Following the launch of Caribbean Moves, a new initiative based on the successful Jamaica Moves campaign, the Ministry of Health and Wellness in Barbados launched their Barbados Moves campaign.

The launch took place on 20^th October 2018 and was led by Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Bostic, Barbados’ Minister of Health and Wellness. In attendance was Dr Christopher Tufton Jamaica’s health minister, who said:

‘Caribbean Moves’ is an attempt to mobilise the region one country at a time, and one person at a time through taking personal responsibility for your health and by doing the things that are responsible for a healthy life.

 

“Finally, it’s about uniting the Caribbean through one message, one method, one approach and by extension strengthening us as a people.”

Barbados Moves will form the island’s national approach to tackling non-communicable diseases and will focus on three key areas, similar to Jamaica Moves,  which are physical activity, healthy eating and knowing your health status.

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Image Credit: Barbados Moves (Instagram)

On 27^th September 2018, Caribbean leaders hosted a breakfast meeting at the UN High Level Meeting on Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) in New York. The theme for this meeting was “Moving the Caribbean Towards Healthier Lives – Step It Up!”

Chaired by Dr Timothy Harris,  the Prime Minister of St Kitts and Nevis, leaders used this meeting to announce the launch of Caribbean Moves, an initiative that aims to re-energise health promotion efforts across the Caribbean through creative  and innovative partnerships.

Caribbean leaders recognised that progress has been made in tackling NCDs but with the Caribbean’s mortality rate for NCDs being the highest in the Americas, a more coordinated approach is needed. Caribbean Moves aims to achieve this.

Caribbean Moves will build on the very successful Jamaica Moves campaign which focuses on physical activity, healthy eating and age appropriate health checks.  The Jamaica Moves campaign is led by Dr Christopher Tufton, Jamaica’s Minister of Health, who is a very active participant in the Jamaica Moves campaign. He said of Caribbean Moves:

“This programme is intended to scale up the efforts of ongoing national programmes for increasing physical activity and healthy eating across the Caribbean. Among other things, Caribbean Moves will galvanise countries under one vision but each countries project will be unique fostering a cultural and social movement for regular physical activity within the Caribbean.”

Over the next few months a secretariat will be established for the Caribbean Moves initiative and their remit will be to develop an implementation schedule, coordinate activities and strengthen existing work in the Caribbean Region.

We look forward to seeing the Caribbean Moves initiative develop and are currently working on our own efforts to tackle NCDs in St Kitts and Nevis through a new piece of work  we are undertaking with the FIT Wellness Centre in Nevis. More information about this project will be available soon.

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Picture Credit: CARICOM

Wednesday 27th June, 2018

Our volunteers are back with another episode in their childhood obesity series. Today, is a quick podcast with Marecia, Eurecia, Jorecia, Chris and Vikell sharing how they stay healthy. In this episode they provide some great insight on easy ways to adopt a healthy lifestyle. They’re on a mission to make the Caribbean a healthy place.

We’re always looking for good public health books to read and have been going through various public health reading lists. One book that kept coming up was Sweetness #9 by Stephan Eirik Clark so we decided to order this book from Amazon and get reading.

Sweetness #9 is a fictional book that focuses on the food industry and explores the impact of additives (in the book they focus on flavour enhancers and artificial colouring) and sweeteners, but the book also touches on issues around food regulation, the approval process and the nature of modern life that leads to the demand for processed, easy to prepare meals. This was an interesting read that opened us up to the possible reality of the inner workings of the food industry and the fact that we’re unlikely to be fully aware of, nor understand, what has been added to the processed foods we eat and the long-term effects of these additives.

Sweetness #9 takes its readers on a 39-year journey as we follow the life of the main character, David Leveraux, who starts his career, after graduating from a food science program with a MSc, as an eager Flavourist-in-Training at a leading global food company. His new job starts well, and he is assigned to the Animal Testing division where his role is to test the long-term toxicity of an artificial sweetener called Sweetness #9 (the testing is a legal requirement before FDA approval can be granted). Whilst conducting these studies on Sweetness #9 David notices some side effects in both rodents and monkeys. Feeling conflicted he isn’t sure what to do, but he eventually reports this to management, but this doesn’t go well, and he ends up being dismissed from the company. This leaves him feeling disillusioned and he wonders what to do with his knowledge of the effects of the sweetener: should he report them to the authorities or not? David keeps quiet and life moves on, but as the years go by Sweetness #9 is approved by the FDA and it is in everything from soft drinks to toothpaste. David continues to feel conflicted especially as he observes, over the next 30 years, society changing, including his own family, who consume a lot of Sweetness #9. The public is gaining weight, ADHD is identified and seems to be on the increase, and anxiety and generalised dissatisfaction is rampant – all these effects are the same effects he observed years before in the rodents and monkeys exposed to Sweetness #9.

Through the main character of David we explore how families’ eating habits have changed in the modern era, how food is manipulated and the politics behind food. We see food scientists question the intentions behind the decisions being made in their industry – why are we really making children’s medicine that tastes like bubble gum and candy apples? Here’s an interesting exchange from the book, although this is fiction you can imagine this type of conversation happening.

                  “I just don’t know if we should be doing this.”

                 “What?”

                  “Making it like candy.”

        “Children’s medicine? So, this is political, is it?”

         “What if kids start trading them on the playground?”

“This is why we have nurses. To dispense medicine. Or are you for sick children now? Hardly a platform I can   support.”

“All right, all right. You’ll have a new formulation by the end of the day. But when I’m called before Congress to explain how America’s children came to be like fatted calves, standing there ready and compliant for the next Rasputin, it’s your name I’ll say while leaning into the microphone.”

This was a scenario where a young flavourist is convinced to make children’s anti-psychotic liquid medicine taste like wild cherry to appease a multi-national pharmaceutical company and thus ensure they keep said company as a client.

A story that ran through the book was one based around Hitler, we struggled at first to see the relevance of this story-line but it all come together nicely at the end, we won’t spoil it for you.  I don’t know how true to life this story-line is, but we did find bits of it fascinating.  In the book, flavourists were recruited during the war, as food was scarce, to create meals that would allow military leaders to have the sensation of having a gourmet meal. So, using meagre resources and their knowledge of chemistry they mimicked food textures and flavours so perfectly that leaders felt they were eating the real thing. Also, in the book, flavourists were recruited during the war for other reasons, to fight the enemy in a subtle way. So, the book really gave a wide-ranging look at the role of flavourists in society.

This was an interesting read and forces readers to reflect on the food we eat and how additives and sweeteners could be affecting the health and wellbeing of our society.

Want to read this book too? You can purchase a copy on Amazon, see options below.

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Disclosure: this post contains affiliate links. Find out more here

Wednesday 2nd May, 2018

In this week’s episode we have a really interesting and insightful conversation with Le’Nise Brothers, the founder of Eat Love Move, about fibroids, hormones, diet and lifestyle.

We’re so happy to announce that our April Fibroids Twitter Chat will be with  Le’Nise Brothers on Wednesday 18th April at 7pm,  GMT (that’s 11am PST, 2pm EST and 2pm AST).

Le’Nise Brothers,  is a nutrition and wellbeing coach for women who struggle with low energy, sugar cravings and hormonal issues such as PMS, PCOS, endometriosis, fibroids, post-natal depletion and perimenopause.  Le’Nise loves seeing her clients regain their spark, improve their health and boost their energy.

Le’Nise is a registered naturopathic Nutritional Therapist, specialising in women’s health, anxiety, depression and weight loss.  She qualified after an intensive 3 year programme at the College of Naturopathic Medicine in London, England, including over 200 clinical hours seeing clients in the student clinic.  She is also a member of the British Association of Nutritional Therapists (BANT), a regulatory body that oversees nutritional therapists in the UK.

We’ll be having a really interesting discussion with Le’Nise on the  the topic of fibroids, hormones and nutrition.

So, if you have a burning question on fibroids, the role that hormones play in their development and how  our diet impacts hormonal disorders like fibroids, then do join us on 18th April. To take part in the conversation please use the hashtag #FibroidsChat.

For more information on Le’Nise, please visit her website  eatlovemove.com or follow her on social media

Twitter:  www.twitter.com/eatlovemove

Facebook: www.facebook.com/eatlovemovenutrition

Instagram:  www.instagram.com/eatlovemove/

Wednesday 28th February, 2018

In this episode we speak to 82 year old Joan Ajose, a retired HR Regional Manager for a leading oil company in the Caribbean. We explore how she has stayed healthy over the years. We discuss  what her diet was like as a child, her happiest moments and learn that the hurricanes of last year were the most challenging experiences of her life.

Wednesday 21st February, 2018

In this week’s episode, we explore what ultra-processed food actually is – is it just a trendy term or a meaningful classification of food?

Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, in a bid to tackle childhood obesity and its related health problems, has announced a ban on new fast-food outlets being located within 400m of existing or proposed primary and secondary schools.  The Mayor’s office has said that currently a quarter of fast-food outlets are within five minutes of schools.

In addition, the Mayor is proposing that when planning permission is granted to fast-food outlets, that they be required to sign up to the Healthier Catering Commitment for London. This is a scheme that recognises businesses in London that demonstrate a commitment to providing their customers with a healthier option by reducing saturated fat, salt and sugar in their dishes.

This ban is much-needed in London where there are 8,000 fast-food outlets throughout London with 2,000 of these being within five minutes of schools. This gives children quick and easy access to unhealthy foods, that are very cheap.  The Mayor’s office said that just one of these meals  contains 60% of our recommended daily calorie intake, half of our recommended salt and saturated fat intake and  no fruits and vegetables.

We know that many school children consume the unhealthy meals prepared by these outlets every day contributing to the childhood obesity crisis.

In London, a staggering 40% of children are overweight or obese when they finish primary school. This puts them at an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, heart disease and a number of other diseases.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan said:

“Takeaway restaurants are a vibrant part of London life, but it’s important that they are not encouraging our children to make poor food choices.

 

“I am working hard to create a healthier London and this must start with the food that our children eat. As promised in my manifesto, I am using all of my powers through my new London Plan to prevent new takeaways from being built just down the road from schools as part of a package of measures to tackle the ticking time bomb of childhood obesity and help us all lead healthier lives.”

This scheme is very promising and if successful should ensure that we improve young Londoner’s health. There is also a need to ensure that existing fast-food outlets are targeted so that the 8,000 outlets in London play their role in improving the health of Londoners.

In September, the World Cancer Research Fund published the latest data from their Continuous Update Project on cancer prevention highlighting what increases and decreases our risk of developing cancer.

Their summary is a very concise, easy-to-read booklet based on the latest evidence on risk factors for cancer. One of their main messages is that one third of the most common cancers could be prevented by a healthy diet, maintaining a healthy weight and being physically active.

Their summary is divided into three sections:

• Strong evidence on what increases cancer risk
• Strong evidence on what decreases cancer risk
• Cancer prevention recommendations

When looking at what increases cancer risk, factors such as being overweight or obese, consuming alcohol, processed meat and red meat are listed as well as a number of other factors. Whilst non-starchy vegetables, fruit,  physical activity, dietary fibre, wholegrain and a number of other factors are listed as reducing cancer risk.

The WCRF end their summary with a list of cancer prevention recommendations as follows:

• Be a healthy weight
• Move more
• Avoid high calorie foods and sugary drinks
• Enjoy more grains, veg and beans
• Limit red meat and processed meat
• Don’t drink alcohol
• Eat less salt
• Avoid mouldy grains and cereals
• Don’t rely on supplements, eat a healthy diet
• If you can, breastfeed your baby

WCRF Continuous Update Project is an ongoing initiative to review global research on cancer prevention focusing on how lifestyle factors such as diet, exercise and weight impact our risk of developing cancer.  Based on these findings the WCRF will update their Cancer Prevention Recommendations which they hope will provide the public, governments and charitable organisations with accurate information on how to reduce cancer risk.

For more information you can download the full summary below or visit the WCRF’s website.