black vegans get no love

So...since January of this year I have been eating a diet of raw veggies, fruits, nuts and grains. I do have my days of backsliding, ( I love greens and cornbread) but I dust myself off and keep going. It started as a 30 day raw food challenge that I joined on the Health and Wellness forums on http://www.nappturality.com/ and I stuck with it. I never realized how much food affects how you feel. I've noticed a drastic improvement in my health. I have loads of energy, and I don't need as much sleep as I used too, my skin is very clear and glowing , my teeth and the whites of my eyes are whiter.

Another thing that I have found interesting since I've went raw is the reaction from the people around me. I hardly tell anyone about my diet, but some of the people that know are cool with it..others act like I've told them I'm from the planet Mars or something. I think they feel like they need to explain to me why they don't try to eat healthy foods. One guy told me that even though he has put on weight ( he eats a LOT of fast food) and feels tired all the time he couldn't eat a raw vegan diet because he likes to eat and he wants to feel full. Well, hell.. so do I. But does the food you eat taste so good that you would risk your health for it?

I have a friend that is from France and she was telling me about the first time she visited America. She said when she got off the plane and she was in the airport she was amazed at all of the obese people that she saw. She said she has never seen people as big as when she visited here. And she's right, we're so fat and unhealthy here it's ridiculous. And it seems in the black community it's attractive to be overweight. Being ' Big-boned" or "Thick" is the norm. Especially in a city that I hold so dear to my heart..Detroit, Michigan. ( Leave those coney islands and shrimp huts alone ya'll!) And it all starts from what we eat.. According to http://www.blackhealthcare.com/ , more than 30 million African-Americans have diabetes , and 1 in 4 black women over the age of 55 have it (women are more likely to get diabetes than men.) And don't let me get started on heart disease. But honestly, it has nothing to do with race..We ALL have to get ourselves (and our children) together.