Dallas South Fitness

Here’s a post written by Mathis at our sports site. Don’t forget about Dallas South Sports, we’re always looking for contributors if anyone one would like to blog about sports. Thanks Mathis for this excellent perspective.

I have lived in South Oak Cliff for the last two and a half years. My wife and I previously lived in North Dallas. As you can imagine, several things are different between the two locales. The cost of houses, the places of worship, the places to shop, the bars and the golf courses immediately come to mind. There is another difference between the two that I would have never suspected – places to eat, specifically healthy places to eat, and places to exercise.

Healthy places to eat, parks, jogging trails, fitness centers and gyms are not easy to find in South Oak Cliff. They are not as near as prevalant as North Dallas, M Street area or Uptown. Why is that the case? What are the effects? Look at these statistics:

Many obesity-related diseases including diabetes, hypertension, cancer and heart disease are found in higher rates among various members of racial-ethnic minorities compared with whites.

• Diabetes has been reported to occur at a rate of 16 to 26 percent in Hispanic Americans and black Americans, aged 45 to 74, compared with 12 percent in whites (non-Hispanic) of the same age.
• Obesity appears to contribute to the higher risk of pancreatic cancer among black Americans than among whites, particularly for women.
• Among African Americans, the high prevalence of obesity and obesity-related conditions such as hypertension and type 2 diabetes, are factors reported to contribute to their high death rate from coronary heart disease.
• The high prevalence of obesity is reported to be a contributing factor to the high prevalence of hypertension in minority populations, especially among African Americans who have an earlier onset and run a more severe course of hypertension.
• Cultural factors related to dietary choices, physical activity, and acceptance of excess weight among African Americans and other racial-ethnic groups, appear to play a role in interfering with weight loss efforts.
• African Americans and whites report that they exercise less as they get older, however, African American women of all ages report participating in less regular exercise than white women.
• African American men, age 45 and older, report less regular exercise than white women.

http://obesity1.tempdomainname.com/subs/fastfacts/Obesity_Minority_Pop.shtml

The health concerns with being obese and overweight are reason alone to try to be healthy. But looking a certain way creates self-esteem and evokes pride. What’s not to like about looking healthy and fit in a suit, dress or even a swimsuit. And I want to be clear, I am not talking about being model-skinny, like you find on magazine covers or on America’s Next Top Model. I am talking about looking and feeling a way that cultivate a sense of pride and air of confidence.

What can be done? I think we have to start eating at home much more often. And when we do, we have to make some sensible choices. We have to sacrifice preference and our culture tastes (fried, pork or salty) in lieu of nutrition and eating well-balanced meals. We have to install proper diet habits in our kids. We have to make time to exercise and make exercise a part of our culture. There are a few parks in South Dallas, and we need them packed with people running, walking, doing jazzerize and playing a sport. We have to treat our bodies as the temples God has bless us with.

When it comes to eating right and exercising, there is no “I’ll start tomorrow.” ~V.L. Allineare