I attended the event titled Unnatural Causes Bad Sugar on Thursday, October 22 from 6 to 7 p.m. The event centered on the ways in which many factors influence people’s lives and significantly impact health. The first part of the event centered on watching a short video that focused on the damage to health that Native American tribes faced after they lost their water. There was a large increase in the amount of Native Americans who got diabetes and who were dying. It was thought that biology and genes were one of the main causes behind the increase in diabetes, but in reality there were many other factors. Geographic location, social and economic class status, and income level has an impact on a person’s health. As discussed in class,
This post is going to be on an extremely important topic, diabetes. 1 in 4 people with diabetes, don’t even know they have it! This topic truly impacted me because both of my grandfathers that have already passed away had diabetes, so honestly diabetes is something that could be in my future. Recently, I read Sugar Nation by Jim O’Connell and I was pretty shocked from reading it and it opened my eyes to how severe the diabetes problem is in the world. The book is basically Mr. O’Connell’s recollection of being diagnosed pre-diabetic, his journey to find more information on treatment and how effective it is, and Mr. O’Connell’s father passing away from not taking care of his diabetes.
Thousands of people die of Diabetes every year, and it continues increasing. Bad Sugar is the fourth episode of the film Unnatural Causes. Native Americans a minority group which has been rejected by the society by taking their nature sources. The film illustrates how Diabetes type two kills and changes the lives of Native Indian. During years, Indians American had healthy life, and long life expectancy.
In the book “Diabetes among the Pima: Stories of Survival”, the author, Smith-Morris states that more than any other population in the world, an American Indian tribe from the Southwest United States , also known as The Pima have the highest chance of having risks for type 2 diabetes. She also continues to argue in the book that the issue is not just a biomedical mater but something even larger. By living with the Pimas and studying the experiences, daily life, and views of Pima pregnant women over a decade, the author identified factors that are overlooked by research and interventions related to biomedical. In the process of studying the Pimas, the author also learn that both the indigenous population and the health care providers impact the social and cultural aspects in the community. The book took place in the Gila River
As a community nutritionist, I developed a feel and confidence for how to educate and counsel community members of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe as part of the Diabetes Prevention and Treatment Program. I am a Native American and part of this tribe and therefore was so enthused to be part of their health care team. Being fresh out of college and given only a vague idea of the expectations of the position, I gathered all my available resources and set about the task of independently creating a successful education and counseling program. As I learned the ropes and increased my knowledge base, I felt the need to develop healthy cooking classes for my clients. The goal was to show my clients how to cook delicious, affordable and nutrient dense meals while catering to their specific culture preferences.
Interviewing human interest stories, pathos in the documentary are sufficient by reinforcing the authors claim towards sugar being the main effect within The American Food Industry and obessed adolescents. Maggie Valentine; a 12 year old girl who has been trying to discard her weight, Joe Lopez; 14 year old who has endeavor losing weight and his doctor who has suggested bariatric surgery, and Brady Kluge; 15 year old who has 47% body fat and weighs 215 pounds.
But the Department of Health and Human Services for Minority Health reports a rate of Type II Diabetes among Native Americans to average around 16%- and this is an average of many tribes throughout the US. For example, in some tribes, like the Pima Indian tribe of Arizona, the rate of Type II Diabetes is 50%. In addition, there is a rising rate of obesity in the Native American population with approximately a 33% rate of obesity across all tribes in the US. (Food Safety News, March 5, 2012 and Health and Human Services’ Office of Minority Health Data 2002). Although many Native Americans lost access to their traditional nutrition when moved to Reservations, the significant change in the rate of obesity and diabetes did not seem to appear until after World War II.
One of the Main problems America faces deals with Disease. The growing burden of chronic disease and unaffordable healthcare are the leading causes of disability and death in the United States. America is number 50 on life span expectancy and this is shocking because even though we have some of the best treatments and medicines we don’t prevent chronic diseases that are avoidable with simple lifestyle changes. After watching the Escape Fire Documentary, I realized how this affected everyone and that I needed to know more about my families’ health and ways I can prevent chronic diseases I may be susceptible too because of genetics or lifestyle choices. Before I didn’t think my family had any diseases that were genetically passed down or ran
With over 16% suffering with type two diabetes, Native Americans double the non-hispanic white average of 8.7% (“American Indian..”) suffering from the hated disease, due in part to their lifestyle choices. An average Native American’s
The Hispanic community is a worldwide growing population, so my interest was to research and learn more about their health disparities; in an effort to inform other people about what’s happening now. Once I did the research to determine what my health and other disparities would be in a certain community I was amazed at the results. Hispanics are a susceptible minority group at a higher risk for diabetes because of lack of resources and proper health care. Today, Hispanics and Latinos are facing a dominant health challenge against diabetes mellitus which we need to get under control. Health studies done on a population of individual’s shows Hispanics to be unfairly affected by diabetes and bad glycemic control; compared to non-Hispanic whites
According to the CDC, “racial and ethnic minority groups, throughout the United States, experience higher rates of illness and death across a wide range of health conditions, including diabetes, hypertension, obesity, asthma, and heart disease, when compared to their White counterparts”. This problem and stigma has created so many challenges that it severely affects the lives of millions of black people. According to the CDC, “the life expectancy of non - Hispanic / Black Americans is four years lower than that of White Americans.”
The rising health problems in the United States of America are caused by poor nutrition, people who are sedentary, the lack of healthcare prevention, and many more. As reported on the Tikkun website, “Of the many systems in our world today that need to be reimagined, none is more important for our future than our food system” (1). The lack of our food system is one of the many factors that has led the United States to its uprising dilemmas; one of the many factors are the food deserts across the U.S. Food deserts are geographic areas where access to affordable healthy and nutritious food are limited, or impossible to purchase, by residents in the area. Food deserts are prone to low-income areas that can’t afford transportation, and due to the lack of grocery stores and supermarkets that sells fresh produce and healthy food within convenient distance to resident’s homes, there is a difficulty in obtaining healthy food options which leads to countless health issues. According to the Diabetes Forecast website, “About 18.3 million Americans live in low-income areas and are far from a supermarket” (1).
Communities that once thrived are now plagued by dietary related health problems like obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. Since cultural
Here is a list of just some of the major health issues facing Native Americans living on Indian reservations today. American Indians are 177% more likely to die from diabetes (2011, Indian Health
In the East Harlem community, many people devalued the severity of diabetes due to personal aspects. For example, one woman said how her life is too stressful to worry about the illness. The toll of living high demand-low control lives is greater in the lesser affluent neighborhoods. Their daily lives are often too hectic for them to participate in a healthier lifestyle. Diabetes adds to this stress because residents voiced that the out of control sugar levels made them more stressed.