Name: Andres Bejarano

Age: 18

1) How do you feel about the obesity problem within theHispanic/Latino culture?

While I do feel that it is a problem, I don’t thinkthat Mexican Americans will do anything about it. For example, in my householdmy parents continue to use Manteca (lard) for everything they cook. While theydon’t realize that it is extremely unhealthy to consume all this fat threetimes a day, they will not change their ways because that’s how they grew up.The problem with this is hat in Mexico eating all this fat isn’t a problembecause when you are in Mexico you resort by walking everywhere, so you getplenty of exercise, but now a days the average, will watch 4 hours of TV a dayand play PS2 or X Box, for the rest of the day. Until these parents begin torealize that their kids are both eating unhealthy and also not exercising thenthis will continue to be an ongoing problem.

2) There is a statisticfrom the (Hoja de datos hispanos) that says, “The Hispanic adolescents thatwere born in the United States from parents that are immigrants have twice theprobability of being overweight compared to the adolescents that were born inthe exterior and moved to the US.” What do you feel is the cause?

(Answer was connected to the answer to question #1)

3) What do you think causedyou to gain the weight? (Stress, fast food, artificial, etc.)

Ifeel that I gained so much weight because of the eating habits I grewaccustomed to. Every summer morning, I would go to my grandma’s and eat a hugebreakfast along with 3 of her homemade flour tortillas, which were loaded withManteca (lard). Throughout the rest of the day I would just consume a bunch ofjunk with no nutritional value. I never had anyone tell me to eat whole grainsand to exercise.

4) What inspired you to lose weight?

Iwas inspired to lose weight after my first year of high school afterexperiencing competitive sports. I knew that if I lost weight it would not onlymake me healthier but also faster and stronger.

5) Were you worried about your health?

Iwasn’t really worried about my health, but I should have been considering thefact that I was over 40% body fat m y 8^th grade year.

6) Did you receive any support when you were reachingyour goal?

My parents were verysupportive in my decision to lose weight, while my mother paid and supplied mewith a gym membership. My dad was just happy I was becoming a better athlete.

7) What types of activities or habits did you have toquit in order to reach your goal? What activities did you have to turn intohabits?

In order to change tohealthy ways I definitely had to do without the junk food and fast food. I alsobegan to eat a lot of whole grains and low fat proteins. While also reducing mycalorie intake, I also began to exercise at least 6 times a week.

8)What advice would you give any weight problem person tomotivate them to lose weight and become healthy?

If I could give anyadvice to an obese/overweight person, I would tell them to start slowly andwhatever you do, don’t lose weight in an unhealthy manner.