Time to break the sugar addiction

There is an addiction epidemic in First Nation communities. The drug in question is a dangerous white powder that resembles those that are sold in dark alleys and sleazy bars, yet this drug is on every store shelf and restaurant table. Make no mistake: it’s a killer and is debilitating for many of my people. That drug is sugar.

When I was a child growing up in Attawapiskat, I knew nothing about good nutrition or healthy eating. My mom and dad made sure that we always had food on the table and, at the best of times; it was nourishment from the land. At the worst of times, it was sugary cereal, processed meats, canned foods and way too many chocolate bars, cookies, pastries and chips.

In the old days, most of our diet consisted of geese, caribou, moose, rabbit and lots of fish. People then were relatively healthy and because they lived a challenging and physical life on the land, they were in good shape.

When my people were forced onto reserves to live in permanent settlements, we lost our nomadic lifestyle. With modern times, most people began to find jobs in the community working for the band office, government offices or the school, but many ended up on welfare. There were not many opportunities back in those days for employment and if you wanted to go to school, you had to leave the community. However, even if life took a turn for the worse when we were thrown into the reserve system, most of our people managed to venture out on the land. We still managed to fish and hunt at times on our traditional lands.

The more we drifted away from our traditional diet that and lifestyle, the more problems we started to develop with our health. Most of the time, none of us had a lot of money but we did have access to the local store. The problem is that the items people could afford were mostly products like canned soup, processed meats, canned stew, bacon, hot dogs, hamburgers, frozen meats and plain white bread.

Over the years, these foods became the staple for most of our people. When I was young I noticed that there was an increasing problem with obesity. A lot of the people around me were very overweight. One of the biggest problems in terms of diet was the amount of sugar people were consuming. Of course back in those days, no one realized that there was a lot of sugar and salt in many processed foods. First Nation people really got addicted to sugar. Just about everyone I know up the James Bay coast loves their sugar.

Native and non-Native people were much healthier before sugar became such a huge part of our diets. With the huge consumption of refined sugar combined with a less active lifestyle, diabetes started to invade First Nation communities.

Many people don’t realize the powerful of the sugar lobby, which pressures governments to allow them to promote their product far and wide. The average person has a ridiculous amount of sugar in their diet. People who drink soda pop are actually consuming many tablespoons of sugar per drink. Sugar is also hidden in many food products, including cereals, breads and a lot of processed foods. Researchers say that sugar has as much addictive power as hard drugs. So the next time you have a craving for a big jelly doughnut or a dish of ice cream or a soda pop, realize that you are feeling withdrawal from a very powerful drug.

Anything you can do to lower your consumption of sugar will help you to live a longer and healthier life. Just stop drinking soda pop and don’t put sugar in your hot drinks. Move away from this white poison. Diabetes has ruined and threatens the health of way too many people. Break the addiction. Cut back on the sugar.