I am fortunate to visit USA to be with the indigenous people of that country and on arrival at JFK or Miami, the first thing that hits you, is the girth of an average American. The fact that nearly 8 out of 10 Yanks/Yanquis (so that the rest of the population of the American continent are not alluded to) are overweight or obese and the children are following the same path. There was a time when they pointed fingers of blame at the unruly and undisciplined minority populations but right now, white black yellow or any other American rose of any colour is overweight or obese.
This year my travels have taken me (in my other work as a humanitarian doctor) to France, Morocco, Tunisia, Mexico and Cochin in India, all these places boasting of good food (what comes first Humanitarian medicine or the attraction of food). I dread returning to the USA, the fright not of the polemics of a divided nation or the continuous streaming of gun violence but the thought of Food offered as Food. Fortunately for my microbiomes, I take off again..
Quiberon, France
Casablanca, Maroc
Merida, Mexico
From Air France you expect nothing but the best
Resto Sfaxienne Neptune, Rue Le Caire, Tunis
Restaurant Hotel Grand, MG Road, Ernakulum, Kerala
I am not implying that good food is not to be had in the USA, but the ease of access to good food is limited for various reasons. The easily available food while tasty is laden with chemicals that your grandmother cannot pronounce and had not eaten. Thus the obesity. I salute my foodie friends in the USA, in Miami, in Boynton Beach, in Little Rock etc etc.
With Obesity comes, other diseases such as Diabetes and High Blood Pressure and other metabolic diseases.
As a wise elder of a tribe in the USA said to me
The Americans make money making you sick, and they make money making you well.
I am preparing a lecture to be given to the Nurses who look after the infirm in one of the tribes that I work with. It is a pleasure to educate them and in the process that I learn a lot too.
In my previous studies with the Native populations I had seen that when they consume FOOD rather than highly processed pseudo food, there is no rise in blood sugar after their meals.
I had always wondered the different order of eating food in various countries and noticed that in countries which are noticeably thinner, like Japan or France, the carbohydrate is relegated to a latter time slot and the initial piece is usually something that can coat the stomach. A very clever Nutrition Biochemist from France has done some good research to prove that certain order do blunt the post prandial glucose response.
This is the experiment on my self tonight while I am in the United States, emotionally preparing taking off to the land of the blue turbans and find out about the presence of Jews among them in the last century.
6 10 pm. My blood sugar is 102. Divide it by 18 to get mMole value
I ate at home, prepared by my Jamaican brother Abdul
Calaloo (a cousin of spinach but very Caribbean), tomato and vegies for spice and Hogfish very common in the florida Keys.
The wine was a sauvignon Blanc from Aotearoa (Brancott)
I finished my dinner at 6 30 pm
The blood sugar at 7 10 pm was 105 . i finished the wine.
at 750 it was 106
and at 9 10 pm, two hours after i sat down to eat, the blood sugar was 94
THE MORAL OF THE STORY FOR AMERICANS IS THIS, IF YOU EAT AN APPROPRIATE MEAL, THE BLOOD SUGAR DOES NOT GO UP AFTER EATING. PLUS, IT IS ALWAYS GOOD TO HAVE A GLASS OR TWO OF WINE, FOR ME BOTH RED OR WHITE WINE WORKS WELL.
This works for patients with Type 2 Diabetes as well.
L'CHAIM
PS I do not have Type 2 Diabetes nor do I take any medications or supplements.
