Need to go back to our Caribbean roots to eat healthier – The Philadelphia Tribune

The term the Battle of the Bulge came on the scene many years ago. I can remember it as far back as the late 1970s when I was a teenager. Today, more Americans are experiencing issues with being overweight than ever before. Some are mildly overweight, some are obese and some are morbidly obese. Have you ever seen the show on cable television called, My 600-pound Life? That is a prime example of what we are talking about.

Supersized meals continue to be served at most restaurants and when they are served, there are no doggie bags because most customers have gotten to the point where they are consuming all of it right there at the table. And many of us from the islands are falling into the same trap.

Remember when we were living back home and we would eat fresh fruits from the trees growing outside? Remember when we would plant our own vegetable gardens? For those who lived in rural (inna de country), remember when most of our food came from the local farmers or we would have our own little piece of land where we raised pigs, goats, chickens and maybe a cow or two? We knew exactly what we were feeding our livestock. And when we slaughtered an animal for meat, we did not have to worry about mad cow disease, size-boosting hormones, salmonella, etc. Those were the good old days, right?

Now that we are living here in the United States, we are prone to have issues with obesity. We are so busy working sometimes we dont have time to cook so on the way home, we pick up some fast food. We dont even know what we are putting into our bodies.

We need to make better choices. We need to teach our children how to do better. Children who make poor nutrition choices usually become adults who make poor nutrition choices. That is why it is imperative that we lead by example. Lets educate them about nutrition by showing them how to make their own vegetable garden in the spring and summer. Even if you dont have the yard space, they can grow vegetables and herbs in flower pots and have them on the windowsill. Take them to the supermarket and show them how to choose good, nutritious foods. Take the processed foods out of your familys diet gradually. Adopt an active lifestyle.

Back home in the Caribbean, many people who live in rural areas still do not have access to modern conveniences as we do here in America or even as their more affluent relatives do in the developed areas (more urban areas) of their country. They do not have a supermarket or a store on every corner. That sounds like a pretty bad deal right? The answer is no. Having that type of life may not be all bad.

The positive thing about their life is that is still depend on the land so they continue to grow their own produce. They are not putting a lot of processed foods into their bodies. When they occasionally go to the local store, they have to walk there and back because they more than likely do not have a car. They are getting lots of exercise that way. They do not have a lot of choices of processed foods in the stores nor do they have the money to afford a lot of those imported products. Most of those products come in from the United States or European or Asian countries. They do not have electricity in their homes so they do not sit around and watch television. They go outside and find some form of play or amusement. Some do not have indoor plumbing so they still have to go to a spring to get drinking water and bring it back home. They definitely do not live a dormant lifestyle.

Sounds like something we need to expose our children to? I would say, Yes!

Ladies and gentlemen, we have to do better and go back to our roots. We need to identify what would be considered unhealthy foods in our Caribbean culture and get rid of those things out of our diet. We have to identify what would be considered unhealthy foods here in the America culture and get rid of those things because without our good health, we have nothing.

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Need to go back to our Caribbean roots to eat healthier - The Philadelphia Tribune