The National Center for Biotechnology Information reports that even though, “Black women are younger (36.1 years) than US women overall (39.6 years) they have a higher prevalence of many health conditions, including heart disease, stroke, cancers, diabetes, maternal morbidities, obesity, and stress.” Here at Nour!shment we know that there is more at work here than what your medical professional may be concerned about. Mysogynoir is probably the root cause of your medical woes. What is mysogynoir you ask? Misogynoir is misogyny directed towards black women where race and gender both play roles in bias. The term was coined by gay black feminist Moya Bailey, who created the term in 2010 to address misogyny directed toward black women in American visual and popular culture. This specific color of hatred is why Black women don’t feel safe in many spaces. If there’s more intersectional experiences: sexual orientation, differing abilities, etc. the hate is exponentiated. This guardedness is to help us survive. We know, though our lived experiences, and in our DNA through epigenetics, that we are most likely not safe. The biological response to this intuition prepares Black women to navigate the fear cascade, the fight or flight response that it is so prevalently referred to. This response is only supposed to be fleeting. There only to help us survive imminent danger. Our bodies are not made to endure this biological response for multiple hours, day in and day out. It begins to alter our bodies and brain so that the constant flow of chemicals that prepare you to war, isn’t what kills. But it is. At alarming rates this bombardment is crippling our immune system, changing our brain chemistry and physiology, as well as making us susceptible to a host of other health issues. We’re here to help you navigate it in such a way that your heightened awareness can be used to get you beyond survival and into thriving by Nour!shing your mind, body, soul, and spirit.