I just got back 2 days ago from a 2 week trip to the Dominican Republic with my job. While the grand finale of this trip was a terrible gastroenteritis that I am still slowly recovering for, overall it was beautiful and I am very grateful for the experience.
One thing that struck me as we toured health systems there was very the high prevalence of diabetes and metabolic syndrome. Due to historical and economic reasons, Dominican people traditionally eat a diet very high in starches – plantains, rice, beans, yame – and while very delicious this is obviously a diet with a very high glycemic load.
I will write more on this later, but I am continuously struck and disturbed by how the foods people can afford determine their health and life expectancies. Carbs are cheap, protein is expensive, unfortunately. There are some community programs that are teaching people in rural areas to farm chickens in order to raise their protein intake which I think is a very positive development.
I’m sure there are Dominican people who have access to very high quality diets, but we really didn’t spend much of the trip interacting with ‘rich’ Dominicans. If anyone is familiar with the healthier sides of Dominican fare please feel free to educate us in the comments 🙂
Since eating a starch diet for the last 2 weeks I have been feeling pretty crummy, and since I got back two nights ago and could barely walk am now making the road to recovery before I have to work a 10 day stretch starting tomorrow.
Beautiful beach we stayed at during our weekend off
EatBetterFeelBetter 