For hip-hop artist Dee-1, eating healthy hasn’t been easy.
“I’m working all the time in the studio, doing concerts or in meetings, so I’m eating out, getting take-out or going through a drive-thru,” he said. “I’ve had to learn that it’s important to slow down and put an extra few minutes into getting healthier food into your system.”
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He also decided to put what he learned to song, releasing a new video called “Increasing Your Healthy Living Behaviors.”
The track, which is based on the American Heart Association’s My Life Check – Life’s Simple 7, encourages people to focus more on nutritious foods, control blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar, maintain a healthy weight, avoid tobacco products and get plenty of exercise.
Those seven factors also form what rapper Dee-1, who was born David Augustine, calls “a formula for success” when it comes to health.
“Knowing your numbers is the gateway to telling a much bigger story,” he said. “Just like I want to know how much I have in the bank, I want to know what my blood pressure and cholesterol numbers are.”
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The video kicks off National Minority Health Month this April through the AHA’s EmPOWERED To Serve initiative to help improve health in diverse communities across America.
It’s the second health-related video Dee-1 has created. Earlier this year, he tackled another socially conscious issue affecting Americans with the release of his video “Sallie Mae Back.”