The Tribune

Dr Monique Thompson

WELCOME back to the third and possibly final part of my spiel on obesity. In parts one and two we defined obesity, looked at its prevalence here in the Bahamas and scratched the surface of how obesity contributes to deaths from noncommunicable diseases.

This week, we shift our focus to tackling obesity. I don’t have the word allowance to beat around the bush, so we’re going to jump right into this!

As we go through these various factors that contribute to obesity in our society, I want you to keep a few things in mind. One, obesity is a huge problem for us. Two, there are no quick, easy fixes so we have to look years down the road to see significant improvement while keeping the final results in mind. Three, it is going to involve notable personal, governmental and communal efforts. And last, but by no means least, it is a problem, regardless of size, that can be solved.

Economics

As I make my health presentations and motivational speeches to various groups of individuals, invariably this is the number one barrier persons cite to living healthier lives. People say flat out that they cannot afford to eat healthy foods. I acknowledge that we are living in a country where the cost of living is through the roof. I further acknowledge that we have an overall unemployment rate for the country of 14.3 per cent, and for persons between the ages of 15-24 this is number is essentially doubled at 28 per cent. To say the least, this is an understandable concern. The harsh reality is that eating healthy in this country means if you are not growing your own fruits and vegetables, or sprouting your own legumes and beans, that oftentimes you may pay more at the store and leave with fewer groceries. However, and this is important, if you make the right choices while shopping, you may have less groceries, but leave with more nutrient-dense/nutrient-rich, healthier foods. This can be a sacrificial choice and often not an easy one, but I can tell you, either you pay now for healthy food or pay later with your health.

Well what on earth is the solution to this? First and foremost, I encourage us to revisit our financial priorities and move our health, and the health of our family, very close to the top of that list. Spend less money on hair, nails, shoes, or pimping out your ride in order to provide the kids with better food.

Budgeting and prioritising can go a long way. Globally, the government’s role in all this would be to work towards reducing the cost of living in this country; helping our Bahamian dollar to go further. But with the introduction of Value Added Tax on bread basket items you cannot help but feel that making your dollar go further is not on the top of their agenda.

Agricultural programmes can also be properly developed so that we can produce (and perhaps even export) our own fruits and vegetables so that when we walk into a food store in the Bahamas we can get two Eleuthera pineapples for $1 versus paying $5-$7 for one from some Latin American country.

Having said all that, at the end of the day it comes down to us taking responsibility for what we put into our mouths and our children’s mouths. If we were so motivated as our parents and grandparents were, we would have our very own backyard or patio gardens. Either way, I take the time to reiterate that unfortunately here in the Bahamas healthy eating for the masses can be a sacrifice.

No one likes the thought of being hungry, and worse, knowing that their children are hungry. However, for many of us this is likely what we need to experience more of. Please do not get me wrong. I am by no means advocating that anyone starve themselves that’s obviously another very unhealthy option in the opposite direction.

We are, however, chronic overeaters, with no regards for healthy, appropriate portion sizes. So as we cut back on the amount of food we eat at each meal, physiologically, and really temporarily, we would experience hunger more often. Which honestly is not a bad thing.

We are living in a time during human history where there is essentially unlimited access to food. That is, if someone wanted to, they can find food 24 hours of the day. I say that to make the upcoming statement hit home and defend my “being hungry more” comment: research has shown that among the people that live the longest on this earth, the one factor that ties them together is not their race, or location on the planet, but the fact that they consume less calories. That’s right; they all eat less. We need to make eating less a staple of our diets if we are going to stamp out the high death rate due to “diseases of lifestyle”.

Well, this didn’t really have the potential to be the final part, but this is so far being over. I will “see” you all next week!

• Dr Monique Thompson is the founder of Cornerstone Healing Institute, an integrative family medicine clinic that focuses on educating patients on healthier lifestyles and preventing disease. Contact 356-0083 with any questions/comments and visit www.chibahamas.com for more information.