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Black & White Burdens

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Both black and white people are burdened; not just in America, but in the world. Before 2020, I never thought about history’s role in everyday life. When the protesting began, there was a lot of commentary about racism in America. One comment would lead to an article that would lead to a YouTube video. Before long, thanks to YouTube alerts and recommendations, I was watching many scholars, who have spent their lives researching and becoming experts in their respective fields, talk about various topics related to historical events including: Africans “discovering” the Americas & Caribbean, the psychological impact of slavery, and the use of science to legitimize racist beliefs (see links to a few other resources on racism at end of post).

This was all new information for me and the exposure to all of this new information altered my view of society as a whole. Each of us live individual lives. The individual lives we live collectively make up society. Thus, it would appear that our societal woes are only reflective of the manner in which we live our daily individual lives. Consequently, fighting against the “system” would then appear to be simply theoretical because the “system” is not making the decisions; each of us in our daily lives make the decisions.

Food for thought. . .

The corporation has a policy that no blacks can be hired. The corporation is an entity that only functions if individuals participate in it. If no non-founding individual works for that corporation, the corporation cannot thrive beyond a very limited capacity. Further, if no individual buys any of the products or services offered by that corporation, then the corporation cannot thrive or meaningfully compete with other corporations.

The problem in the scenario is the assumption that the “no blacks” policy is known. If the policy is unspoken and unwritten, then the corporation will thrive despite its hidden policy because individuals will work for and with the corporation and individuals will buy products and services from the corporation. Further complicating matters is that it may not be the “corporation’s policy,” but, instead, it may be that the person in charge of hiring has had bad experiences with black people in the past and decided long ago that no black person can be trusted. Thus, for each black candidate that applies, he or she can point to a “valid” reason or concern as to why the person does not qualify for the advertised job opening or would not fit in the corporate culture. Let’s say that person started as a temporary HR employee, was put through school by the corporation, has been with the corporation for 15 years and is now the Director of HR for all of the corporate offices overseeing and approving all the hiring. In his/her 15-year term, there have been 2,000 black applicants and about 20 were special enough, or came highly recommended by a white person he/she trusted, to be hired. The presence of the 20 black employees will likely absolve the corporation and HR Director from any accusations of racism or racist hiring practices especially with the documented “valid” reasons for the other 1,980 black applicants. Another element is compensation; the 20 black employees are the least paid in their respective departments. Some did not negotiate an increase during the interview because they were afraid to lose the job opportunity. Others tried to negotiation and were pacified by an acknowledgment of a 90-day review. A few overqualified or highly recommended candidates were successful in negotiating an increase and because of that, they did not receive meaningful increases during their following two annual reviews when compared to the increases of their white counterparts in the same department for the same work. Most people would say that the under-compensated black employees should quit and seek a job elsewhere.

There are two considerations with the quit and find another job elsewhere. The first consideration is that it is highly taboo in most corporate cultures to discuss compensation and most people do not. Thus, the only person privy to the unequal compensation is the HR Director who receives the performance reviews from the respective department supervisors and recommends a salary increase to the bigger bosses based on the review and corporation’s budget. HR Director advises the supervisors that no employee can receive a perfect score and that all reviews must include areas in which the employee can improve. This allows the HR Director to have justification for his decisions as to which employee gets which increase. The bigger bosses usually just agree with the recommendations as long as the total of the annual increases does not consume over 20% of the corporation’s annual profits.

The next consideration is that the black employee who quits may end up in a similar or worse situation at another corporation. For the black employee, the likelihood of finding a corporation that practices fair and equal compensation for equal work regardless of race is slim to none. Why? Because all of the companies located in the black employee’s city have the same overall makeup – all of the managers, supervisors, and decision-makers are white as well as most of the employees. Thus, for the black employee it is a risky gamble to leave a job in which he/she may like but for the “feeling” of being under-compensated; he/she may find that he/she jumped from the pan into the fire at his/her new job.

We all live burdened individual lives; as a result, society can feel like a burden. It appears that white people’s burden is maintaining a cloak of justification even in the face of seemingly obvious atrocities which is often acknowledged as an isolated mistake that should be move passed. Likewise, it appears that black people’s burden is learning the hard way which incorporates the expectation of practicing forgiveness and often culminates in only one viable option: “put up and shut up.”

However, the real burdens that weigh us as individuals down and society as a whole down may be: (1) the lies that we tell ourselves on the days that truth matters the most; (2) our unwillingness to take responsibility for our own prejudices, biases, and ill-actions against other individuals; and (3) the impact of our failure to do the hard work of loving ourselves without limitation or conditions.

If you were living the life that someone else is living and had the experiences that the person had, would you really be all that different from how the person is? Those who truly love themselves without limitation or conditions will look upon another and see the same beauty that he/she sees in himself or herself within that other human being. When each person on this planet is able to see another person as a possible reflection of himself/herself and treat that person as he/she would like to be treated, then society will be just and unburdened.

Bottom Line: In our individual lives, we should not judge groups of people based on our interactions with a few, other’s interactions with a few, or news clippings; each person should be treated as an individual and given a chance to show who he/she is before being condemned, judged or categorized – treat others how you would like yourself, your daughter, or your son to be treated by someone else.

Resources on Racism

  • I Am Not Your Negro, Documentary Film, Director: Raoul Peck, 2017, 94 min // watched on Prime Video
  • Remastered The Two Killings of Sam Cooke A Sam Cooke Story, Documentary Film, Director: Kelly Duane de la Vega, 2019, 1 hr, 14 min // watched on Netflix
  • Strong Island Documentary Film, Director: Yance Ford, 2017, 1 hr, 47 min // watched on Netflix
  • LA 92 Documentary Film, Directors: Daniel Lindsay, T.J. Martin, 2017, 1 hr, 54 min // watched on Netflix
  • Muhammad Ali, Wake Up And Apologize (1972), Interview // https://youtu.be/J8ZWZzt0bkQ
  • Muhammad Ali, Dropping Knowledge (1974), Interview // https://youtu.be/UQmv8nNY8yc
  • A Former Baltimore Cop Explains Why the Department Targets Black Men, Interview // https://youtu.be/4HyKlFUMBiA
  • What does it mean to be white in a society that proclaims race meaningless…, Presentation // https://youtu.be/_A-pZH-S4jk
  • Joy DeGruy Leary: Post Traumatic Slave Disorder, Presentation // https://youtu.be/BGjSday7f_8
  • White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Nation’s Divide, Presentation // https://youtu.be/YBYUET24K1c
  • Human Zoos: America’s Forgotten History of Scientific Racism, Discovery Science Program // https://youtu.be/nY6Zrol5QEk
  • Black Before Columbus Came: The African Discovery of America | Odd Salon DISCOVERY 5/7, Presentation // https://youtu.be/K-FG2oWl-2k
  • The REAL UNTOLD History Of Jamaica And Jamaicans, Presentation // https://youtu.be/rQ0XnhjGA9Y

Low-Carb Diet: A Closer Look

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When the scale isn’t moving or is moving in the wrong direction for those who want to lose weight, the only option is to try a new strategy. If you ask most people, the best strategy for weight loss is to “cut carbs.” I think it may be fundamentally accepted among dieters that “carbs are bad.” However, carbohydrates are essential to the body’s functionality with its main use being an unrivaled energy source. In fact, eliminating carbs from the diet for a long period of time may prove dangerous and would definitely be ill-advised.

In a 2005 article on webmd.com, it was concluded that participants in a short-term study lost weight from cutting carbs simply because of the loss in calories; they ate less calories by cutting carbs which resulted in weight loss. Back to the old numbers game: weight loss will result from eating less calories or increasing the number of calories burned during the day and doing both will undoubtedly speed up the process. According to the article, the lead researcher was surprised to find that the participants did not try to make up for the lost carbs by eating more of other foods; instead, the participants seemed satisfied with the diet as there were no hunger complaints. Because of that outcome, he states: ‘That told me that it was the carbs that fueled their excessive appetites in the first place. In my opinion, carbohydrates do stimulate appetite.’ Nevertheless, he concluded that: “there is no convincing evidence that low-carb diets are easier to stay on or help people lose more weight than other approaches to weight loss.”

That conclusion was challenged by the comparison of “23 Studies on Low-Carb and Low-Fat Diets” which is a 2017 article on healthline.com. Almost all of the studies proved that low-carb diets result in greater and faster weight loss than low-fat diets. Likewise, in most of the studies, the low-carb diet had measurable improvements to blood triglycerides and HDL cholesterol. In other words, low-carb diets showed greater improvements to blood sugar and cholesterol levels.

Low-carb diets are not celebrated by everyone. According to a 2018 article on psychologytoday.com, researchers at two top universities (Harvard and Minnesota) warned that a low-carb diet may cause an early death. The author of the article took issue with many things about the study including its method, missing data, and lack of explanations. The author’s overall concern seemed to be the “potentially far-reaching implications for public health [because] . . . people will take this study at face value.”

To Low-Carb Diet or Not to Low-Carb Diet? That is the question within thy frontal lobe.

In the opinion of a person who took an intro to medicine class in 2002 (Go Knights!), all three articles appear to have merit. Cutting calories via a low-carb diet will most likely result in weight loss especially if carbs do increase appetite which, from personal experience, I suspect to be true. Cutting carbs on a short-term diet seems to be easier to maintain than measuring out foods for each meal – you basically know what you can and can’t eat v. trying to eyeball a proper serving size. Assuming the person has a strong will, the short-term low-carb diet would likely yield a higher compliance rate than calorie counting or portion control because cheating is more obvious when you eat something that you are not supposed to eat v. guesstimating the correct portion size on your plate. In addition, a low-carb diet seems less of a hassle and would likely be easier to adhere to while eating out.

Lastly, I understand how a long-term low-carb diet may lead to an earlier death than other diets because some people replace the carbs with very fatty meats for breakfast, lunch, snack, and dinner. I suspect that, in the studies with decreased cholesterol levels from the low-carb diet, the participants were consuming mostly (if not all) lean meats, poultry, and fish and that they were prepared in a healthy way most of the time. I do not believe that a low-carb diet is license to eat 5 strips of bacon for breakfast each morning, a porterhouse steak for lunch each day, and fried chicken (naked) for dinner each night. In the end, unhealthy eating is unhealthy eating regardless of the diet you choose. Even on a low-carb diet, balance should be the goal.

For a list of low-carb foods, click here (also referenced below).

Sources:

Boyles, Salynn, WebMD, March 14, 2005, “Why Do Low-Carb Diets Cause Weight Loss?” https://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20050314/why-do-low-carb-diets-cause-weight-loss#2

Ede, Georgia, MD, Psychology Today, Sep 05, 2018, “Latest Low-Carb Study: All Politics, No Science”
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/diagnosis-diet/201809/latest-low-carb-study-all-politics-no-science

Gunnars, Kris, BSc, Healthline, June 22, 2017, “23 Studies on Low-Carb and Low-Fat Diets — Time to Retire The Fad,” https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/23-studies-on-low-carb-and-low-fat-diets#section4

Gunnars, Kris, BSc, Healthline, July 9, 2018, “44 Healthy Low-Carb Foods That Taste Incredible”
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/44-healthy-low-carb-foods

Room for Improvement

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“There’s always room for improvement.” It is a phrase that is usually taken as a form of criticism because it tends to be preceded by a high praise or recognition. For example, when a supervisor states that an employee is the best at his or her job, a manager may follow that praise with “there is always room for improvement” which has the immediate impact of lessening the significance of the initial praise and placing doubt on the employee’s worthiness.

However, let’s examine the phrase. Is it a negative, positive, or neutral phrase that may be negative or positive depending on the circumstances?

I propose that it is a positive phrase that should not be taken as demeaning or offensive when expressed. The phrase acknowledges by implication that there is an ability to improve which is a positive. The phrase should inspire because it inherently presents a challenge for the individual to rise to greater heights than his/her current state. The phrase provides permission for you to try something different because what you’ve been doing brought you to your current state of being and something new may be necessary to advance your current circumstances. The phrase presents an opportunity for introspection — are you doing the best you can possibly do? The phrase is empowering because by implication it allows for expansion of self that can only be attained from thinking outside of the box from which you currently operate.

It’s 2020, what areas of your life could benefit from a little improvement? It is never too soon, too late, or too expensive to invest in improving yourself and your outlook on life. Be 20/20 inside and out so that you can realize your future and claim your destiny.

Disclaimer: This post is not intended to encourage or condone the overuse and/or misuse of the phrase in performance reviews to curtail the percentage of a salary increase that an employee may have earned during the 12-month period. Give the guy or girl what he or she truly deserves in that performance review! ?

Craving, Craving, Go Away and Don’t Come Back Another Day!

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If only we could just banish our cravings; I presume that the world would be a much healthier place. The truth is that the overpowering impulse that is brought on by a sudden craving is a wondrous event. We could explore the science of it all, but that really doesn’t matter. The bottom line is that cravings exist and we can either fight against them or embrace them.

Why go through this world unsatisfied? Food is one of the most enjoyable things on the planet. It is everywhere and most of the time it is absolutely delicious (bye Okra!). So, the THA rule is: “if you want it, go and get it, but don’t overindulge.” That rule goes for any food item that you crave; whether it’s considered junk or a healthy citrus fruit.

I believe that the average individual has all the digestive juices necessary to break down an ounce or two of any food item and an ounce or two will likely satisfy any craving. So, absent a medical or physical condition that restricts your diet, you should proceed to the nearest vending machine or grocery store to satisfy your craving. The caveat, of course, is that you choose the healthiest option available, you stick to one to two ounces, and you don’t eat it again until you are truly craving it.

The craving is easy to overcome, but controlling overindulgence is the hard part. That part takes determination, hard work, and persistence. However, in the meantime, don’t make the mistake of condemning cravings because they are a natural part of life.

Feelings: Separating Thirst from Hunger

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When I am preoccupied with a long and tedious project, I tend to eat more than when I am doing something much more interesting and enjoyable. The feeling of hunger may come as a result of boredom, but it is important that one distinguishes hunger from thirst; it has been my experience that, in times of boredom, thirst will misrepresent itself as hunger so that I am forced to do something more enjoyable – like eat!

According to Livestrong, true hunger is not sudden; hunger gradually occurs over the span of three to four hours. So, if it has been less than three hours since you ate to the point of satisfaction, then you are most likely not hungry. It should be noted that, when you are truly hungry, any food will satisfy you. Sudden feelings of hunger, on the other hand, tend to be associated with cravings. So, if you suddenly feel for chocolate or for something sweet, you are probably just having a craving for the food item or the desired taste and not really hungry. Regardless, cravings should not be ignored; search this website for the post called “Craving, Craving, Go Away and Don’t Come Back Another Day!” for more information.

Thirst, on the other hand, is a little more deceptive. By the time you feel thirsty, you may be close to dehydration. Instead of waiting to feel thirsty, you should make it a habit to just drink water regular throughout the day, but not with your meal; search this website for the post called “Warning: Avoid Water with Meal” for more information.

The reason for the body’s confusion as to thirst and hunger may stem from the brain’s commingled responsibilities – the same part of the brain is responsible for interpreting hunger and thirst. Stay one step ahead by choosing thirst over hunger. In other words, whenever you feel hungry within the four hour window after a meal, opt for water instead of food. If the water satisfies your hunger, then you know that you were really thirsty and not hungry; if, however, after 10 minutes, you are still feeling hungry, then you should eat your next meal.

The other consideration is your meal size. If you are not eating until you feel satisfied (not to be confused with stuffed), then you will likely feel hungry before the end of the three to four hour window. You should still opt for water first as noted above, but, if you are consistently hungry before the three to four hour window, you may want to increase your meal sizes. Search this website for the post called “Feelings: Food Satisfaction Level” for more information.