And Still I Rise

According to the Caribbean Food and Nutrition Issue(CFNI) my island has the highest incidence of obesity in the Caribbean.Yes,St Vincent and the Grenadines tops a very unflattering list but somehow I find that little revelation very hard to believe.I didn't hear the percentages, the comparison between the other islands or even what numbers they used to define obesity.But from my observation I do not see that many obese people in my daily travels.

I did an online check and found an article that said SVG's obesity rate increased from little over 3% to about 4.5% in the late 90's.It would appear that those figures grew steadily in the subsequent years if am to take the word of CFNI.I guess that is the price we have to pay for "development" since our islands move further and further away from an agricultural base and begin to consume larger amounts of fat laden processed foods.Am always shocked when I see the large numbers of persons in KFC especially on Sundays.What happened to the family Sunday lunch when one would normally cook something special and way more nutritious than greasy chicken.

Added to that we have become less active preferring to sit in front of the television for hours and taking the bus for short distances.When I was going to school on the days when I took the bus I,along with my friends would walk from the bus terminal up to my school.Nowadays,I see my cousins and many other students taking another bus from the terminal up to school.Who would have thought things would have changed so drastically


But worst of all this excess weight can have serious health complications for a small population like ours.We want a decrease in diabetes,hypertension,heart problems and all the other things associated with being overweight and not a situation where more people can fall ill.So ladies although they say the men like women with meat on their bones it looks like this island has to go on a diet and fast too.

# posted by Abeni @ 6:15 AM