Author Robyn McGee asked me to post the below:
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Author and Speaker Robyn M. McGee Tackles Weighty Issues in her book
Hungry For MoreForeword by Joycelyn Elders, M.D, former U.S. Surgeon
General
December 2005If you are an African-American woman, chances are you are
considered to be fat. Statistics show 70% of black women are
classified as overweight or obese. Is this a result of the classifier
or the classified? In reality, it is both. Due to their genetic
makeup, very few adult, African-American women are able to wear a size
2, the image that the movies, music videos and magazines serves up as
the body type of the perfect woman. Though outwardly stylish and
confident, inwardly, many African American women feel as if their self-
image is under attack by the constant barrage of messages subliminally
reminding them they are not beautiful because they dont have
the correct body dimensions. Buying into this impossible standard
can be both mentally and emotionally draining-and dangerous. Robyn
McGee author and speaker knows first hand how damaging low self-esteem
combined with trying to live up to someone elses idea of beauty can
be.
My sister Cathy always loved a good party. The last time I saw her,
she was hosting a friends wedding McGee reveals. With her head
thrown back in laughter, Cathy held a champagne glass in hand and was
surrounded endless bottles of wine and enough food to feed ten armies.
Cathy was always self-conscious about her full bosom, wide hips and
thick legs, yet Cathy was a beautiful and accomplished black woman.
She was married with four children and she owned her own business.
Despite living what many consider the American dream Cathy was forever
dissatisfied with her looks. Her lifelong obsession with her weight
compelled her to indulge in the wrong foods, at the wrong times all for
the wrong reasons. Eventually, Cathy gained the one hundred pounds
over her ideal weight that qualified her for gastric bypass surgery.
Her desperate quest to be thin proved to be deadly. She died from an
infection four days after her operation. Cathy never made it back home.
As I look back, I realize that Cathys struggle was not with her
weight, but with feelings of inadequacy, declares McGee. If shed
understood that her perceptions were obscured by the societal norms and
popular culture, she would have appreciated the dimensions that God
gave black women and celebrated what she was rather than chasing
something she wasnt.
Today more and more African American men and women are seeking weight
loss surgery as a quick fix to a lifelong problem. It is estimated that
150,000 people had gastric bypass operations, in 2004 about 15% of
those patients were African Americans. Frustrated after a lifetime of
dieting disappointments, sick and tired of the teasing, the insults,
and in poor health, many folks rush headlong into this major surgery
without considering all the ramifications. In fact in October 2005,
NBC news reported that 1 in 200 people died within a year after having
weight loss surgery. This number is much higher than was previously
reported.
In Hungry for More: A Keeping-it-Real Guide for Black Women on Weight
and Body Image, author and speaker, Robyn McGee offers a holistic
approach to weight and health by addressing their social and cultural
implications. With foreword and praise by former U.S. Surgeon General,
Joycelyn Elders, M.D., Hungry for More is a straight-talking,
informative book that encourages readers to take control of their lives
and utilize practical ways they can combat obesity and an unhealthy
lifestyle. McGee believes that without self-love and self-acceptance
no diet or operation can be successful long-term.
Unless you change whats in your heart and mind, no amount of surgery
will make you feel whole. Without psychological change to go with your
physical change, you could risk gaining all of the weight back and
still be miserable, McGee said. Although she is not a medical doctor,
in Hungry for More, McGee suggests trying less drastic ways to lose
weight permanently before calling the weight loss surgeon. Weight
Watchers, Overeaters Anonymous, seeing a therapist for possible
depression, consulting a nutrition expert along with a commitment to
regular exercise, could offer the results overweight people desire
without the pain and risk of weight loss surgery, according to McGee.
Keeping her sisters memory at the forefront, McGees timely tome is
nonjudgmental, sympathetic and upfront in conveying to readers the
importance of honoring themselves by making healthy lifestyle choices,
being patient and diligent, seeking help when necessary and remembering
that they are much more than a dress size or the numbers on a scale.
Hungry for More: A Keeping-it-Real Guide for Black Women on Weight and
Body Image is due to be released in December 2005 by Seal Press, an
imprint of Avalon Publishing Group, Inc.
Advance Praise for Hungry for More:
"Hungry for More is deliciously informative, real satisfying food for
the soul, and a must read for all women."Josefina Lopez, Chicana
activist and author of Real Women Have Curves.
With the obesity epidemic among African-American women on the rise,
this book provides very valuable information for black women who want
to adopt a healthier lifestyle. Following much of the advice in this
book will lead to a higher quality of life. Alvin F. Poussaint, MD.
Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and Judge Baker
Childrens Center, Boston MA.
I promise this book will make you feel full. McGee dares to go where
few authors do into the heart, stomach and pulse of the African-
American female battle with hunger and weight. This is a personal and
urgent account of how women are destroying ourselves and how we can
turn the tide away from hunger and obesity into freedom and power.
Eve Ensler, Playwright.
This insightful book comes at a critical time: when more and more
women are dying to be thin. After losing her own sister to gastric
bypass surgery, Robyn McGee set out on a mission to get to the bottom
of Black womens with obsession with their weight. The result: A
fascinating read. This is a great book to give to your sister, your
mother, your best friend, and, even better, yourself. Pamela K.
Johnson, West Coast Editor, Essence Magazine.
About the Author
Robyn McGee is a longtime activist and womens rights advocate. She is
currently Director of Womens Resources at California State University,
Dominguez Hills, and she frequently lectures on womens issues and
popular culture. Her work has been published in Seventeen, The Black
World Today, and Fireweed Feminist Journal. She lives in Southern
California, with her daughter. For more information, visit
www.robynwrites.com.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Author and Speaker Robyn M. McGee Tackles Weighty Issues in her book
Hungry For MoreForeword by Joycelyn Elders, M.D, former U.S. Surgeon
General
December 2005If you are an African-American woman, chances are you are
considered to be fat. Statistics show 70% of black women are
classified as overweight or obese. Is this a result of the classifier
or the classified? In reality, it is both. Due to their genetic
makeup, very few adult, African-American women are able to wear a size
2, the image that the movies, music videos and magazines serves up as
the body type of the perfect woman. Though outwardly stylish and
confident, inwardly, many African American women feel as if their self-
image is under attack by the constant barrage of messages subliminally
reminding them they are not beautiful because they dont have
the correct body dimensions. Buying into this impossible standard
can be both mentally and emotionally draining-and dangerous. Robyn
McGee author and speaker knows first hand how damaging low self-esteem
combined with trying to live up to someone elses idea of beauty can
be.
My sister Cathy always loved a good party. The last time I saw her,
she was hosting a friends wedding McGee reveals. With her head
thrown back in laughter, Cathy held a champagne glass in hand and was
surrounded endless bottles of wine and enough food to feed ten armies.
Cathy was always self-conscious about her full bosom, wide hips and
thick legs, yet Cathy was a beautiful and accomplished black woman.
She was married with four children and she owned her own business.
Despite living what many consider the American dream Cathy was forever
dissatisfied with her looks. Her lifelong obsession with her weight
compelled her to indulge in the wrong foods, at the wrong times all for
the wrong reasons. Eventually, Cathy gained the one hundred pounds
over her ideal weight that qualified her for gastric bypass surgery.
Her desperate quest to be thin proved to be deadly. She died from an
infection four days after her operation. Cathy never made it back home.
As I look back, I realize that Cathys struggle was not with her
weight, but with feelings of inadequacy, declares McGee. If shed
understood that her perceptions were obscured by the societal norms and
popular culture, she would have appreciated the dimensions that God
gave black women and celebrated what she was rather than chasing
something she wasnt.
Today more and more African American men and women are seeking weight
loss surgery as a quick fix to a lifelong problem. It is estimated that
150,000 people had gastric bypass operations, in 2004 about 15% of
those patients were African Americans. Frustrated after a lifetime of
dieting disappointments, sick and tired of the teasing, the insults,
and in poor health, many folks rush headlong into this major surgery
without considering all the ramifications. In fact in October 2005,
NBC news reported that 1 in 200 people died within a year after having
weight loss surgery. This number is much higher than was previously
reported.
In Hungry for More: A Keeping-it-Real Guide for Black Women on Weight
and Body Image, author and speaker, Robyn McGee offers a holistic
approach to weight and health by addressing their social and cultural
implications. With foreword and praise by former U.S. Surgeon General,
Joycelyn Elders, M.D., Hungry for More is a straight-talking,
informative book that encourages readers to take control of their lives
and utilize practical ways they can combat obesity and an unhealthy
lifestyle. McGee believes that without self-love and self-acceptance
no diet or operation can be successful long-term.
Unless you change whats in your heart and mind, no amount of surgery
will make you feel whole. Without psychological change to go with your
physical change, you could risk gaining all of the weight back and
still be miserable, McGee said. Although she is not a medical doctor,
in Hungry for More, McGee suggests trying less drastic ways to lose
weight permanently before calling the weight loss surgeon. Weight
Watchers, Overeaters Anonymous, seeing a therapist for possible
depression, consulting a nutrition expert along with a commitment to
regular exercise, could offer the results overweight people desire
without the pain and risk of weight loss surgery, according to McGee.
Keeping her sisters memory at the forefront, McGees timely tome is
nonjudgmental, sympathetic and upfront in conveying to readers the
importance of honoring themselves by making healthy lifestyle choices,
being patient and diligent, seeking help when necessary and remembering
that they are much more than a dress size or the numbers on a scale.
Hungry for More: A Keeping-it-Real Guide for Black Women on Weight and
Body Image is due to be released in December 2005 by Seal Press, an
imprint of Avalon Publishing Group, Inc.
Advance Praise for Hungry for More:
"Hungry for More is deliciously informative, real satisfying food for
the soul, and a must read for all women."Josefina Lopez, Chicana
activist and author of Real Women Have Curves.
With the obesity epidemic among African-American women on the rise,
this book provides very valuable information for black women who want
to adopt a healthier lifestyle. Following much of the advice in this
book will lead to a higher quality of life. Alvin F. Poussaint, MD.
Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and Judge Baker
Childrens Center, Boston MA.
I promise this book will make you feel full. McGee dares to go where
few authors do into the heart, stomach and pulse of the African-
American female battle with hunger and weight. This is a personal and
urgent account of how women are destroying ourselves and how we can
turn the tide away from hunger and obesity into freedom and power.
Eve Ensler, Playwright.
This insightful book comes at a critical time: when more and more
women are dying to be thin. After losing her own sister to gastric
bypass surgery, Robyn McGee set out on a mission to get to the bottom
of Black womens with obsession with their weight. The result: A
fascinating read. This is a great book to give to your sister, your
mother, your best friend, and, even better, yourself. Pamela K.
Johnson, West Coast Editor, Essence Magazine.
About the Author
Robyn McGee is a longtime activist and womens rights advocate. She is
currently Director of Womens Resources at California State University,
Dominguez Hills, and she frequently lectures on womens issues and
popular culture. Her work has been published in Seventeen, The Black
World Today, and Fireweed Feminist Journal. She lives in Southern
California, with her daughter. For more information, visit
www.robynwrites.com.
