May called Food, Choice and Obesity in Black America: An Anthropologist Offers a New Cultural Diet focuses on the needs of African-Americans and weight loss in America. The interesting thing about Eric Bailey’s book is that it addresses the cultural and psychological needs of the African-American with a specific focus on body image, food, dieting and physical fitness in African-American culture.
Medically speaking, African-Americans are facing their own health challenges and becoming more obese than ever before just like other Americans. The consequences include:
- Strokes
- Heart Attacks
- Type II Diabetes
- Hypertension
These are critical health issues facing a large number of Americans, Bailey addresses a way that African-Americans can work together collectively to establish a lifestyle strategy and ‘cultural’ diet that will be both manageable and effective.
There are views from African American celebrities who have also fought their own battles against weight. There are reviews of soul food cookbooks. There is also a history of the African American cuisine. The book also critiques the lack of marketing from corporate American addressing the needs of the African American community when it comes to fitness, weight loss and diet programs.
Overall, the book focuses on building a better body image that is culturally based and present s research into culture, diet and fitness options for African Americans. There are some federally funded diet and fitness programs for African Americans that have demonstrated success and Bailey addresses those in his book as well.