Learning from the Past for a Healthier Future

Opening our Eyes to the Problems that Indigenous Communities Face Both in the U.S. and Abroad

by Lena Kristy

Let’s start with a story ~

Just north of the Mexican border in Arizona lives a Native American tribe referred to as the Pima people. While their culture is rich with oral histories and knowledge, in modern times this indigenous population has been studied for its extremely high prevalence of Type 2 diabetes. In recent years, the Pima have stopped eating traditional foods native to their area such as tepary beans and cholla cactus buds. Instead, they had come to know foods like Cheetos and Pepsi.

Recently through a school program, the Pima children have been reintroduced to the succulent squashes, the sweet nutty tasting beans, and the refreshing tart teas of the cactus fruit that their ancestors once ate. Cholla buds, an ancient superfood that had sustained countless generations of the Pima, are now making a comeback. Traditional foods are now available in the supermarket alongside the processed choices. A reversion back to ancient practices is occurring and the health and outlook of the population is improving.

Unfortunately, the United States has yet to experience a widespread movement toward healthy eating, especially amongst indigenous people. “Light” choices exist and calorie counts are available, but processed unhealthy foods are still prevalent on our supermarket shelves. Among the poorest and sickest of the world’s population, struggling to take charge of the food in which they consume, are many indigenous communities.

In the United States, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia, indigenous populations are subject to a life expectancy rate much lower to that of their non-indigenous counterparts-up to 20 years fewer! Many food-related health issues hinder life expectancy within these communities, including circulatory conditions, respiratory diseases, endocrine illnesses, and neoplasms. Aboriginal Australians, with the life expectancy rate the lowest in comparison to their non-indigenous counterparts, now consume more white sugar, white flour, and soft drinks than the national average.

Most indigenous communities do not have the financial means to create their own systems of food distribution that can financially compete with those of the West. The West continues to force-feed many indigenous communities the leftovers of a self-reaffirming food system wrought with corruption and immorality, therefore hindering these indigenous communities from fighting for their own change.

Sadly, this loss of indigenous traditional food ways also goes hand in hand with the loss of indigenous languages and systems of knowledge. We are beginning to see a decrease in the utilization and knowledge of the rich cultural diversity of our planet. As these resources go unused, so do the terms and languages in which they are expressed. Currently, only 3% of the world’s population speaks 96% of the world’s languages. The diversity of the world’s languages is quickly declining. The loss of most indigenous languages indicates a loss of specific knowledge about the biodiversity of plants and animals of a given landscape as well.

How Indigenous Communities’ Food Traditions Can Build a Brighter Tomorrow

The slow-digesting foods consumed in traditional indigenous cultures, as one broad entity, are losing their fight to “Big Gulp nutritional culture,” which consists of fried processed foods, fast food meals, and soda. “Traditional” foods of Northwestern Mexico, like prickly pear, mesquite, beans, corn flour, wild greens, and berries contain a starch called amylose, which digests slowly and, unlike processed foods, results in a slow release of glucose and insulin. This high-fiber, low sugar “indigenous diet,” retained by most indigenous communities in the Northwest region of Mexico, lowers the risk for contracting diabetes, obesity, heart disease, cancer, and ulcers.

Researcher Kevin Lombard has explored a solution for the health crises of the Navajo Indian communities of the Southwestern United States through garden implementation. Lombard gathered information on Navajo individuals’ attitudes toward the building of gardens in their community. He found that the abundance of Type 2 diabetes and numerous cancers within Navajo communities was due to a lack of access to and knowledge of a variety of health foods. But with a solution rooted in cultural norms and traditions, Lombard was successful with making real change in an indigenous community.

Finding solutions for the issues pertaining to the health of indigenous communities is not only vital for the sake of the community, but also significant in maintaining the diversified cultural knowledge of our world. We must all get involved in the problems that indigenous cultures face because they pertain to our own lives in many more ways than we know.

Anderson, Ian. “Indigenous Health in Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific.” The Lancet. Science Direct, 2 June 2006. Web. 13 Mar. 2014. <http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140673606687734>.

Kozak, David L. “Surrendering to Diabetes: An Embodied Response to Perceptions of Diabetes and Death in the Gila River Indian Community.” Omega: Journal of Death and Dying (1997). Web. 24 Feb. 2014.

Lombard, Kevin A., et al. “Healthy Gardens/Healthy Lives: Navajo Perceptions Of Growing Food Locally To Prevent Diabetes And Cancer.” Health Promotion Practice 15.2 (2014): 223–231. Academic Search Complete. Web. 24 Feb. 2014.

Salmón, Enrique. Eating the landscape: American Indian stories of food, identity, and resilience. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2012. Print.