- Thread starter bob saunders
- Start date
Are Dominicans fatter than the past
I would think that copious amounts of white rice accompanying most every meal (even pasta) is completely unnecessary. Besides just filling you up is there any nutritional value to white rice? Plus juices with added sugars and soda are unnecessary.
Maybe this diet is ok for campesinos who work the land, walk the fields, and generally physically exert themselves daily but if you still eat like this and have a sedentary lifestyle it will show. I think that is why so many Domincans are overweight in US, too.
Maybe this diet is ok for campesinos who work the land, walk the fields, and generally physically exert themselves daily but if you still eat like this and have a sedentary lifestyle it will show. I think that is why so many Domincans are overweight in US, too.
Soft Drink Consumption: The Frightening Statistics and Associated Health Risks!
Add the sedentary lifestyle to this, especially with the advent of high calory, heavily caffeinated "energy drinks" like Red Bull/ Cyclone, etc. and the populations are walking diabetes/ heart disease ticking time bombs.
List of energy drinks - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Snacks used to consist of fruits and nuts. Now everything not loaded with transfats is considered unworthy as a snack food. When I was a kid raw sugar cane (peel 'n chew until the flavor's gone) was a penny candy.
Yes..................cereal eating, more tvs in households, more access to washing machines, affording food, eating more times a day, two or three times instead of once a day and eating more white bread instead of "viveres", eating more meats, especially chickens, better transportation to get around in turn Dominicans dont have to walk long distances.
I've eaten meals in numerous Dominican houses and in general, their suppers are not too unhealthy, but I've observed what children bring to school or eat for lunch and it is candy, crackers, or fried food. Yes with more transportation options and developing the same lazy habits as North Americans, Dominicans are getting fatter.
No doubt people are drinking everyday here (hey I live in Santiago
) but at least from my extended network of friends and families mostly it is done on the weekends. And what one guy might drink in a weekend takes me two weeks to drink based on a beer and a sip of rum daily. Ahh, life is good. 
Yea, but they dont tend to drink Red Bull and such in the DR. They DO get soda though on occasion, tend NEVER to drink plain water just because...I dont know. And WONT drink OJ if it isnt sweetened(another oddity). They do snack it up with chips and such, fans of chocolate but not other types of candies. And I d say somewhat sedentary BUT I think it is the overabundance of FRIED EVERYTHING and EVERYTHING FRIED. That is just not healthy. I used to get breakfast of eggs(which I love), sausages and OJ, then I had to whittle myself down to just a big plate of mashed yuca o mangu and unsweetened OJ. It was the only thing that wasnt super duper fried. The eggs were so greasy that I could do a lube job on a Packard, as was the ham. I d bet they even fry the toast if they could. But by itself it had TOOOOO much butter.
I know the incidence of strokes and heart disease has blown up drastically in the last 20 years.
True. They don't drink Red Bull because it's not available everywhere but they've got their own version of it called Ciclon. and the yunguns love it there. I'd never heard of it until I started hanging out in Santo Domingo.
Ciclon Energy Drink
You know the foods you describe are exactly what my Grandmothers cooked and raised my parents on but with one difference...all that fried fish, chicken, etc. was fried in LARD due to the higher burn temp....and the food was GREAT tasting and the LARD bicuits were dripping in butter and when the meal was over everyone went into a temporary paralysis but everyone was healthy and my parents lived fit lives all the way to their 80's as did most of their siblings. They only drank sodas as a mixer on cocktail nights.
I definitely think it's the sugar in the soft drinks that's weighing people down. Even packaged juices are loaded with sugar. Back in the day juices were squeezed from their fruits now everything is processed and some mystical syrup formula is used to (cut) flavor the juice. That and inactivity is making a difference in the D.R. and all over the World as we all become increasingly unhealthy as we (d?)evolve.
For most gym goers it is just that - a status symbol. The benefits will never compare to incorporating physical activity into their daily routine.
They go to the gym to grow big muscles, and the number of Dominicans that can afford Gold's Gym fee's is not huge.
You are correct that gyms are popular and many girls go to them also, but the majority don't. We have the same problem here in Canada. I'm thankful both of my sons like to workout and play sports. My Dominican step-son plays soccer all year round, cross-country runs, and goes to the gym. No fat kids in this house.
This is why I think there has to be more physical activity via sports leagues here. But first you need public parks, real American style public parks not public squares. Intramural sports would do great for the boys. The girls would be too lazy to do it though. Getting sweaty and messing up their hair is a no no.
