I wasn't getting much response on the Yard so here
One of the major issues on HBCU campuses today is fitness. As a staff member at NCCU, we are really concerned with the amount of overweight women (and by default men) on our campuses.
A high-ranking female administrator once said "It seems like these young ladies don't care about their bodies. They act like it's cute to show their midriffs, even though it's often misshapen and jutting out. On top of this, they put belly rings in their navels to bring attention to it. Many of them have hips like a grown child-rearing woman. These women are going to deal with weight problems seven to eight years down the road."
Those were words from a prominent woman on campus, and many of the staff and faculty feel the same way. Sometimes, I believe that we as a people give too many excuses for why we can be fat or obese, and not enough for why we should try to remain fit.
We've heard about black and latino women having different body types, from other types of women. I can't argue with that, but the difference might be the chicken/hamburgers we're eating every other day. It is ironic that just last week, we had many people on this board condemning smoking, saying it leads to emphysema, heart disease and lung cancer; yet we as a community ignore overeating which can lead to ulcers, diabetes, hypertension, and high cholesterol.
i agree w/ u all. i'm an RA @ MSU and when the freshman came in over the summer for orientation and stuff, me and my girls were like . sum of them girls were huge, lookin like 30 yr old mammys and what not (lol, well,maybe not 30). its definitely a problem. this semester i even started taking my fat **** to the gym, but morgan's gym succs! we dont even have a treadmill. what kinda gym does not have a treadmill?? :roll:
i really dont know what to say :? im kinda in a split opinion because i have a belly ring and yes sometimes my stomach does show. ontop of that im athletic i do work out/run. obesity is not hereditary for me. matter of fact i got the skinny-ish gene wit the long legs from my dads side. i may eat lots of cheese burgers and what not but i also eat my yogurt and i love salad. i just eat alot my metabolism burns faster than i can eat.
i guess now that i think about it i see where your coming from. it might have been that ladies comment and what not i dont know
I agree with all of you, but I still don't see any suggestions as to HOW we are to correct this problem, only reasons why we are generally overweight and almost seem to promote obesity. I myself feel that it is important that the main source of the student diet promote healthy eating. I'll give it to A&T (since I don't know about other schools) on somewhat giving it a shot. The salad bar in our cafeteria is placed closer to the seating area than the regular service line. There are also people back there to help you with other items at the service bar. We also offer take home containers for salads. However, this still doesn't get the job done. Its is not enough to simply promote that the food is out there, the mentality has to change as well. As long as we are willing to accept obesity as being "okay" and as long as there is a large constituency of people that accept it as being attractive, then we're going to have problems. If we don't also include the fact that obesity is unhealthy as well, then we'll still have the problem. Are there enough facilites in or around campus for students to work out? A&T has two facilities as well as a YMCA within walking distance of campus, however none of them are promoted. I got a whole lot more to say, but my train of thought just got derailed... :?
i agree.like u, i dont see any solutions to correcting the problem at hand.i mean u could put healthier foods in the cafe but people still wont change their whole lifestyles.people have to want to change because of their health.its all up to the person and their choice.
But you don't have to change your entire lifestyle just to lose wait. Its only a matter of changing your eating habits and other habits that are directly related to eating. For instance, A&T and North Carolina Central are notoriously hilly campuses. Why not walk to class instead of riding a shuttle? In addition, many of our buildings have elevators. Why not take the stairs instead of getting on the elevator (which is actually a longer wait in most cases here at A&T). See? Its not a very big change. You don't have to do much, but making more of an effort in the smallest of cases will make big differences later on.However, no one advocates this because we spent so much money on trying to get these things in the first place. This means that prominent students that most other students will listen to will have to step up and advocate these kinda of changes.
i think that for a lot of people, solutions won't be thought up or changes made until it's pretty much too late. it's hard to try to get people to change their lifestyles when the food that is so bad for us tastes so good. i think having showings for movies like "supersize me" where the inner workings are exposed could be an eye opener for people. it's just a touchy subject. americans really don't like to be burdened with things like eating healthy and exercising because, like someone said, they just take up time we feel we don't have (even though we do).
that's what i'm saying. for a lot of people it'll take that trip to the doctor and for some that won't even do it. i have a younger cousin who's overweight and i would bet that my auntie has been told before that she needs to watch her weight but she still lets her eat whatever she wants. of course kids are a whole other story, but adults don't always listen to the doctor for themselves.
I dunno. I think people on Howards campus are pretty body concious. We just got our gym refurbished and as soon as I get back on campus, Im hitting it up.
Basically, the Yard at Howard is a big runway, and as soon as it gets warmer mad chicks are gonna be competeing the be the "flyest" ie, the most half ****. Cant do that if u been pigging out in the Punch Out all year.
. sum of them girls were huge, lookin like 30 yr old mammys and what not (lol, well,maybe not 30). its definitely a problem. this semester i even started taking my fat **** to the gym, but morgan's gym succs! we dont even have a treadmill. what kinda gym does not have a treadmill?? :roll: 
