If you’ve been following me on Twitter or Facebook, then you’ve heard me talking about operation muffin top. Operation Muffin Top is my quest towards a more toned physique before I go on vacation in September. I’ll settle for a 4 pack, but a 6 pack would be lovely on the beach in a bikini. Don’t laugh, a girl can dream can’t she?  Although I don’t have a goal weight, I do have a fitness goal. We should all have a fitness goal. Even those of you who think “Big Boned” is a medical term for carrying extra weight. And before you go looking at me like the lady at Lane Bryant did last Christmas when I was shopping for a gift for a friend, so called skinny girls can have lifestyle habits that jeopardize their health and fitness too. We all can do better when it comes to our health.

African Americans are predisposed to certain chronic health conditions such as cardiac disease, diabetes and high cholesterol. Some of which are driven by unhealthy and others can be heredity.  According to the Office of Minority Health, the death rate for African Americans was higher than Whites for heart diseases, stroke, cancer, asthma, influenza and pneumonia, diabetes, HIV/AIDS, and homicide.

• African American women were 10% less likely to have been diagnosed with breast cancer, however, they were 34% more likely to die from breast cancer, compared to non-Hispanic white women.
• African Americans were 2.2 times as likely as non-Hispanic Whites to die from diabetes.
• African American men were 30% more likely to die from heart disease, as compared to non-Hispanic white men.
• Although African Americans make up only 13% of the total U.S. population, they accounted for 49% of HIV/AIDS cases in 2007 and African American women were more than 20 times as likely to die from HIV/AIDS as non-Hispanic white women.
• African Americans had 2.3 times the infant mortality rate of non-Hispanic whites
• African American males are 60% more likely to die from a stroke than their White adult counterparts.

Visit the website for more information. http://minorityhealth.hhs.gov/templates/browse.aspx?lvl=2&lvlID=51

Join me in Operation Muffin Top
If you think I included those stats to scare you, you were right. We have got to do better and be an example for our children. I am not asking you to become the epitome of health overnight, it takes time. Start with baby steps. Here are a few things you can do to start thinking about health that take less than 10 min. Once you start thinking more healthy, you’ll begin to behave that way and develop healthy habits.  Remember, it's about small changes over time. Start with one or two things on this list, then see how many things you can do on this list everyday.

1. Do 15 sit-ups
2. Read the health news headlines of the day
3. Straighten your posture
4. Eat an apple
5. Stand up and stretch
6. Tell a friend about one of the health headlines you read
7. Cut out one of your sugary snacks
8. Do 10 lunges
9. Drink a glass of water
10. Smile
11. Put a package of oatmeal in your pocket or purse for a healthy breakfast or snack
12. Throw a bottle of water in there as well
13. Ask to have your salad dressing on the side
14. Open a window
15. Take a deep breath
16. Wake up 10 minutes earlier
17. Share a healthy recipe
18. Wash your hands
19. Check your blood pressure
20. Jog in place for 9 minutes
21. Take a canvas tote bag to the grocery store
22. Ask a friend to join you for a healthy dinner
23. Put down the remote control and get up to change the TV channel
24. Replace your next cup of coffee with a cup of tea
25. Lay out your clothes for the next day
26. Take a 10 minute break
27. Take a quick walk
28. Skip your late evening grocery store run
29. While watching TV, do 5 push-ups during the commercial
30. Read this list over again and increase the number of things you’re willing to do by one

Welcome to Operation Muffin Top and good luck. Send me an e-mail and let me know how you’re doing so we can follow your progress and send you words of encouragement. If you want to learn more about diet and exercise listen to TiffTalks Radio with special guests Dr. Ray Deloney and Dr. Neil Zeigler at http://soundcloud.com/tifftalks/dont-call-me-fat-im-big-boned .

Until next time stay strong, smart and powerful!

I was glued to the TV with millions of Americans and the rest of the world as we waited to hear the President’s special announcement:

                “. . .the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda, and a terrorist who’s responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women, and children.”

I wasn’t sure how to feel. I definitely had wept for the families of those lost in the Sept 11 attacks, I have prayed for the soldiers who lost their lives defending my freedoms, but somehow I couldn’t find any joy in the death of another person. Of course this man and his followers have been accused of terrorist attacks against innocent men, women and children. If that’s the definition of a terrorist, don’t we have them in our own neighborhoods sleeping next to us, eating dinner with us on Thanksgiving?

Why don’t we celebrate the capture of our neighborhood terrorists with the same jubilation we saw in the streets of Washington DC? Is it because they are our sons, brothers, fathers and baby daddies? You may even know the innocent lives that have been cut short by these neighborhood terrorists, and yet we still find some way to excuse and justify their behavior.

When will enough be enough? Maybe enough will be enough when one of your seats at the dinner table is empty. . .forever. Before we celebrate the murder of one terrorist, let’s deal with the ones we know first. Not to do so would make us hypocrites. How many of our babies will be buried before we participate in an operation that will Take Back the Village.

Until next time stay strong, smart and powerful!