(click here if you love pork)


Had a discussion with Filipino TV chef Ron Bilaro (Adobo Nation on TFC).   I told him the recent uptick in young couples from the Philippines (30-40's) coming to see me.  As with most folks in that age group, I usually find high BMI (measurement of body fat), elevated blood pressure, elevated cholesterol.  Of course most are "shocked" to find they now have risk factors for heart attack and stroke!  Yet everyone proclaims they feel great!  And I applaud the fact but also say that my training is to forecast how to get from point A to point B.  The former is how lifestyle is now, the latter is how a well balanced lifestyle should be.  Standard medical practice is to say we should lose weight, exercise daily and lower cholesterol.  DUH.....if it were easy then everyone would have done it by the time they walk into my exam room. 
The realistic approach, (which is what I love about Integrative Medicine) is to plot out a path to point B, embrace the strenghts of the patient, his knowledge base, home life, likes and dislikes; then design sustainable steps to get the lifestyle change to occur.  If it were as easy as giving a prescription for a pill and rechecking blood tests in 3 months then saying "you are good, see you next year" then by golly, heart disease would have been wiped out 18 years ago when the first statin was released.   Dont get me wrong, these meds work for people with advanced heart disease.....but to slam everyone that is found with cholesterol issues with meds and not first work on diet/nutrition/food addictions......like putting a bandaid on a gunshot wound. 
Anyway......I was asking him if he build me a data base of mostly vegetable dishes from around the Philippines that my average middle age couple might be able to substitute 5 nights a week instead of a braised meat dish and not feel like they are being robbed of their heritage just to live life in the place with streets paved with gold.  Anyone that has been to a Filipino party will attest to the sight of a dining room table decked out with mostly brown colored dishes.  Lechon (roasted pig), Lumpia (eggrolls), Pancit (noodles) and steamed rice with lecheflan (sugary desert) for desert.  One of the problems with most households I visit is these feast foods will be served 5 days a week.  (not specifically the above but usually a saucy, salty braised meat dish with large volumes of rice).  Combine that with the fast foods available within 1/2 mile of most suburban/urban neighborhoods and you have the makings of -33% of all adults being obese. 
This isnt the norm for all Filipinos, neither is it the norm for 1/3 of the American families but it is thought to be a reason for the growing epidemic of obesity in the US. 
Ayurveda (Indian healing) has a dictum that for every area on earth, there are common diseases that occur.  Within that same area there will also be a harvest that treats the disease.   Perhaps Ayurveda didnt expect food to be so processed that it causes an addictive "high" when ingested or that food could be transported 2000 miles away so you can "indulge" any time of the year.  My mom used to send me 3 16inch long "Big Johns Cheese Steaks" double stacked with strip steak and dripping with American cheese, mayonaise on an Italian roll when I was in college and everyone in the dorm used to gather round and feast on my care package every month of the year. 
The bottom line with my project is to fine tune allowing patients to feel empowered yet satisfied to maintain a lifestyle that will get them to point B.  If I just say stop eating meat and increase your ingestion of rabbit food (as my brother in law refers to my lunch) most will feel robbed, and give in to the taste and smell of steak/hamburger/lechon before the 3 month time when I recheck blood levels of cholesterol.  Social media, TV adds, billboards.....for Gods sake, even the atmosphere around tailgate parties from a mile away will be drenched with the smell of hamburgers, hotdogs and barbque.  (like having alcholic hang out in a liquor store)

 

To me for a change to be sustainable, it has to feel good, taste good and you have to be able to show it off with pride, and this isnt one size fits all. 

(click to see the addendum post from 10 12 12)