He refers to fatty foods and processed food from the supermarkets. Please click:
Obesity is taking a toll on our island neighbours
He is giving further support to the Minister for Health Jamie Maxtone-Graham and AIDS Holistics who have written on this matter for many years.
Mr Marles should not be discouraged by the negative, mindless vitriole on PNG Attitude.
The eccentric elderly PNG teacher Huggins is nasty to people who he thinks are above him academically but not a kiap.
But he is not a kiap either. He became a teacher having failed trekking and coolness under fire tests.
He has spent his time on PNG Attitude being an expert on all matters and defending the gay and lesbian agenda with vitriole.
With an email address huggybear@(something).com, we do wonder.
He has a hatred of the Positive Living message and any criticism of expatriate gays and lesbians.
Perhaps he wants no support for the Positive Living message. Hence the hate message to Mr Marles.
He used to harrass the founder of AIDS Holistics calling him insane. That is the exact ploy of the Australian homosexuals.
But I digress. PNG people eat much pig fat bought in the supermarkets and lambflaps.
Cooking in coconut oil brings extra saturated fat that all passes through the heart and arteries via the lymph system.
Hence a fatty build up in heart and arteries. The life span for modern PNG people is 53 years.
Please read the linked report in the posting below on 40% carbohydrate, 30% protein and 30% fat.
It is quite revealing about metabolism of food. We need fat. My daughters eat lamb flaps about once a fortnight.
FAMILY POSITIVE LIVING - AIDS HOLISTICS: FAT BUILD-UP IN ...
familypositiveliving.blogspot.com/.../fat-build-up-in-heart-and-arteri...Cached
22 May 2011 – FAMILY POSITIVE LIVING - AIDS HOLISTICS. faith, hope ...
join the lymph vessels that pass upward to enter veins of the heart on both
sides of ...
**********************
RICHARD MARLES
THE PUNCH
TRAVELLING TO THE PACIFIC always intensifies my relationship with food.
Every visit is accompanied by unsurpassed hospitality which yields an avalanche of food.
The only way of avoiding the fate of a French force-fed goose is to develop the capacity to say “no”. And, sadly, my record of saying “no” to food is less than impressive.
Bravely I struggle with mountains of yam cake and roasted pork. I wade through rivers of boiled taro and raw fish in coconut sauce. And in the great contest between denying myself culinary gratification and yielding to the joy of eating, the result is always the same: a greatly expanded girth.
There have been times when this would have been seen as an asset in the Pacific. Traditions of power used to bestow the lion’s share of it on the very large. King Taufa’ahau Tupou IV, the longest serving King of Tonga, at his peak weighed 209kg, setting a record for the world’s heaviest monarch. He was very big, very powerful and very loved.
But times change and well they should. As the deleterious health effects of obesity became apparent King Taufa’ahau went on a diet. In the process he led a campaign of better eating and exercise which saw him shrink to a mere 130kg. He went on to live a long life of 88 years.
Yet tragically, King Taufa’ahau’s example has not been replicated throughout the Pacific, for the Pacific has become more and more obese. Non-communicable diseases are the new scourge of the region.
Nauru has within its tiny population the highest rate of diabetes in the world. The average life expectancy for men is just 49 years of age.
The problem is traditional unprocessed foods are being replaced by processed foods where the nutritional value has been destroyed through the process of sterilisation and preservation.
Taro, yam and fresh fish are not the issue. Poor quality processed food is.
This food is cheap and the result is that it has left the Pacific literally eating itself to death.
Of course the problem of diets based increasingly on processed food is not unique to the Pacific or the developing world. The prevalence of NCD’s is a major problem in Australia as we grapple with an alarming increase in childhood obesity.
But relative affluence and choice provide options for those of us living in urban Australia. When there is only one shop and price means everything, the choices – which do exist in the Pacific – are harder to make.
The solutions to this problem are neither easy nor quick. Yet there are elements of culture which can help.
The Pacific is a sports loving part of the world. In Australia’s development assistance we engage in sports outreach. Be it netball, rugby or cricket, the emphasis of our work is on encouraging people to get active and encouraging governments to make the link between sports policy and health policy.
Some of the best fruit in the world is grown in the Pacific and there are efforts afoot to try have people eat more of it. In Pohnpei, Australia is supporting the fresh fruit and vegetable initiative which is a campaign that aims to reincorporate the amazing bounty of local fruit and vegetables back into the local diet.
Part of the solution lies also in better food regulation. For example, in Australia, folic acid is added to our bread. Folic acid supplements have been shown to signficantly reduce infant mortality and disability.
Likewise mandating mineral and vitamin additives such as iodine into food bound for the Pacific could help. So too could better standards around the content of fat in imported meat and tinned food.
If the Millennium Development Goals around health are to be met in the Pacific then NCD’s have to be licked. In the midst of public campaigns and public policy, personal responsibility also has a role to play. Limping along with my own diet, I am certainly familiar with all the challenges associated with that.
While this may be the biggest barrier standing between me and my fitness, let’s hope the Pacific fares better.
Richard Marles is Australia’s Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Island Affairs
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.
**********************
Obesity is taking a toll on our island neighbours
THE PUNCH
TRAVELLING TO THE PACIFIC always intensifies my relationship with food.
Every visit is accompanied by unsurpassed hospitality which yields an avalanche of food.
The only way of avoiding the fate of a French force-fed goose is to develop the capacity to say “no”. And, sadly, my record of saying “no” to food is less than impressive.
Bravely I struggle with mountains of yam cake and roasted pork. I wade through rivers of boiled taro and raw fish in coconut sauce. And in the great contest between denying myself culinary gratification and yielding to the joy of eating, the result is always the same: a greatly expanded girth.
There have been times when this would have been seen as an asset in the Pacific. Traditions of power used to bestow the lion’s share of it on the very large. King Taufa’ahau Tupou IV, the longest serving King of Tonga, at his peak weighed 209kg, setting a record for the world’s heaviest monarch. He was very big, very powerful and very loved.
But times change and well they should. As the deleterious health effects of obesity became apparent King Taufa’ahau went on a diet. In the process he led a campaign of better eating and exercise which saw him shrink to a mere 130kg. He went on to live a long life of 88 years.
Yet tragically, King Taufa’ahau’s example has not been replicated throughout the Pacific, for the Pacific has become more and more obese. Non-communicable diseases are the new scourge of the region.
Nauru has within its tiny population the highest rate of diabetes in the world. The average life expectancy for men is just 49 years of age.
The problem is traditional unprocessed foods are being replaced by processed foods where the nutritional value has been destroyed through the process of sterilisation and preservation.
Taro, yam and fresh fish are not the issue. Poor quality processed food is.
This food is cheap and the result is that it has left the Pacific literally eating itself to death.
Of course the problem of diets based increasingly on processed food is not unique to the Pacific or the developing world. The prevalence of NCD’s is a major problem in Australia as we grapple with an alarming increase in childhood obesity.
But relative affluence and choice provide options for those of us living in urban Australia. When there is only one shop and price means everything, the choices – which do exist in the Pacific – are harder to make.
The solutions to this problem are neither easy nor quick. Yet there are elements of culture which can help.
The Pacific is a sports loving part of the world. In Australia’s development assistance we engage in sports outreach. Be it netball, rugby or cricket, the emphasis of our work is on encouraging people to get active and encouraging governments to make the link between sports policy and health policy.
Some of the best fruit in the world is grown in the Pacific and there are efforts afoot to try have people eat more of it. In Pohnpei, Australia is supporting the fresh fruit and vegetable initiative which is a campaign that aims to reincorporate the amazing bounty of local fruit and vegetables back into the local diet.
Part of the solution lies also in better food regulation. For example, in Australia, folic acid is added to our bread. Folic acid supplements have been shown to signficantly reduce infant mortality and disability.
Likewise mandating mineral and vitamin additives such as iodine into food bound for the Pacific could help. So too could better standards around the content of fat in imported meat and tinned food.
If the Millennium Development Goals around health are to be met in the Pacific then NCD’s have to be licked. In the midst of public campaigns and public policy, personal responsibility also has a role to play. Limping along with my own diet, I am certainly familiar with all the challenges associated with that.
While this may be the biggest barrier standing between me and my fitness, let’s hope the Pacific fares better.
Richard Marles is Australia’s Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Island Affairs
Comments
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.
I can assure you we don't have a problem with obesity, as the solution is starvation and disease.
Add a bit of violence and neglect and everyone is lean; if not dead.
People are still dying of heart attacks at early age, Lydia. Ed
Posted by: Lydia Kailap | 10 June 2012 at 02:55 AM
Spot on Barbara! Good God! A food report from the "Office of the Sinecure, Parliamentary Secretary's Bureau of Responsibility of Pacific Affairs".
Appears that Richard Marles is becoming an authority on food and intake of it. I think we all know that the Tongan King was of rather large build. I think his mother was even bigger?
I suppose next Richard will give us his views on the drinks available when he visits his realm of responsibily in the Pacific. Nothing like a "drinky" to wash down the food.
I think the TV channels should get Richard to be a judge on those 'Master Chef Shows'? If he was good, it would probably bring in more money than he is now getting!
Yes, Kevin, Richard Marles does amaze us all.
A bit nasty and personal, Colin.When we see fat children, it often means they have fat parents.
It may be genetic or caused by the same fatty diet in the family. So too the late King of Tonga. Ed
Posted by: Colin Huggins | 09 June 2012 at 01:25 PM