Push Is On To Cut Obesity Among African Americans

I found this alarming article on OrlandoSentinel.com by Linda Shrieves.

A war is raging against obesity in the black community, where weight-related health risks run especially high.
by Linda Shrieves
Sentinel Staff Writer

February 12, 2008

When Clinette Richardson got a note from her 11-year-old son's school, asking her to enroll in a free health program because her son was in danger of becoming obese, she wasn't angry. She was elated.Richardson, a single mom, had been trying to find ways to help her two kids slim down and avoid what has become a real issue in the black community: diabetes and strokes.

"When I got the notice, I thought this was an answered prayer," said Richardson, 36.

For 12 weeks, from September through December, Richardson and her children, Clinton, 11, and Akirah, 14, attended a weekly class at Nap Ford Community School, where a team of dietitians, psychologists and doctors coached 11 families on how to slim down, shape up and eat right.They ate healthful meals and exercised together, laughing as the dads attempted to jump rope, and the moms hopped between cones.

In the process, Richardson said, her family experienced a transformation.

"Now we exercise together two or three times a week," she said. "Before, I would go to the pool by myself, and my son would stay home and play video games. Now we go and race around the track together. It's more like play than exercise.

"As the obesity crisis has enveloped the United States, it has thundered through the black community, where adults are more likely to suffer from diabetes, hypertension and strokes than whites. The crisis is especially severe among black women, 79.6 percent of whom are overweight or obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In Orlando, black leaders are trying to tackle the issue. From churches to schools to gyms, pastors and principals and personal trainers are urging black men and women -- and kids -- to rethink the way they eat and exercise.

"This is a huge problem for our community, and we've got to address it," says Jean Piccard Jacques.From the small gym that he opened in a Pine Hills shopping center, Jacques can see the toll that obesity takes on the community: the working moms with diabetes. The men who have heart attacks in their 40s. The children who are overweight before they enter their teens.

In Central Florida, 35.9 percent of the region's blacks are obese, compared with 20.7 percent of whites and 20.2 percent of Hispanics, according to a 2004 survey by the Health Council of East Central Florida.

Jacques, 32, a former instructor at a national fitness chain, opened a small, no-frills gym almost two years ago. On most nights of the week, his gym is full of black women of all shapes and sizes, but Jacques wanted to reach people who couldn't afford a gym.So last year, he began offering a free workout every Saturday morning at Barnett Park.

"I thought this would be a great way to teach people about the benefits of exercise," Jacques said.

He's part of a growing movement to tackle the health problems that plague black America.

Last year, Dr. Ian Smith, a graduate of Dartmouth Medical School and a former health correspondent, made headlines when he launched a "50 Million Pound Challenge" -- a challenge to the nation's black community to lose weight and tackle some of the serious health issues plaguing it.

"If you look at the numbers, African Americans tend to reside at the upper end of spectrum," Smith said. "Almost 80 percent of women are overweight, almost 70 percent of men are overweight, as are 20 percent of boys and 25 percent of girls," Smith said.

Since he launched the challenge last April, an estimated 300,000 people have lost, collectively, 1.2 million pounds.This year, Smith plans to challenge churches and black fraternal organizations to join him.

"I suspect we'll lose millions and millions of pounds this year," Smith said.

Nationally, more black ministers are pushing members to watch their health.

In Orlando, Terence Gray, pastor at St. Mark AME Church, became more interested in health issues in 2006, when doctors told him that he had two blockages in an artery. That wasn't all. Gray weighed too much, his cholesterol was high and his job, although spiritual, was often stressful.After doctors placed stents to clear the blockages, Gray changed his diet. He started working out three days a week and taking long walks two days a week. He lost 25 pounds and soon turned his attention to his congregation's health. Now every Monday and Wednesday night, church members can take an exercise class at church, led by a personal trainer. The cost is $5 for each church member; the church subsidizes the rest.

He has also teamed up with a hospital to hire a parish nurse."I think more and more churches are realizing that we're not just speaking to a person's spirit, but we have to reach the whole person," Gray said.

If church is the best place to reach black adults with the health message, perhaps the best place to reach kids is at school.

At the Nap Ford Community School in downtown Orlando, Director Jennifer Porter-Smith is testing that theory. So last year, when she realized that the charter school's 136 students weren't getting enough exercise in their daily routine, she extended the school day one hour each day. By the end of the school year, they saw a reduction in the students' body-mass indexes.

"The parents embraced it," Porter-Smith said. "It wasn't a hard sell at all."

Likewise, when Florida Hospital introduced a free, 12-week Health Intervention Program, aimed at teaching families how to eat and exercise right, Porter-Smith brought the program to her school. She invited families whose children had body-mass indexes in the danger zone.

For parents such as Clinette Richardson, the program was a godsend. She learned how to flavor greens with smoked turkey, not fattier ham. She began experimenting with a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. And her daughter chose to become a vegetarian."We have a whole different mind-set now," said Richardson. "We want to be healthy."

Linda Shrieves can be reached at lshrieves@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5433.