In a world of unparallel innovation in technology, communication, manufacturing, and a plethora of other things, there is still one necessity that many are lacking in –adequate health. The fast pace lifestyle that chooses microwave food and potato chips over an apple and a fresh salad is taking a major toll on American families, especially African Americans. This lifestyle has added to a major obesity epidemic that costs America $150 billion dollars annually.
“This crisis of overweight and obesity promises to worsen over the course of generations, unless there is a widespread paradigm shift,” said author, researcher, and historian, Keidi Obi Awadu. A proponent of a raw-vegan food life style, Awadu has done extensive research on major health disparities and has compiled his finding in a newly released book. “OFF The Weight: 30 Days to a New You,” offers a 30 page guide to helping people reverse the harmful trend of obesity without the use of pharmaceutical medicine, surgery, or depriving yourself of food.
Keeping things simple, “Set and Get that Goal,” the first chapter of the book, offers seven steps to beginning the weight management process including eating raw fruits and vegetables and drinking more water. “The new life paradigm will present itself as a miracle to some and as a logical outcome to others. Either way, it is absolutely necessary as it is evident that we cannot continue along the same path of unconscious eating and disease causation,” Awadu mentions in his book’s introduction.
Statistics show that the “disease causation”, the production of disorder in the body, is more prevalent than ever before. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, more than one-third of U.S. adults are obese. As weight gain rises, it is drastically effecting younger generations as well. Nearly 17 percent of children and adolescents suffered from obesity from 2009-2010. These enormous statistics drove President Barack Obama in 2011 to proclaim September as “National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month.”
Still as bad as the numbers are, Blacks seem to suffer the biggest burden. African Americans had a 51 percent higher prevalence of obesity compared to whites. Possibly even more shocking, most statistics show that over 35 percent of African Americans are obese.
Although many agree that there is a major health problem involving weight in America, some don’t subscribe to the notion of a raw-vegan lifestyle as the solution. One of these people is Sarah Pope, Nutrition Educator and Chapter Leader for the Weston A. Price Foundation. On her blog, healthyhomeeconomist.com, she argues that “a raw vegan diet is a diet which helps detoxify the body, not nourish the body.” As evidence, she cites that fat soluble activators A, D, and K2 can only be found in animal sources.
Even if you convert to Awadu’s raw-food vegan lifestyle, he still acknowledges that solving the obesity crisis isn’t an overnight process.When Keidi Awadu was asked to respond to Sarah Pope’s claims, he stated, “my first response to those who still project the ‘myth’ that we must consume meat and dairy to get whole nutrition, is to ask, ‘where did the cow get these nutrients from?’”
He urges his readers to “think of your health as an advanced graduate degree for which you are committing your entire life to achieve at its highest level.”
Visit Chef Awadu’s Website for more info or to purchase the book.