CoronaVirus, African Americans and the Obesity Epidemic equals DEATH?

April 7, 2020
Atlanta, GA

It's NOT funny. There is nothing to smile about!

https://www.thebody.com/article/african-americans-and-the-coronavirus-pandemic

"Today 1,736 individuals in the US died from Coronavirus. As of this date, it is the day with the  biggest death toll on a single day in the USA. Even more disturbing is this new statistic: Black Americans face alarming rates of coronavirus and are more likley to die from COVID-19"

Why?

I spent much of today sharing my data on the African -American and obesity and the comorbid disorders of high blood pressure and diabetes.

You might be surprised that there is a dearth of information on these statistics. 

• African-American have the highest rate of obesity in the world
• African-American women are heavier than African-American men
• Therefore, African-American woman are the most obese group of people in the world

So how did this happen?

The big 3 weight loss programs do not provide data where race is identified for their clients, nor do any of them know their clients personally.  They also do not collect data on comorbid medical challenges.  Note the following:

"80-90% of all  clients participating in the big 3 weight loss programs are White (European descent)"

• Weight Watcher's (started May 15, 1963),  
• Nutri-System, (started 1972) 
• Jenny Craig (started  in Melborne, Australia, 1983)

Approximately 80-90%  the aforementioned  client base is female, although recent marketing directed at men and may have pushed this # higher 

There is no nationwide weight loss program that serves the majority African Americans. Weight loss that is targetted to African-Americans typically takes a fitness approach with very little time spent on nutrition or the emotional components.

Some of the recent headlines read as follows:

Why racial data on coronavirus testing and deaths in needed

https://news.yahoo.com/why-racial-data-coronavirus-testing-125109956.html

The coronavirus is infecting and killing black Americans at an alarmingly high rate

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/04/07/coronavirus-is-infecting-killing-black-americans-an-alarmingly-high-rate-post-analysis-shows/?arc404=true

Coronavirus, a black plague: Early evidence is that the pandemic is hitting African Americans especially hard

https://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ny-oped-coronavirus-a-black-plague-20200407-sho64w6jhrc7fco5exyntrvnmu-story.html?yptr=yahoo

So what do we do and what do we know?

 We will do the following:

• Sponsor a series of brief, 15 minute videos on every aspect of the African-American and the obesity epidemic

• Facilitate on-line focus groups, consisting of current and prior successful enrollees, to share their experience with their weight loss journey. We want them to share what they learned about why African Americans are dispositionally obese (defined as 30 lbs or more over ones' healthy goal weight)
• We will freely share this information on a social media platform and with the medical community

MISSION: As the co-author of Serenity and through participants of the program, many whom are schools superintendents, teachers, social workers, administrators, and principals collectively are in a very unique position to shed light on not only why the obesity problem is more prevalent in the African American community but also help the medial establishment understand what to do about it.

It is our hope that this transparency, by way of sharing our success stories, as well as some of our pain and fears about  our own diagnoses with diabetes and high blood pressure  will help protect African Americans from this deadly pandemic.   We hope it will ignite a turnaround in a way that no other program can have released 30, 40, 50, 72, lbs or more and have near-miraculous healing of diabetes and high blood pressure.

Please follow my FB page below for video posts and schedules for focus groups that will be taped live on the zoom platform.

Michelle Edmonds is a trained counseling psychologist, earning a double master's degree and the ED.D program all at  Columbia University. She is a Life and Wellness Coach and the co-founder of the Serenity Weightloss and Detoxification Program. The program was founded in 1992, in Hempstead, NY. To date, over 15,000 clients have been served, however she states that they stopped counting in 2009. 

The program teaches the PALEO lifestyle, internal detoxification and the use of liquid nutrition to restore the body and rebuild the immune system. Ms. Edmonds is a frequent blogger, educator, and lecturer to women's groups. Additionally, she has served as a consultant to medical students on the African American and the Obesity Epidemic in Atlanta and has facilitated symposiums on the subject.

You may contact her on her website at www.serenityweightlossanddetoxificationprogram.com or follow her at FB/Serenityweightloss

Relate info, click on this video