Eating Habits In The Caribbean Diet

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In the years gone by, the Caribbean diet consisted mostly of provisions and other crops, grown locally. Almost every household had a backyard whereby foods were grown. This was possible as wives were housewives and life was not so hectic and household members were doing their own gardening. Today however, due to the economy and the fact that most household members are required to work to sustain life, there are no longer those backyard gardens thereby forcing the diet and lifestyle of the Caribbean people to change drastically. The Caribbean has now adopted the eating habits of the United States and even the diseases that come along with those types of foods.
Now in todays’ world where the economy is changing swiftly there is the need for
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Having to go into the world of work the Caribbean people no longer has the time to grow their own garden. Hence the reason, fast food restaurants from the United States have become fully globalized and this is no different in the Caribbean. Many of the restaurants in the United States have a multitude of franchises in the Caribbean. As such the diet and lifestyle of the Caribbean people has changed as we have adopted those from the United States and all the diseases that goes with that lifestyle. We now indulge in foods that are mostly fried and consist of a …show more content…
Yes, diabetes is hereditary but it also stems from lifestyle factors and poor eating habits. Hereditary plays an important role in the development of diabetes but those chances increase when our diets include foods that carry a high content of sugar on a regular basis. The regular consumption of fried foods as is done in the Caribbean region increases our body mass index which in turn causes persons to become obese which then leads to other health complications like diabetes and coronary failure (Datz T, 2014). Before fried foods were consumed on a regular basis persons never suffered from these diseases in such a great extent. The diet and lifestyle before was quite different and even though they ran the chance of developing diabetes due to hereditary reasons they did not due to their smart eating choices. So, the evidence is there to show that the change in lifestyle and food consumption is the main reason behind all the diseases that follow. Trinidad & Tobago currently possesses one of the highest mortality rates for diabetes which stems from the poor eating habits of the citizens (USC News, n.d.). This seems to be something that is a problem to control as everyday there are new fast food restaurants opening and people are consuming these foods on a regular basis without any