It’s finally November, marking the beginning of a two-month long rolling out of traditional meals. Holidays are times when Black families come together to fellowship over meals made by “Mama”; however, those meals are usually slow-ticking time bombs. Black women, the beholder of a great deal of mental recipe books, have no idea that those recipes are life-threatening.
Being so, women also have a track record history for having cardiovascular issues.
Mama’s Kitchen
Mama’s holiday kitchen— vintage casserole dishes bubbling over with mac & cheese, ham sweating honey, adorned with a few pineapple rings with cherries in the centers. Sugar and butter melts over the infamous candied yam while sheets of homemade caramel layer over pound cakes. Dressing(not stuffing) steams from under tin foil—cranberry sauce sweating next to the gravy. Does your mama, put little toasty marshmallows around the sweet potato pie too?
Sugar, salt and fat are three major contributing factors of the decline of heart health.
To Black Americans, this may seem to be a normal feast that makes the holidays, the holidays. However, the normal feast is quite the opposite of normal when it comes to heart health.
Apart from being mouth-watering and irresistible, there is a dark side to eating foods we celebrate the most.
How Is It Really Killing Us?
Here a few holiday foods we love; yet, the same foods who do not love us as much in return, according to Men’s Journal.
- Green Bean Casserole : made with heavy cream or cream of mushroom, along with fried onions makes this dish a liability.
- Mashed Potatoes : loaded with tons of butter, milk and cream makes this side disastrous to our cardiovascular systems.
- Macaroni and Cheese: the most entirely loved dish of all Black time – mac and cheese. Endless amounts of various cheeses, milk and elbow pasta. It is probably one of the most unhealthiest dishes on that day.
- Sweet Potato Casserole : a sweet delicacy of artery clogging ingredients such as fat from butter and cream. Also toppings such as marshmallows and brown sugar, all make this dish a no no.
Women
Women are preparers of these lavish meals and women to be victims of its negative effects over time.
According to Go Red For Women, there are some unsettling facts when it comes to heart health.
Cardiovascular disease kills more than 50,000 African American women by the year. Just 58% of African American women know the signs and symptoms of a heart attack. Only 1 in 5 women perceive themselves as being at risk.
Moreover, as women, we must be more cognitive of our diets, no matter what time of year it is!
Enjoy the holidays with caution!
