- Just ahead on Black Issues Forum, food and black culture go hand in hand, playing a bigger role than most care to admit.

But as we move through the different stages of our lives, the role of nutrition and food evolves, shaping our health, vitality and future.

We'll learn about those impacts and how to shape the future we desire.

Stay with us.

- [Announcer] Quality public television is made possible through the financial contributions of viewers like you who invite you to join them in supporting PBS NC.

[upbeat music] ♪ - Welcome to "Black Issues Forum".

I'm your host, Kenia Thompson.

Our bodies change at different stages of life and as a result, how we exercise and eat, play crucial roles in how we feel.

We know that food is more than just sustenance, for many, it's a celebration of culture, tradition and connection.

But as we navigate through the life over the years, our physical and nutritional approaches must adapt accordingly.

We'll talk about some of the myths we hold as truths when it comes to food.

But first, let's address our bodies.

I'm almost 41 and things are definitely changing.

They have been for a while now and our first guest is an expert in addressing those changes and helping others be their best physical selves.

Let's welcome to the show Marla Stroud, owner of Design by Fitness Club in Raleigh.

Welcome to the show.

- Thank you, thanks for having me.

- Of course, of course, so let's start.

Talk about Design by Fitness and what got you started into it and how does it make it different from other fitness?

- So it's By Design Fitness Club and it is a small group training studio.

I have been in fitness for over 20 years and when I first started I was doing large groups, boot camps.

A lot of people, you know, as you get older, I'm 40 getting ready to be 44.

- [Kenia] Yeah.

- And we just can't handle those high impact workouts any longer.

- [Kenia] Yes.

- Then I had some time, I just did personal training.

One-on-one, me and you, COVID hit.

And then it was kind of like, hey, we need a little bit of more connection with people.

So By Design Fitness does small group training.

And we still focus on your individual needs while having a good time and changing your body so that you are in better health.

- [Kenia] Nice, now you don't cater to just specifically one gender, men and women?

- [Marla] Yeah, men and women.

- [Kenia] Yeah, and so when you talk about small group training, we've got some B-roll playing, we see a lot of leg lifts.

And tell us about some of the exercises that you guys do in that small group training.

- Well, small group training, we try to focus on like your overall health.

So when you come in, we assess what you really need.

It might be flexibility, it could be you need to build strength, increase your cardiovascular.

Most people at age 40 and above, we need more strength training.

You need more weights, you need more resistance on your muscles to make everything nice and strong so that when you're 89 you don't fall and break your hip.

- Right.

- So we do like to focus on the strength component 'cause the cardio side you can go outside, take a walk, get some cardio, ride your bike with your kids, things like that.

- It's a little easier.

So let's talk about those different stages of life, right?

So we have young adults or children, young adults, teenagers, and then folks in our age around the forties and we've got 60 and up.

What are some of the different physical, I guess, things that we should be paying attention to during those various stages of ages?

- I would say children, right?

Kids age one to 21, really need an hour of activity a day.

You know, and it really translate to later what we need as well.

That's why they have PE every day at school because they need physical activity.

So we are just hoping our kids are not on too much electronic devices, you know?

- [Kenia] Yeah.

- So after age 21, you wanna wait.

Men especially wanna wait to do any strength training until their bones fully developed.

So then it's just staying active and playing sports and whatever have you.

As you get to age 30, you know, everybody's fully grown.

Now you can do more body weight activities.

More higher intensity 'cause you can handle it.

Get your heart rate up.

Depending on what your goals are, after 40, our bone density starts to decrease because that's like the magic number.

Things just change.

Your body shifts, like what we used to do in our twenties, we can't do those things to get back in shape any longer.

So strength training is the main focus I would say like after age 35 or so.

And that continues all throughout the rest of your life.

So whenever you start a fitness journey, it's not, hey, I just wanna get in shape for the summer.

It's like, hey, I wanna get in shape so I can be strong so that I don't like dislocate my shoulder or like hurt your knee while you're walking up the stairs.

So that's what it's for, and typically at age 40, 50, it's like you have to rehab from something that happens, something that hurts.

Now it hurts when I sit down at your desk all day.

So now you need to work on strengthening your back, all these things, but if you do that overall all the time and it's just part of what you do, you will prevent some of those aches and pains.

I get a lot of people, they're like, when I meet them it's like, hey, do you have any aches and pains?

Oh it's just normal.

I'm like, it is not normals, it's not normal for your knees to hurt, you know, if you didn't injure it doing something that's not a normal thing.

So let's address, like, the issue.

But moving on, I think, for the rest of your life, strength training is something that is needed.

Also cardiovascular, 'cause our heart is a muscle, so that's why they say, "If you're not doing anything, "just do 10,000 steps a day."

That ensures that we are are moving, so strength training in our middle age of life, 35 to until you can't remember what you're doing.

- Yeah, that's important.

Do you see variances or differences in Black versus other cultures?

I know that a lot of times we see our folks aging differently.

Do you see any differences in bone changes or growth in- - Well, yeah, right?

So Black, African American, we naturally have about 20 pounds of muscle mass more than any other race.

Caucasian is a little lighter.

Asian is even less.

So our muscle, we have more muscle than the average person, and that makes a difference.

So whenever you look at yourself on a chart, and it's like, hey, this is your age, weight, and height, it's not really fitting for us because our muscle mass is heavier.

So we could weigh a little more than the average person and be the same size, so I think that's how it makes a difference.

We African Americans have heavier muscle mass, so you wanna use it into your advantage and not disadvantage.

- Okay.

So how do you use it to your advantage, then?

- You utilize your muscles, you know what I mean?

You do your strength training, and the more strength training that you do, it burns more body fat at rest so you are able to see change a lot quicker.

as long as you're consistent.

- Now I know for myself, I'll get into spurts of wanting to work out, and when I do, I prioritize it, but then life gets in the way and I don't prioritize it anymore and then I've got 20 more pounds that now I have to lose.

What are some easy ways to prioritize working out so that it doesn't become a task and a chore and people actually wanna do it?

- You can hire a trainer and commit to it.

- What if you don't have the money to hire a trainer?

- So if you don't have the money to hire a trainer, you just wanna commit to at least 30 minutes of strength training three to four times a week.

So it could be something that now you can do things at home.

You can download an app online.

The issue with those things is it might not be meant for your body type so you have to make sure that you're finding the appropriate exercise program for yourself, you know?

If you can't do anything, I always say at the beginning, nutrition is key.

That's 80%, so if you are getting that part right and just moving, then you're steps ahead of the game.

But the strength training is the game changer, I say.

- So you said body type.

We have to know our body type.

How do we know what body type we are?

- Well, I mean, you kind of know if you are heavier around the middle section, that's gonna put you at higher risk for heart disease.

If your waistline is larger than your buns, that puts you at higher risk for heart disease.

If you have more weight in your lower area like me, that doesn't put me at high risk.

Where your weight is really matters, so based on your body type, those are the things that you're gonna do.

So I would say a person who is bigger in the middle needs to focus more on getting their body, everybody wants to focus on getting their body fat percentage down, but that makes a difference in the types of activities that you do.

- And at home, can we find ways to use our chairs or couches or walking up our stairs?

Like how do we, is there an easy way to incorporate exercise at home?

- Yeah, just stay moving.

I mean, you could just really just stay moving.

Instead of the world is so convenient and you can just DoorDash something or go to Target and pull up and pick up.

Go in the store and walk around and get your stuff.

You don't have to just sit in the car.

Not unless it's raining, but you know, even still, I think just moving on a day-to-day basis.

Do your yard work.

Wash your car.

Do your laundry.

Clean your house.

We might not have the time to do those things, but those are the things that's gonna help keep us in better shape because we're staying active.

- Yeah, so movement is key for sure.

When we think about that, though, you brought something up earlier.

Kids on their devices a lot, right?

I don't know the statistics, but I'm pretty sure just seeing forth my own kids and how I grew up versus how they're growing up, there's a lot of this.

There's a lot of sedentary device usage, even at school.

So what are some cool ways to get them to put those down and to actually get active?

- It depends on the parent.

A lot of times tech just keeps them occupied.

In our house, you don't have a device when you're in school.

You could go in the garage or go outside, but I think cool ways are make it a reward.

Maybe when they're in school, not even use it.

Maybe after dinner, take a walk with your kid, connect with them, you know?

I think doing activity as a family is helpful because if we want our kids to be active, the parent has to do the same thing.

The summertime is always great.

You can go to the pool together, but instead of us sitting on the side and watching them, get in and play, too.

So we are the example.

So they're gonna be exactly like what they see.

So I think it starts with us.

- [Host] That's true.

- Yeah.

- Now, I know that you focus on the small groups.

Do you focus on providing any, like, meal planning, and we'll talk about nutrition later on in the show, but do you, you said that eat food is 80% of the journey.

- Yeah, yeah.

- Do you help guide folks on what to eat and how to eat too?

- Yeah, for sure.

I'm not a nutritionist and I let people know that ahead of time, but my degree is exercise and sports science and nutrition is like a major thing.

So I definitely let people know, hey, I'm not a miracle worker.

80% is what you eat.

So I definitely give them a guideline.

- Yeah.

- Guideline of things that you should eat, things that are good for you and if you kind of pay attention to just like whole foods, like if it grows out of the ground or if there's, it's walking around, it has a heartbeat, like something whole food and not something that can sit on the shelf for 18 years and you can still eat it.

Focus on those things.

- Okay.

Now, you know, you have some folks who are overcoming health challenges and sometimes they say, you know, either muscles have atrophied or they don't have the capacity in their lungs or their heart's not working properly.

What are some good, easy first steps to just getting control back of your body?

- I think just starting somewhere.

- Yeah.

- Right, so if you are inactive and you are not moving, and then you want to, you aspire to be, you know, where you were in your 20s.

I say like, "Hey, can you walk a mile?"

And you're like, "No, I'm tired after a mile."

So if you can walk 10 minutes, start with 10 minutes, you know, every day, you know you can increase it a minute at a time.

Our bodies are so strong and they adapt very quickly, but you just have to be consistent and do it.

So you can start with little things.

So if you just, you're not doing anything and you know that you should be, you only can walk 15 minutes today, tomorrow you do 17, by next week you're at 20 minutes.

But it's something that you're consistently doing.

- Doing, yeah.

You know, in North Carolina, we're fortunate to have some beautiful landscapes, parks, and I think if we just simply step outside, we'll find that we feel better just by experiencing our outside environment.

- Yep.

- Share with folks where they can find you if they wanted to be able to come visit your fitness club, maybe join.

- Yeah, so my website is By Design Fitness Club.

You can Google me, you can find me on Instagram if you want to come and see some change and you are needing some strength training, you have any fitness goals and it's not just about weight loss, it's about building strength and feeling better.

- Yeah.

- And keeping your health risk low, come see us.

We're higher level trainers so that you are assured that you are in good hands and you won't get injured.

We wanna make sure that we help you feel better, is our main goal.

- Wonderful, thank you.

- Yep.

- Marla Stroud, Design By Fitness, thank you so much.

- [Marla] Yep, thank you.

- While North Carolina is home to many hospitals and medical providers, the outlook for black health isn't quite as hopeful as we think.

This week's Melanin Moment highlights some of the disparities.

[somber music] - [Narrator] North Carolina, a state rich in culture, history and natural beauty.

Home over to 2.2 million black residents and despite the vibrant spirit of our communities, disparities in healthcare and wellness persist.

Black adults in North Carolina are more likely to suffer from chronic conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, and obesity compared to their white counterparts.

While access to healthcare remains a challenge for many black North Carolinians, many experience mental health disparities and barriers to care contributing to lower rates of treatment seeking among black residents.

As we enjoy the beauty and diversity of North Carolina, let us also commit to supporting the health and wellbeing of all its residents, especially within the black community.

Together we can create a healthier, brighter future for North Carolina and beyond.

[funky music] - While it's evident that exercise plays a crucial role in our wellbeing, but equally important is the role of nutrition and nourishing our bodies to support our overall health.

To contribute to the nutritional side of our conversation, we welcome to the show Willande Unelus, Nutrition Therapist and dietician.

Welcome to the show.

- Thank you.

- So tell us a little bit about what a nutrition therapist is.

I don't know that I had heard that term before.

So what is that and what do you do specifically?

- So, nutrition therapist is basically a dietician, but also we focus on digging deeper into the history of health and wellness, your past history, how you are brought up eating, for people who are working on weight loss, weight management, it's more than deeper than like, I wanna lose the weight.

It's okay, what happened in your past?

So we were, it is a dietician, but also going deeper into how to get you where you wanna be when it comes to your health goals and wellness.

So it's more of a holistic way of seeing the person versus like, let's just, you know, give you a plan.

- Right.

- Let's just, you know, eat this, don't eat that.

So it's just seeing things in a more holistic way.

- And I love that because in the black community specifically, I mean studies show and I also believe that what we've grown up eating culturally, the experiences that we have with food ties very much into how we eat today.

So talk about how you've seen some of that.

I mean maybe food trauma, is that a thing, and how that presents itself in our inability to have good relationship with food.

- Yeah, definitely.

I know for me, I'm about 45 now.

And so I remember in our time we were raised to finish our food, right?

- Yes.

- We didn't have a choice to figure out okay, what kind of vegetables, what kind of foods we like.

- Right.

- So it's pretty much what you get is what you get and you better finish it.

- Yes.

- And so now a lot of people live with like, just the idea of like food is, they use food as like when they're going through emotional issues, it's a comfort thing versus seeing food as like something that kind of feeds us and nourish us and help us in just being human.

So food is used, it's becoming addictive.

We're seeing it differently.

And I think that the education is very important when it comes to what we teach our children about what food is.

- Yeah, I know growing up the food pyramid is what we always saw, right?

That triangle that divided all of the grains and the starches and the fruits, the vegetables, the milk, fish, all those things.

But things have changed since then.

And now we are using a MyPlate reference.

- Yeah.

- And so talk to us about MyPlate and why have we shifted to that and what does it mean?

- Yeah, so they used to use the food pyramid and now they switch to the MyPlate to make it more of a balanced portion to show people that it's not, like this is better, the different categories, it's more like, okay, let's see things as a, look at your plate, look at your meals.

When you're eating your meals, do you have your healthy fats?

You have your protein and fiber, fiber rich vegetables and some fruits.

And then they also have the side where you have the water and or dairy products.

So it's basically, instead of seeing things from bottom to up, it's more seeing it in a round, in a way, where is the plate is looking at having different things, but especially for people who are diabetics 'cause we tend to be a country that eats a lot of high carb foods.

And so half of our plate should be vegetables, higher in fiber.

- Right.

- And then we have protein, then we have some healthy fat.

So just seeing do we have these things, kind of get the body optimally versus oh, this is good, this is not good 'cause everyone's different and we have different stages of life where we need more or less of those things.

- Great transition, let's talk about those stages of life.

Children obviously need certain foods, just like we talked with Marla.

Different stages bring different approaches.

So share with us some of those approaches at those different stages.

- So for children, infants to elementary, children are growing rapidly.

So especially fat is very important for the brain.

Our brain is 60% fat.

And so a lot of us were taught to run away from fat.

But children, they thrive on that.

It is good for their thinking, their learning.

And so we definitely need not to like run away from that.

And then you have adolescents, exhibit for girls.

Girls who start menstruating, they need high iron, B complex, they need good Omega-3 fatty acids because we have the moods swings, even adults, right?

A lot of it's deficiency in our food.

And sometimes they don't know that because when you're menstruating, you lose blood, right?

And so you have to replenish every time.

And a lot of us don't know that that iron rich foods like dark meat, chocolate, the ones without the added sugar, of course.

'cause we can tend to we create that chocolate every month.

Well, the reason why is because we're missing iron.

- Oh, that makes sense, okay.

- Yeah and so then you have the boys, adolescent boys, they need a lot of calories, variety, fiber rich foods, carbohydrates, protein.

They need a lot of higher calories because they're rapidly growing again.

So we find that some school age kids are going to school without eating breakfast.

That's a no no, you have to feed your kids a balanced meal.

One thing I tell parents is basically discourage them from feeding kids cereal.

High sugar food is not gonna help the brain.

It's gonna spike up the blood sugar and bring the kid down.

So you have a lot of kids who will behave in a certain way who have mood swings.

And the reason why is because the food is low in fat and it's high in carbohydrate, which is the opposite of what, we should be doing more high fat for children.

- Yes, yes.

- So again, fat is very important.

Fiber rich food, it helps to slow down blood sugar.

So kids should be having an apple instead of apple juice, right?

Or a banana instead of like, you know what I mean?

So instead of cereal or if they do have the cereal, let's add some eggs with it or sausage with it.

Or let's add a high fat, like a yogurt, okay?

So stuff like that would really benefit children in the morning, especially for learning, so that they can stay up to par with what they're learning because children, they can learn, I have three boys and I'm very big on making sure that they have their breakfast, even if they're not hungry, they get used to it.

It's very, very important.

- Yeah, so now let's talk about that those teens to young adult ages and then probably 40 up.

- 40, yeah.

- [chuckles] Yes.

- So again, it's, you know, the portion balance.

So as you get older, even like women who are of childbearing age, like, you know, they leafy greens, vegetables are very important, and you still need to do, you know, the high fat because we protectively we need healthy fat, Omega-3.

Not all fats are created equal, of course, but things like avocados, fish, if you are a vegetarian, just finding things, the fat in those places that, you know, if you don't like to eat meat.

But meats are not actually bad for you as people think, it's how the animal was raised.

It's not, you know, people are like, "Oh, I don't like the dark meat."

But is it grassed or cow?

You know, like, or grain fed.

So a lot of it's just the education behind what we're taught that, oh, this is bad, this is good.

So a lot of people are suffering because they're missing out certain nutrients because they're just eating one type of food, and missing out, for example, like low fat milk versus full fat.

Well, if you buy organic, full fat is better than low fat because low fat is higher in sugar.

So a lot of kids are getting low fat milk, and they're gaining weight for that.

So it's like, let's do the organic, the regular milk may not be beneficial because of what they're feeding the animal.

But as you get older, is basically the higher fiber foods for your gut health.

Again, protein for muscle, you know, you wanna keep your muscles growing strong.

But I would say lower carbohydrates and grain, in the grain section, more beans and lentils.

But we gotta cut back on the added sugar, is a big, big problem.

So we tend to go towards the sugar- - Especially in the Black community [indistinct], yeah.

- Exactly, so it's cheaper packaged foods, all these things.

So if we can focus on the, you know, foods that grow on the ground, like Marlo was saying.

- Yes.

- Whole foods, again, the lemonade versus, you know, the fruit itself is, you know, fruits is always better than getting the drink sodas because those are like really high in sugar, like that just mess with your blood sugar and we don't want that.

- Yeah, just a few minutes left in the show, but a thought came to my head when you were talking, there's a lot of fad diets.

And we didn't quite discuss this beforehand, that things like Ozempic, and have been popular for people to lose weight.

Are those kinds of diets sustainable?

And what are your thoughts on creating sustainable meals in a couple of minutes [chuckles].

- Yeah, so I always discourage like the fat diets because again, everyone's an individual, and we need to look at things holistically.

So if someone is in Ozempic because they have diabetes, that's different.

But if you're gonna do it for weight loss, it doesn't work.

I used to work at a weight loss clinic, and I just feel bad for people because they will lose their weight, and they were miserable.

So it was something that I was like, "Man, you know, I'm so happy "that I didn't have to continue doing that."

There's other ways, a lot of the secret to weight loss, eat more vegetables, slowing calories full of nutrition.

Lower your, you know, carbohydrate intake because you know, carbohydrates, if it's excess, it's glucose that turn into sugar, fat.

So if you do less of it, fat doesn't make you fat, it's the sugar.

So if they can lower that, but I work with patients all the time, I said, we can do this the long way.

People want things fast.

We live in a society where things are fast, but it's slow and steady.

- Yeah, you're right, people want things immediately.

- Yeah, exactly.

- And then when you look at, and this is another conversation, but social imagery of what we're supposed to look like.

And I think a lot of targeting is happening within Black communities too, of appearing to be a certain way.

If folks wanted to reach out to you, get some guidance and information, how do they find you?

- Yes, I would say Google, me for IC Nutrition and Wellness, Check out my Instagram, my website is illuminateculturalnutrition.com.

Yeah, I have an office in Carrie, 140 Tower View Court and Carrie, so you can find me there as well.

- Beautiful, well, thank you so much, I know there's probably a lot more we could discuss, but I think it was very helpful for our viewers to understand, right?

Holistically how we lose weight in a healthy way.

- Yes.

- So thank you.

Willande Unelus, thank you so much.

- Thank you.

- Thank you.

And I thank you for watching.

If you want more content like this, we invite you to engage with us on Instagram using the #BlackIssuesForum.

You can also find our full episodes on pbsnc.org/blackissuesforum, and on the PBS video app.

I'm Kenya Thompson, I'll see you next time.

That was good, it went quick.

- It did.

- It always does.

[upbeat music] ♪ - [Announcer] Quality public television is made possible through the financial contributions of viewers like you who invite you to join them in supporting PBS NC.