How Culture, Norms, and Practices Contribute to Obesity among Hispanic Women

Reaching Out
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Reaching Out
Obesity continues to be a major issue in America. More and more Americans are becoming obese, which decreases their quality of life. Obesity is associated with various sicknesses like heart attack, stroke, and diabetes, which are a leading cause of death in the US. The problem of obesity is more prevalent among the minorities, and hence the diseases associated with it are more common among the groups. In order to identify how the problem has affected the minorities, an interview was done with a 45-year-old Hispanic male. His wife has high blood pressure, which is closely linked to her being overweight. This paper demonstrates the contribution of culture, norms, and practices to obesity among Hispanic women.
The interviewee indicated that the culture encourages women to be “curvy.” In this case, slim women are seen as less attractive, which makes a majority of the Hispanic women want to grow bigger. Body image is critical for women, and hence fulfilling societal expectations is critical to enhancing self-esteem. The interviewee demonstrated that because of the perception that being bigger is beautiful, most of the women in the community where he lives do not live healthy lifestyles. His wife, for instance, believes that the bigger she appears, the more appealing she looks. Such a perception has made her neglect physical exercise and consume unhealthy foods. The wife has hence developed obese related problems. For instance, she currently has blood pressure, something she did not have when she was healthy. At the same time, the interviewee indicated that their last born girl has become obese. The mother believes that the daughter should grow “big” so that she may look more beautiful. The wrong perception about beauty has been a significant contributor to obesity among women in the community.
The level of awareness among the Hispanic community regarding the dangers of obesity is low. The interviewee demonstrated little knowledge about the dangers of obesity. He did not believe that being obese was a major contributor to hypertension. The husband held that the cause of the high blood pressure could be attributed to another cause but not obesity. The major problem is that health promotion campaigns tend to be in English. Few healthy promoters care to translate their posters to Spanish. Hence, while materials are available demonstrating the dangers of obesity, most of them in the community are in English. The language barrier makes it challenging for people to understand the health promotion materials. This has increased instances of obesi...