Going Local Around the World
Written: Jan 26 '08
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Excellent compilation of information
Cons: None
The Bottom Line: Recipes, science, cultural review
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| pambo's Full Review: Daphne Miller - The Jungle Effect: A Doctor Discov... |
It’s not news that there’s something wrong with the American diet. Scores of books have been written purporting to cure what ails us if we just buy X product or add or subject Y from our diets.
Many of those ideas make sense. But of particular interest is “The Jungle Effect,” which takes us literally into the jungle of indigenous foods and diets to show us what we are doing wrong and how we can eat smarter.
The benefits of changing our diets are numerous, of course: better health, support for local farmers, better use of the world’s food supply, less damaging impact on the environment.
Dr. Daphne Miller, a family practice physician with an interest in nutrition, decided to explore indigenous foods after working with a Peruvian woman whose health declined as she lived in cities and in the United States but who lost weight and regained her energy after staying with relatives in an Amazon village. And Miller herself noticed the healthy effects on herself and other Americans who were volunteering in a Peruvian village.
The discovery of the differences in what ails which community was a key motivator. In the United States, her patients suffered from diabetes, high blood pressure and heart problems. The Peruvians in the village suffered from infections and from sanitation-related illnesses, most of which could be easily remedied. Otherwise, the Peruvians were healthy, muscular, not overweight but loaded with energy.
That exploration and awareness of food as a culprit and set Miller off on a global exploration of “cold spots,” places where a particular disease or health problem was lower than might be expected. She came up with the term in opposition to “hot spots,” places where higher-than-normal rates of a disease could be found.
Iceland, both literally and figuratively, was one of her “cold spot” visits. Contrary to what others might expect, that there would be a higher rate of depression because of the long cold seasons, she found the opposite and discovered how Icelanders were keeping themselves healthy despite the lack of green vegetables in their diet. Of course, not all diets are likely to be popular; Miller found Icelandic favorites such as hakarl, svio, krustpungar and bloOmor would probably not do well in the U.S. After all, most Americans aren’t likely to take up eating, respectively, putrefied shark, halved singed sheep’s head, pickled lamb testicles or blood sausage any time soon. But she did find Icelanders eating lots of bilberries and a kind of moss, plus drinking lots of tea, all high in Omega-3, which has consistently been linked to lower levels of depression. And it wasn’t just the fish that produced higher levels of Omega-3; inland, Icelanders who relied on more mutton than fish were also rating high in Omega-3 because the sheep had been feeding on the healthy moss.
Miller doesn’t stop with Iceland; she also visits Mexico to find the diet that challenges diabetes; to Crete to answers to cardiac issues; Cameroon for bowel problems and Okinawa, Japan for breast and prostate cancers.
She collects and provides recipes from each of her cold spots and then, wisely, shows us how to find all or most of the ingredients locally, which, as she acknowledges, can be a real problem for some Americans. After all, posole ingredients or Icelandic-raised mutton aren’t necessarily available from your local supermarket. And, this is a biggie: she warns against inauthentic products that mislead consumers into believing they are getting healthy, indigenous kinds of foods when they aren’t. Some of these products are actually far worse because of the processing.
She relates this story: One night while dining at a Thai restaurant, she found herself in the position to see inside the kitchen. There sat a big container of Skippy peanut butter. All those Thai dishes based on supposedly healthy and authentic recipes using peanuts were, in fact, using a processed American food known to be high in sugar. Similarly, soy products are often diluted or polluted with elements that are not good for us. Not incidentally, she firmly recommends that we eat at home more often to control what we are eating, and staying out of restaurants, an idea not likely to be popular in some circles.
This is a truly marvelous book. Miller uses some of her own patients’ experiences to explore the global food and health issues and finds us, the land of opportunity, sadly wanting.
It is well written and thoughtfully organized, moving from case study, to local exploration with history and cultural details, personal experiences from her visits, recipes and scientific explanations, followed by commentary on how to adapt or use the recipes or her other knowledge here in the United States.
This book won’t be available until April, but I recommend ordering it now. It’s the perfect blend of information for anyone trying to get healthier and keep the disease of Western diets spreading too far.
Recommended:
Yes
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Member: Pam
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