Effects Of Culture On African Culture

Culture is defined as the knowledge, beliefs, customs, and habits a group of people share. Obesity has become a global epidemic. Obesity is an imbalance between energy intake and expenditure such that excess energy is stored in fat cells. Every culture has different eating habits, yet obesity can occur in all of them. Exercise and diet can help prevent obesity from occurring. Some cultures are more active than others and some cultures eat better than others. Obesity and diet/exercise go hand and hand because diet/exercise and help treat obesity. All you need to do is eat better and eat less while also being physically active. It’s honestly a lifestyle change. Every culture has their own problem with obesity, but I will be discussing four of …show more content…
While that still is the case for some Africans, other Africans are struggling with Obesity. Africans eating habits have changed drastically over time. They went from hardly eating anything when they were forcefully taken from their tribes to be bought and sold as slaves, to then eating two or three meals a day. Two meals a day are typical in West Africa, one in the morning and one in the evening. Snacking was very common; however, in the poorer tribes snacks would replace the morning meal. A large percentage of African Americans are determined to have poor diets. They consume lower intakes of dairy products and vegetables, but a higher intake of sodium. They are reported to have diets high in fat associated with high meat intake, fried foods, and fast food consumption. Overweight is a common problem for adult African Americans. Physical activity levels vary across African countries, but leisure time activity was consistently low (American Journal of Preventive Medicine). The current issue for Africans is fast food. It is cheap, convenient and something most Africans weren’t used to having around. Today more people in poorer countries go to bed having consumed too many calories than go to be hungry. Nearly two-thirds of the population is overweight. The cause for the pattern of obesity is an increased consumption of diets that are high in sugar, fat and salt. According to Professor Arne Astrup, another cause of obesity in Africans is due to increase urbanization. As jobs have moved out of rural areas and into cities, the health of many Africans has suffered. In rural communities, people were used to large amounts of physical labor and walking as well as an abundance of fruits and healthy grains to eat. In the cities, they encountered a new world of less energy-demanding jobs and plentiful supply of fried, cheap meats laden with trans fat. Africans