By Staff Reporter
Copyright guyanachronicle
By Dr Amit Telang, MD
THIS week witnessed two interrelated and interesting developments in Georgetown, igniting, once again an oft repeated debate on health, nutrition and lifestyle. On one hand, a US fast-food chain, Wendy’s, became the latest entrant to Georgetown’s fast-evolving and vibrant food scene, and on the other hand, Govinda’s, a pure vegetarian restaurant opened its doors to patrons, offering a high-taste experience with a theme, ‘Food not only for the body but also for the soul’.
The debate, especially on the social media, certainly makes one wonder whether Guyana, like many other developing countries, would now experience a phenomenal transformation in diseases too?
Development invariably means lifestyle modifications, and such changes often tend to portend a dangerous trap of increasing disease burden and concomitant government spending.
Before entering the critical realm of correlation between development and disease, we need to encourage an informed debate on this topic. It is imperative, since we often approach this topic through a simplistic paradigm that development automatically means well-being. Poverty and disease, in our mindsets, traditionally co-existed, and the combination is so obvious that we tend to believe that development would automatically mean freedom from disease. Many developed countries have proven this paradigm to be completely wrong.
This brings us back to the now accepted correlation between the pace of development and emergence of certain disease patterns. Even in the most developed economies, it is often the poorest who tend to catch such diseases predominantly due to their uninformed if not poor food choices. It doesn’t mean that executives and professionals do not succumb to the temptation of fast and comforting food preferences. A tired individual looking at something that would bring instant satiety invariably chooses a fast-food option. Such ‘comfort food’ culture perpetuates on the premise that the food must ensure instant satiety (now proven as sugar or dopamine surge) allowing an individual to feel re-energised enabling quick return to the usual chores. Depression and self-image, too, play a role, but that is an entirely different topic deserving separate discussion.
Food today has unfortunately become as much about display of affluence, peer pressure and prejudice as it is about ‘satiety’. Food has graduated from being a source of nutrition to a symbol of prestige and prominence. It would be inappropriate to malign any cuisine or dietary choice per se by boxing it into ‘healthy’ or ‘unhealthy’ category. Every cuisine offers healthy and unhealthy choices. It has an inescapable link with culture and an unavoidable link with perceptions regarding development and progressive lifestyle.
The definition of ‘healthy’ and ‘unhealthy’ depends not only upon body constitution, genetic make-up and local food availability, but also what people around you perceive as healthy or unhealthy. There lies the real challenge. A diet classified as healthy for one individual of a certain genetic make-up, gender and lifestyle might be the unhealthiest choice for another individual. Yet, people tend to generalise based on public perception. We seldom pay enough attention to inherent differences in body-type and genetics as well as individual choices.
Alongside prevalent stereotypes regarding physical appearances, food preferences have emerged as a scale of measuring development and upward mobility. To complicate it further, a rampant diet culture and absurd calorific choices overlooking the necessity of a balanced diet pose a serious lifestyle challenge even in the most developed societies.
Guyana is a multiethnic society. It is also a rapidly developing economy. Guyana’s food culture has evolved over centuries, based on a multiplicity of factors. We must appreciate that like any other country, Guyana too has a complex genetic make-up and people’s food preferences have evolved out of ethnic influence, cultural practices and economic disparities. Societal pressure about physical appearance and tropes of perceived affluence tend to affect food preferences.
Physical parameter need not be overlooked but they should not be to the detriment of overall health and well-being. Such superimposed food preferences endanger the young and working population and push them towards a deadly trap of development induced diseases.
Is it avoidable? The answer is definitely, and fortunately, yes. But it requires concerted efforts and a well-researched healthcare policy, extending beyond the realm of curative and therapeutic approach to disease.
Lifestyle modifications are mandatory to diffuse this ticking time-bomb, but societal awareness is the real key to success. It is necessary to pay attention to this discipline, lest it might affect the future of a country poised to become the fastest growing economy. Development should not come at the cost of a humongous disease burden.
It will require considerable effort and commensurate resource allocation to address this challenge. Guyana is well placed not only to address the challenge but to emerge as a shining model to be emulated. It would, however, require an informed debate. There is a need to graduate from simplistic classification of food or body types into good or bad, healthy and unhealthy, obese or slim, vegetarian or non-vegetarian. The subject demands a carefully crafted approach to health and nutrition as a holistic discipline- going beyond tertiary healthcare. It is an immediate necessity because in all likelihood, it would determine the future of the next generation.
Our leaders and healthcare professionals have a responsibility to lead the charge. They can influence and motivate the nation, especially the young generation. In India, for example, Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled his LIFE or Lifestyle for Environment initiative keeping in mind the need to create awareness about holistic health and wellness, especially among the youth, but also among the middle-aged professionals.
Fitness doesn’t necessarily mean being physically attractive, especially if attention is paid to mere physical appearance with complete disregard for the need for a balanced and nutritious diet along with mental well-being.
Holistic health must guide our food and life choices, where overall health is equally if not more important than mere physical attributes. PM Modi’s emphasis on Yoga and Ayurveda is not an exercise directed towards promoting Indian culture or food practices. It is about sharing the traditional wisdom where body and soul are in unison- in a state of perfect balance. A body and mind in complete harmony would more likely transform into a harmonious society, at ease with itself.
In recent years, Yoga and Ayurveda have gained universal attention. People might have some reservations about Ayurveda- as they tend to connect it with strict dietary practices and even religion, but, across various cultures and nationalities, traditional medicinal systems are increasingly acquiring prominence and recognition. Ayurveda is one of them. These medicinal systems have been critical in preserving age-old wisdom that our ancestors and indigenous people painstakingly preserved and perfected over the centuries. Today, even Western scholars conclusively accept their obvious health benefits. The gold standard is preferring local over externally superimposed choices.
Even leading universities in the West, like Stanford, are devoting significant attention and resources to salience of nutrition and its impact on immunomodulation in disease prevention and holistic health. Local produce that harmonizes local food with local genetic make-up and prevalent cultural practices including food preparation are increasingly accepted as better for overall health compared to externally superimposed dietary habits. Traditional medicine and lifestyle modifications contribute towards achieving this goal.
Appreciating the importance of traditional medicinal systems and lifestyle modifications, the Government of India created a Department of AYUSH dedicated to undertaking research and evolve specific protocols for practical applications. India is open and committed to sharing this knowledge with our partners.
Our traditional medicinal systems and know-how that our ancestors and indigenous people preserved as conventional wisdom need mainstreaming and widespread recognition. It is not a burden or quackery; it is a valuable resource. Our collective heritage. It is a heritage of the entire humanity. A treasure inherited from our ancestry to be preserved and transferred to the posterity.