Our (un)Healthy Lifestyles and Rising Prices.
In recent weeks there has been no end of reports on rising food prices, in any part of the world you care to focus on, and on any media to whom you care to tune. As far as the majority of people in Barbados are concerned, we have been told that we will all have to tighten our belts ….
Unfortunately, a majority of Barbadians already have tightened belts, mainly because of large abdomens below those belts. A few were optimistic enough to believe that the trend of rising food prices, coupled with diminished food supplies, would lead to a reversal of the rise of obesity that has ‘blessed’ Barbados over the last couple of decades, and that has fuelled our epidemic of chronic diseases.
Our abundance of fast food outlets has often been the identified (even by me) as being a contributor to our inappropriate eating, as often the fare is salty and greasy, and served with flavored sugar water. In deliberately over-simplified terms, these foods can be linked to hypertension (salt), cholesterol problems (fat and grease), and diabetes (sugar), all of which lead to strokes and heart disease.
But the reason why we, and others, keep eating these foods is that they are generally less expensive than the healthier ‘fruits and vegetables’ that are the cornerstones of healthy eating. [Ever notice that, with very few exceptions, fruits and vegetables are relegated to the back of supermarkets]. With prices of everything going up, the fast foods are still likely to maintain their place as being relatively cheaper, hence maintaining their position on the list of food priorities for many families.
The fast foods are convenient: no preparation, just buy and eat, then throw everything away. No preparation or cooking times. No pots, pans, plates or table utensils to wash up. In an era when families are forced to spend hours on the road (whether that road includes triangular roundabouts, jam-busting sections, detours because of road repairs or just accidents caused by one driver who just can’t wait for the next car-rally event), going to and from work is a slow painful event, almost guaranteed to get the traveler at his/her destination in a frustrated mood. And then you have to go and prepare a meal? In the days when mom was a full-time housewife this was no problem, but the working moms of today still have the chores of supervising the homework, washing and ironing the clothes, and still being fresh and enthusiastic enough to find some quality time for dad. In this scenario, the convenience of the fast foods seems really appealing.
Our larger supermarkets now offer delis where breakfast and lunch could be obtained; we have traditional fast food outlets with permanent walls that open for lunch and supper. We have fast food outlets at the back of vans that serve our workers at their worksites at lunchtimes. We have fast food outlets with portable grills that appear generally on weekends and serve their fare from evenings and well into the night. To be sure, wherever you are on the 166 sq. mile little rock, you are never too far from a fast food outlet. Easy accessibility is the name of the game, and while rising prices may slow our consumption of fast foods they are unlikely to push us towards healthier eating habits.
The length of time spent traveling to and from work also denies us time to exercise, the other cornerstone of a healthy lifestyle. In both of the Barbados Risk Factor Surveys (BRFSs) done by the Ministry of Health in 1994 and 2003, over 50% of adults did nothing more than the “Home-Work-Home” cycle, and got no additional exercise (presumably even on weekends). Current recommendations on the exercise prescription coming out of the American Heart Association, for example, state that ‘all adults should get a minimum of 30 minutes of exercise everyday or on most days of the week’ , to reduce the risk of heart disease, our leading cause of premature deaths. And while 30 minutes has been identified as a minimum, additional health benefits can be obtained with additional exercise.
Once upon a time exercise was a part of ‘going to work’, walking or on bicycle; or as the work itself, when many professions were labor intense. If nothing else, are roads are too dangerous to encourage anyone to go riding (much less driving). Nowadays exercise has to be scheduled outside of work. Most people have difficulty finding time to exercise during the workweek, unless they go to indoor gyms, or have lighted basketball/netball or football/cricket fields in their area. These facilities are limited, and their overall use depends on the electricity bills that they generate over time; restricted budgets may make these types of facilities less accessible.
Thus the rising spiral of costs, in and of itself, is not going to make Barbadians adopt healthier lifestyles. It is interesting to note that the open challenges in the newspapers to those who are promoting the “Grow more food locally” by those who have ‘been there, done that’, and who suggest that this proposition is not economically viable at this time, have been declined or ignored. As far as backyard gardening is concerned, lack of time and space, and even concern about water supplies and praedial larceny are likely to be cited as the main reasons for their non-adoption.
We have aggressive, albeit costly, approaches to managing the chronic diseases once they become established. We have a Tertiary Institution in the QEH that is, from all reports, ‘filled and running over’ with patients suffering from these same chronic diseases, while taking a big bite of our National Budget. Our budget may soon run out of biting space. What we lack is a co-coordinated approach to chronic disease prevention.
We are thus unlikely, based on our immediate past, to see any positive changes in people’s lifestyles generated by the global rise in food prices, although an unfortunate few individuals may move from over-nutrition (obesity) to under-nutrition (called mal nutrition). Barbadians did not gravitate towards a healthy lifestyle when prices were more tolerable; new comprehensive public health strategies have to be embraced if the gradual decay in health is to be reversed. Caribbean Prime Ministers, in a September 15th 2007 meeting in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, promised us a health charter to address such issues. The window of opportunity for affirmative action is rapidly being closed by economic forces.
