The facts seem quite clear. African-Caribbean women in Antigua, as all around the Caribbean, are suffering from an epidemic of obesity that is literally killing them.
One study in the International Journal of Obesity found that Caribbean women were 400 per cent more likely to become and suffer the consequences of being obese than Caribbean men. These statistics haven’t gone unnoticed by health care practitioners.
In fact, a 2007 press release from the Caricom Secretariat announced a major regional assault against obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, stroke, heart attack and some kinds of cancer … all life-style related diseases that have become the “principal public-health challenge” in the region. But despite the attention, obesity continues to be a deadly enemy of women here.
The step by Caricom towards action is hopeful, yet even that same press release went on to say that life-style diseases have emerged as the principal public-health challenge, not in recent years, but in recent decades. The fact is that this problem of obesity has been around in the region for an uncomfortably long period of time.
Judging from their focus on different potential causes for it, researchers even appear to lack consensus as to the root of the problem. Dr R Wright-Pascoe, for example, a consultant for the Department of Medicine at the University of the West Indies, stated in a research paper her opinion that “rural-urban drift has led to sedentary jobs and reduced physical activity” and that “increased wealth has been accompanied by a high calorie, high fat, low fruit and vegetable diet.”
She also pointed towards “cultural factors” that “predispose some Caribbean people to obesity” and went on to suggest that “local solutions to local problems include dietary restrictions, exercise and a review of cultural factors.”
However, in the study from the International Journal of Obesity mentioned earlier in this article, the researchers went on to state their opinion that “the high prevalence of obesity in Afro-Caribbean women, however, is not accounted for by any behavioural factors measured in this study, and the reasons for high rates of obesity in this group remain to be established.”
Since the term “behavioural factors” includes culture, the obvious inference from this statement is that they are saying Caribbean women are born with a greater susceptibility to obesity.
Nonetheless, Dr R Wright-Pascoe’s opinion that Afro-Caribbean women have gotten fat from no longer living such hard lives, and the International Journal of Obesity’s inference that maybe Afro-Caribbean women are born with a tendency to obesity may not be incompatible arguments.
In a paper titled “The evolution of human fatness and susceptibility to obesity,” Jonathan CK Wells of the Institute of Child Health in London asserts that human beings as a whole, and women in particular, have a susceptibility to fat that is unusual among animals. But this, he says, was an advantage because it allowed our bodies to store energy during uncertain times to feed our powerful brains. His view can be summarised as saying that in modern times, people generally don’t have to live through times of hunger so that fat just keeps piling on.
So, in a way, all these studies point to the fact that Antiguan women of African descent, like those elsewhere in the Caribbean, may have not just a high susceptibility to obesity, but also a great capacity for resilience in the face of hard times.
And this capacity for resilience is certainly a proud legacy of having conquered difficult periods. Furthermore, one can imagine that a woman with a tendency to hold a little weight would come through hard times still looking beautiful, strong, and with curves that are an endless blessing to men’s eyes.
Yet these modern days, for many women, are more likely to include feasts of KFC rather than famines. Gone are the days when people would have to endure the nearly inedible leaves of the Labbalalli tree or widdy-widdy bush as older folks say people used to eat in the past when times were hard. And after all this back and forth between researchers, women here are still left with the burning question, “What can we do to combat obesity when nothing has worked?”
Antiguan women will not face this struggle for their lives alone. In a series of articles about women’s health, I’ll examine some of the challenges faced by women of African descent and all women in Antigua in general, as they struggle to maintain a healthy lifestyle and beat the odds of a 400 per cent greater danger of falling victim to obesity-related illnesses than men here.
I’ll also get the opinions of women readers about what might be the root of the problem, and I’ll share your success stories about reducing obesity, lowering blood pressure, managing diabetes, or other lifestyle-related diseases. I’ll then present what some health professionals and other informed sources suggest might be the best and most workable strategies that women in this tropical environment can use to live a healthier life.
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One man’s meat is another’s man dessert.
Caribbean women, generally, do not suffer from the largely (no pun intended) American aversion to a woman looking like a woman; neither do Europeans, you will notice. We have always celebrated our physical differences from men by accentuating, not disguising them.
Perhaps this has led to many of us being clinically overweight; but I,for one, think the “other obsession,” which leads not only to physical illness, but mental and emotional diseases like anorexia nervosa and bulimia, and even to self-mutilation, is actually worse.
At least the heavy sisters are enjoying their food and the feeling of wellbeing and social interaction that eating entails… .
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!
eat well or suffer with bad health…………live or die….hhhmmmm I choose life!
Every adult person (man or woman) and I mean everyone, needs to exercise 4-5 times a week..This could be a simple 30 minute walk..If you follow this rule, you will live a much longer life.