We spent last Saturday at the 3rd Tri-City 5k Walk/Health Fair in Raleigh, NC. When we found out the tagline was "Stepping for Diabetes," you know we had to accept the invitation! The event was impactful, but there was no shortage of work to be done. Kam and I spent the day running around connecting with attendees, prepping taste testers, performing food demonstrations, and making genuine connections with community partners. After a very long day, the only thing I wanted to do was relax. We finally made it home and I was scrolling through my timeline when I came across something interesting.
I found out the CDC recently released a study comparing Racial Disparities in Age-Specific Mortality Among Blacks or African Americans in the United States from 1999–2015 (image shown below). "Death rates from heart disease, cancer, diabetes mellitus and homicide have been increasing at earlier ages among blacks than among whites." That's right.. the results show that African Americans are STILL much more likely to die at earlier ages than their white counterparts... from all causes!
After leaving an event focused around educating and encouraging our community, I couldn't help but be a bit discouraged. "Life isn't fair," I whispered to myself. But I quickly remembered that these are the reasons why Full On Faith Nutrition was started! We are here to help bridge that gap. We are here to make sure you are informed. We want nothing more than to show you how to prepare healthy meals and highlight the ways food can impact your body. There are so many factors that affect our health (finances, unemployment, inactivity, safety, knowledge, etc.) but lets get a handle on the ones we can immediately control.
Life isn't fair... but is it worth it to keep fighting? ....Absolutely
Love,
Infographic courtesy of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention