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Indigenous diet to western diet + poverty = diabetes

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fletchweb

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Fascinating article on one of the big Health Issues facing the Indigenous (native or aboriginal) peoples of Canada. In Alberta Canada 8 out of 10 Indigenous people will come down with diabetes in their life time (according to this article).

Back in my University days I took some Native History and Sociology courses purely out of interest and was somewhat surprised to learn that some Indigenous groups have always been considered high risk because their traditional lifestyle and diets of eating high protein and being continually active has radically changed over the years.In today's world many Indigenous people have adopted the western diet, face poverty and inactivity - diabetes has hit epidemic proportions among the Indigenous people of Canada

Considering that many of Canada's Indigenous people live in remote third world conditions it does NOT look promising that much headway will be made in regard to trying to stop the trend - but it would appear that at least people are starting to talk about it and that is a start.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/sweetbloods-cree-nation-diabetes-awareness-1.4390332

(PS. I'm not indigenous, just a Canadian colonial whose grandparents were from Yorkshire :))
 
There needs to be a focus on supporting indigenous populations - they should not be left to wither on the modern industrial diet, Any evidence of a support system?
 
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The Pacific Islanders mirror this crisis. When we think of our struggles here in the UK surrounding the dogmatic approach to T2 how then are the peoples of indigenous nations to cope? The western diet caused pandemic but they will be/are the first casualties.
 
Thanks! On a similar theme you might want to see the high entertaining That Sugat Film via Anazon which has a segment about the aborigines.
 
And there is a five part series on the indigenous people of NZ. It is sad but proves the point about where the blame for the T2 epidemic lays.

Edited to add. On Youtube.
 
hmm, i suspect it's not only the indigenous people who are affected like this. if we consider how western diets and lifestyles have changed over the last 70 years or so - far more sugar in the diet, far less exercise, i.e. far less manual labour, loads of labour-saving appliances, relatively easy access to transport - there is much greater disparity between what/how much food our bodies need to stay healthy and what we actually eat - so it's not really surprising that there are so many of us now with diabetes. maybe it's just that all human beings need to not eat too much, do a reasonable amount of exercise and have a high ratio of protein to carbs in their diet. and in our modern society, poverty definitely has something to do with it - even in an affluent country like the UK, it is pretty difficult to eat a healthy low-carb diet if you're living on a shoestring - those avocados and olives don't come cheap!
 
I think we need study not just WHAT we eat but HOW we eat.
For me and my parent who is LADA we never consumed soda. That was something they never had while they where a child and it isn't something I drank or fruit juice.
I do think the constant eating and snaking is a huge problem in modern times.
The idea that we should never feel hungry is something that is promoted even by popular health gurus and and a child caregiver must always have a granola bar or fruit snack in a bag.
Our pancreas never gets a break and as a result we have too much insulin in our bodies.
I know for me intermittent fasting has been key to BG control.
Just my two cents worth.
 
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