Growing Up Black...Eating
tierraajon
Posts: 16 Member
Is it just me or is it really an issue that our African American households grow up eating big meals all the time. Its what we know especially being from the south. A standard meal consist of a meat, two or three sides, and either cornbeard, biscuit or bread slice. Drink sweet tea and kool-aid. Don't let it be Sunday dinner, then you can expect at least 3 meats, 5-6 sides and both cornbread and rolls. We value the family fellowship time but it would be a lot easier as an adult to eat right if we grew up learning about things such as carbs, calories and sugar intake. This could be the reason why so many in the african american community suffer from Type 2 Diabetes. Lets break this habit and educate or black children on healthy eating habits. Yes it costs more to eat healthy but I have found that there are low cost options.
Also you guys, lets stay in touch. I appreciate the comments and replies but if you would like just send me a friend request if you to are on a journey to weightloss and healthy living!
Also you guys, lets stay in touch. I appreciate the comments and replies but if you would like just send me a friend request if you to are on a journey to weightloss and healthy living!
15
Replies
-
That sounds complicated. Yes, overeating great food is an issue, however you could also make those into really healthy meals, and great fellowship, with meat, veggie sides, and going easy on the breads and sweetened drinks.3
-
While I didn't grow up in the South and wasn't raised on a diet quite like that, I do think you are correct that it is a problem. I think that education on this matter is lacking, especially in communities where eating that way is the norm.5
-
It's more just a southern thing than a black thing. My family was the exact same way, especially the post-church facestuffing. It's a big part of the reason I weighed 200 lbs. by the time I was ten.29
-
More southern than black. There are plenty of thin black people who eat well. There are plenty of southerners who eat well, too, but overeating of calorie-laden foods is a thing. Like doughnuts after church don't even count.
Cornbread was a big surprise to me, calories-wise. I knew it wasn't health food, but didn't realize it was half a day's calories. I heard someone say that God loved the south so much that he sent us cornbread. Maybe he hated us, lol. Never been a big fan of greens, but had to limit my cornbread intake in a big way. If I could pick one food to drop to 0 calories, that's be it.14 -
More southern than black. There are plenty of thin black people who eat well. There are plenty of southerners who eat well, too, but overeating of calorie-laden foods is a thing. Like doughnuts after church don't even count.
Cornbread was a big surprise to me, calories-wise. I knew it wasn't health food, but didn't realize it was half a day's calories. I heard someone say that God loved the south so much that he sent us cornbread. Maybe he hated us, lol. Never been a big fan of greens, but had to limit my cornbread intake in a big way. If I could pick one food to drop to 0 calories, that's be it.
Corn bread tamale pie is one of my favorite winter comfort foods
4 -
omg, this post made me miss Southern Cookin', a restaurant we used to have. That southern, black lady made the BEST darn food. The cornbread would come with its own little silver cup of melted butter.......hmmmmmmm So good!2
-
tierraajon wrote: »We value the family fellowship time but it would be a lot easier as an adult to eat right if we grew up learning about things such as carbs, calories and sugar intake. This could be the reason why so many in the african american community suffer from Type 2 Diabetes. Lets break this habit and educate or black children on healthy eating habits. Yes it costs more to eat healthy but I have found that there are low cost options.
It's not a black thing...Not even just a Southern thing. Replace the corn bread with whatever cultural food you want (be it Greek, Italian, South African or German or whatever flavour you like) and you will have the same family fellowship and eating too much thing....
Let's break the habit and educate our black children on healthy eating habits....21 -
This is all true for most of the South in general. It's been like that for ages, difference now is that our daily lives don't have the kind of physical activity to balance all those large meals. (Think people's jobs used to be heavy labor, or contributing to the farm, and a lot of time that one meal was the only one all day)9
-
kshama2001 wrote: »More southern than black. There are plenty of thin black people who eat well. There are plenty of southerners who eat well, too, but overeating of calorie-laden foods is a thing. Like doughnuts after church don't even count.
Cornbread was a big surprise to me, calories-wise. I knew it wasn't health food, but didn't realize it was half a day's calories. I heard someone say that God loved the south so much that he sent us cornbread. Maybe he hated us, lol. Never been a big fan of greens, but had to limit my cornbread intake in a big way. If I could pick one food to drop to 0 calories, that's be it.
Corn bread tamale pie is one of my favorite winter comfort foods
Now I'm craving my "crack cornbread"
0 -
lithezebra wrote: »That sounds complicated. Yes, overeating great food is an issue, however you could also make those into really healthy meals, and great fellowship, with meat, veggie sides, and going easy on the breads and sweetened drinks.
Don't forget the cookouts! Everybody's bringing something for the grill or some side or dessert , it's ridiculous to try to get everyone on the same page about bringing better choices.3 -
I'm southern but caucasian. I grew up eating the same way. It was a hard habit to break. I even felt guilty for a long time bc I was made to feel like I was starving and depriving my kids bc I started making healthier meals and didn't put sugar in the tea. My grandson is 10 months old and loves unsweet tea bc he doesn't know the difference. I told my son not to introduce unhealthy habits to him and he won't ever have to give them up. I agree with you, we need to teach our kids better food habits than we learned!!!7
-
I didn't grow up black but I grew up in Texas eating like that @tierraajon .
3 -
I'm white and polish background. I don't think it has anything to do with color or region you're born in. I think it's an old school mentality where eating food is a communal thing.
When I was growing up we went to my grandmother's house every Sunday for dinner there were about 20 of us and she literally cooked a Thanksgiving dinner. the attitude is eat eat eat. I have Italian friends their mothers were the same way, it's eat eat eat. Same thing I have Puerto Rican friend. his family is the same, eat eat eat.
And in all these situations God forbid you don't eat, it would offend them less if you called them a racial slur vs not eating the food that the women cook. And yes to all the younger people when I was growing up, men were not allowed in the kitchen.
17 -
STEVE142142 wrote: »I'm white and polish background. I don't think it has anything to do with color or region you're born in. I think it's an old school mentality where eating food is a communal thing.
When I was growing up we went to my grandmother's house every Sunday for dinner there were about 20 of us and she literally cooked a Thanksgiving dinner. the attitude is eat eat eat. I have Italian friends their mothers were the same way, it's eat eat eat. Same thing I have Puerto Rican friend. his family is the same, eat eat eat.
And in all these situations God forbid you don't eat, it would offend them less if you called them a racial slur vs not eating the food that the women cook. And yes to all the younger people when I was growing up, men were not allowed in the kitchen.
It is a very old school thing, going all the way back to every Old World country that existed (and probably further). Funny how this wasn't a problem until recently. Perhaps it has a lot more to do with people being ridiculously sedentary. Just a thought.6 -
Corn bread is always good. We all have our favorite things to do with it, but there is no bad thing. Always, always good. I'm shocked that you see it so rarely up north. Better that way for them. One less thing to overeat, but how it didn't catch on, I don't know.kshama2001 wrote: »More southern than black. There are plenty of thin black people who eat well. There are plenty of southerners who eat well, too, but overeating of calorie-laden foods is a thing. Like doughnuts after church don't even count.
Cornbread was a big surprise to me, calories-wise. I knew it wasn't health food, but didn't realize it was half a day's calories. I heard someone say that God loved the south so much that he sent us cornbread. Maybe he hated us, lol. Never been a big fan of greens, but had to limit my cornbread intake in a big way. If I could pick one food to drop to 0 calories, that's be it.
Corn bread tamale pie is one of my favorite winter comfort foods
0 -
This discussion is similar to one that comes up a lot in the vegan forums I frequent. Many posts saying that they'd like to try going vegan, but they are black/greek/italian/indian/moroccan/southern/etc, and in their culture, meat and dairy is sooooo important culturally, so it is especially difficult for them! The thing is, these posts are SO common because these are characteristics that nearly ALL cultures share, but think that they are very unique in it? Truth is, like gallowmere is saying, eating meat as well as huge family feasts are extremely traditional and it will probably, in my opinion, take a few generations to adapt to our new very very different lifestyles (much more sedentary, food so much more available, so much more processed food and less home cooking, don't need to work for your food in terms of physical labour, don't rely on seasons, don't need to bulk up in case of a famine, etc etc etc).4
-
Food is love, cherished memories, communal enjoyment...it's so many things and so many reasons why it is a good, positive thing. It is not negative but what is negative is people's tendency to stuff themselves, have a lack of balance and overall sedentary life that doesn't balance out those calories. My children can eat like fat lords but they're pretty lean machines. But they're pretty stinking active. It all balances out.9
-
I know it happens in the south and in other cultures, however you guys me being a AA female who has noticed this among people in my community. no offense you guys! But I love all the feedback!7
-
You all be sure to add me0
-
tierraajon wrote: »I know it happens in the south and in other cultures, however you guys me being a AA female who has noticed this among people in my community. no offense you guys! But I love all the feedback!
It didn't look like any one was offended to me. It looked like people were pointing out how a lot of cultures are very similar to how you grew up.
I had a very different upbringing. My mother was VERY conscious about eating healthy. It was very different from how my friends ate. They had dessert regularly and higher fat meals. My mom served lean proteins and veggies. Dessert was a RARE thing at our house and it was usually something like whole wheat carrot cake. I can tell you that the way I was raised did not lead to a better understanding of how to eat. I certainly didn't learn anything about moderation because there was really nothing available to moderate.
BTW, I love southern cooking!! Several of my vacations have been to the south and I always look forward to the food. Fried catfish, BBQ, banana pudding, peanut butter pie, greens, corn bread - sooooooo good! The one thing I don't like is sweet tea! My mom always had unsweetened sun tea available and I just can't stand tea with sugar in it.3 -
tierraajon wrote: »I know it happens in the south and in other cultures, however you guys me being a AA female who has noticed this among people in my community. no offense you guys! But I love all the feedback!
I don't think any one here was offended at all. I think they where just sharing that the same thing happens in all cultures and saying they understand the struggle because it happens frequently no matter the race.
But I do have to admit that southern comfort foods are my favorite! I love cornbread warm with butter. I just love it! I frequently drive to a soul food restaurant that is an hour away just to order their cornbread. Lol! ( They have made the joke that I wasn't the only fairer skinned person that drives an hour to eat there! Lol!! ) So yes , your struggle is definitely real op !
And please feel free to invite me to dinner, I'll eat all the foods so you won't have to worry about it ! Lol6 -
There's a really cool book that talks about stuff like this. It's called "Eating Animals" -- and really it's about the author's decision to raise his kid as a vegetarian or not. But, there's a moment where he talks about how traditional food is. Food is family. Food is inexorably linked to tradition and warm times with family and community.
It talks about how hard it is to give up that community for a diet choice (whether that be eating less calories, eating less meat, eating less carbs). Family, especially older, worries and presses because they show their love through food and when you aren't a part of the meal they feel you aren't a part of the community.
You're right, education and acceptance is so important. If we can teach the next generation that the important part of tradition is roots and connection with the family (not the cornbread or Auntie's Pecan Pie) they might be able to make these choices more easily.
6 -
Well, I dated a man who's family was from Denmark. Let me tell you, they can sit down and have 2-3 hour lunches with about 7 courses. Sandwiches, cakes, heavy cream, you name it.
I think the overeating issue is more of a case of just having too much and doing too little. As another poster mentioned, things were different not even that long ago. People in general were WAY more physically active. It was fine to eat a lot, because it got worked off. And going back further, I'd say that people ate as much as they could as they didn't know when they'd eat well again.
In my opinion, it's a combination of our sedentary lifestyle, our human hard wiring of "eat all you can", and as others said, growing up with poor eating habits - so they are ingrained in many of us (myself here in Canada) - that contributes to obesity and health issues. I really can't say it's any one thing or group or area in particular.6 -
@RoseTheWarrior nailed it on the head. We are almost universally far less active than we once we're as a society, yet our family traditions support the manual labor lifestyle of previous generations.
My dad and his dad and all his brothers dug ditches. My mom grew up on a family farm.. All of my great grandparents were farmers. Their parents were farmers and peasant laborers. They all worked very long hard hours and required a lot of calories. The social adjustment regarding food was harder for my generation than the actual lifestyle change to less manual labor.3 -
1. They had a program on Howard University TV about southern cooking and how it is going to kill you. Not only are people eating nutrition-less food, they are eating way too much of it. I've eaten right this month (meat, veggies, fruit and no grains, sugar, flour, potatoes, oil) and lost 5 pounds. It's like watching the weight fall of my pear shaped hips and thighs. 2. You have to decide if you want your health or someone's approval. Go for health! 3. Before I go to a family fest or Thanksgiving type dinner, I posted what I was going to eat to see how much that "pecan pie" cost me in carbs. It was worth it because I only eat it once a year. Also, because I'm the only one who eats it I get it at the church bazaar where I can purchase one piece and don't have to eat the whole pie. You have to be smart about these things.3
-
HUTV "Is there hope for soul food junkies?" and "Is soul food a sacrament or a sin?"0
-
NOW I'M CRAVING BISCUITS AND GRAVY DAMNIT.4
-
what happened to my posts about Howard TV's show on soul food?0
-
caroldavison332 wrote: »what happened to my posts about Howard TV's show on soul food?
It's there, I can see it.0 -
Maintaining now and not much has changed for me in that area. I still eat my meats and cornbread/biscuit. The side just happens to be salad, greens, potato versus mac & cheese and all the other high calorie stuff. I have to have my cornbread/biscuit though if not 2 or 3
1
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 393.4K Introduce Yourself
- 43.8K Getting Started
- 260.2K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.9K Food and Nutrition
- 47.4K Recipes
- 232.5K Fitness and Exercise
- 426 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.5K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 153K Motivation and Support
- 8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.7K MyFitnessPal Information
- 24 News and Announcements
- 1.1K Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.6K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions