Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 14, Number 3, 1 March 1997 — Return to traditional diet answer to many ills [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Return to traditional diet answer to many ills

Mueh to-do has been made recently over obesity and overweight. One recent focus was on the Governor, his cabinet and others losing weight together on the Hawai'i Diet. The media also reported that Hawai'i residents are thinner than the rest of the nation. Although the number of overweight people is growing here and nationally, Hawai'i does have a higher percentge of thin folks. This hides the fact that overweight is a major risk for many, and that more Hawaiians (43.4 percent) are overweight than all other groups (24.9 percent) in Hawai'i. ls this important? Should we be concerned? Overweight and obesity are a signal, like a red hght on the instrument panel of a car or plane. The warning tells us that something must be done before greater damage occurs. Overweight is the first step of progressively greater physical harm. Diseases linked to obesity include heart disease, some forms of cancer, stroke, diabetes mellitus and atherosclerosis. Excessive aleohol intake is another cause of overweight and obesity and is closely linked to death from cirrhosis of the liver, suicides and accidents. We know that our Hawaiian ancestors were not overweight. Only the older ali'i got heavier. Many stories tell about the athletic ability of the young ali'i

who excelled īn sports and games; stories abound x of spear throwing, surfing, running, sledding and war games during Makahiki. Our December article shared the wisdom of Mary Kawena Pukui that our ancestors were eoncerned about maintaining sound bodies throughout life, the standards of physical beauty and building strong bodies by eating the right foods. The first

visitors to Hawai'i left us clear and vivid descriptions of our ancestors as tall, muscular, with upright postures and athletic « ability. Adopting these cultural , standards today, will help us deal with overweight and obesity. The most important reason, however, to handle overweight and obesity, is that these conditions kill Hawaiians more than others. The diseases directly associated with nutritional excesses are heart disease and stroke, cancer and diabetes. The death rate has increased for full Hawaiians by 48% and for partHawaiians by 19%, compared to 20% in the total state Dopulation.

In 1988, the U.S. Surgeon General reported that imbalances and excesses in American food choices are the root cause and result in more sickness and death, and that more money was spent on caring for food-related illnesses. A 1996

W study by the Centers tor Disease Control and Prevention echoed the 1988

repori, siatmg uiai / ot every ru /\iiiericans uie eaeh year from one of the above diseases (1.5 million deaths). Heart disease and cancer account for twothirds of the deaths. Some of the suffering ean be avoided (see diagram). Other factors also contribute to higher

risk for developing these illnesses. Whereas age, heredity and gender cannot be altered, eliminating smoking, laek of exercise and poor food choices ean have a powerful impact on regaining health. Lung and stomach cancer cause the most damage to Hawaiians. Giving up smoking, adding daily exercise and eating fibrous, orangecolored and deep green vegetables are key in keeping us healthy and ill- \ ness free. Our ancestral diet was about 80% vegetables such as taro, poi, sweet potato, greens and seaweed. Today we eat too mueh meat, twice the protein that our ancestors ate, and mueh less food from the sea.

Fish is far superior to canned meats, sausages and excesses of beef, pork or egg protein. Eating more like our ancestors will make a positive change in our health.

"V " e.«u\4L(l bee'

» Claire Hughes NUTnTlOniST Hawaii Department of Heatth w