We hold an annual conference in January on the farm to discuss local and national strategies to improve the food education, production, and access for our people. This year, our theme was….
RIDDING OUR COMMUNITY OF CHILDHOOD OBESITY
By Sister Kemba Muhammad, Jacksonville, Fla.
Obesity is the number one disease that is plaguing us, our families, communities and our nation. It is also the number robber of our health, welfare, finances and life. Many adults have had to have limbs amputated, they have lost their eyesight, and have develop many other debilitating aliments. The best part of this disease is that it is preventable, and the worst part is that we do not do what it takes to keep us healthy and fit.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention stated that there are a variety of factors that play a role in Obesity;
The Honorable Elijah Muhammad stated that if you eat one meal a day and eat the right foods we would not be plague with obesity and it illnesses. The CDC also states that obesity results from an energy imbalance. This comes from eating too many calories and not getting enough physical activity; Body weight is the result of genes, metabolism, behavior, environment, culture and socioeconomic status. They also said that behavior and environment play a large role causing people to be overweight and obese.
Yes these factors plays a role however if we practice the teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and follow the guidance in his books called How to Eat to Live he will teach you how to master all of these factors.When it comes to maintaining a healthy weight for a lifetime, the bottom line is calories count! Weight management is all about balance- balancing the numbers of calories you consume with the number of calories your body uses or “Burn off”.
Exercise is very important because of our sedentary life style, however if we followed the How to Eat to Live program you would not have to exercise to burn off calories because our meals are not high in calories if we prepare them correctly.A Calorie is defined as a unit of energy supplied by food. A calorie is a calorie regardless of its source. Whether you’re eating carbohydrates, fats, sugar, or proteins, all of them contain calories.
Caloric balance is like a scale. To remain in balance and maintain your body weight, the calories consumed (from foods) must be balance by the calories used (in normal body functions, daily activities, and exercise.If you are” in balance” you are eating roughly the same number of calories that your body is using. Your weight will remain stable.
If you are “in caloric excess” you are eating more calories than your body is using. You will store these extra calories as fat and you’ll gain weight.Losing weight “In caloric deficit” you are eating fewer calories than you are using, your body is pulling from its fat storage cells for energy, so your weight is decreasing.Genetics and the environment may increase the risk of personal weight gain. However, the choices a person makes in eating and physical activity also contributes to overweight and obesity.
People may make decisions based on their environment or community. For example, a person may choose not to walk to the store because of a lack of sidewalks. Communities, homes, and workplace can all influence people’s health decisions. Because of this influence, it is important to create environments in these locations that make it easier to engage in physical activity and to eat a healthy diet.
Unfortunately many of our children (Nation of Islam) are still in public school and eating those free lunches. What are you thinking? If they are eating those breakfast and lunch foods they are eating foods that start the overweight and obesity trend and ultimately illnesses and possible death. The schools are not supplying adequate daily physical education. So you must incorporate that in your family daily activities.
We as members of the Nation of Islam cannot go into the community to Teach Civilization when we are not practicing it ourselves. If we want healthy children then we must become healthy, follow the teaching and make How to Eat to Live fun, and enjoyable then we can go to the community with a successful program.
What Must be Done
First of all we must;
My final statement is we all claim not to have enough time. Well that depends on you and your priorities. You either want life and life more abundantly or you want death to you and your families.
Minister Farrakhan gave us a tool to free ourselves to do what we need to do. The tool is Dianetics. If we would get on the course of study and complete it, get audited to release those Engrams that are stopping you from reaching your full potential. I guarantee you will think better, have more life force, able to manage your time better, think better of yourself, and you will look around and fine that you are able to do more than you did before and you will be able to get done everything you need to do.