Well, I'm back in Michigan staying with my folks for a month before moving to Chile.
Before I left Puerto Rico and the Ann Wigmore Natural Health Institute, Kelly came to visit me. We spent a week driving around the coast exploring the island. We took the ferry from Fajardo and went to the island of Culebra for a few nights. The beaches and snorkeling was fantastic! Lot's of sea turtles!
I really love Puerto Rico: Its people, mountains, rain forests, beaches and its tropical produce.
I really love its tropical produce! The coconuts, bananas, papayas, oranges, limes, grapefruit, avocados, mangos, watermelons, and more...
However, I was really happy to eat an apple yesterday, or rather, several apples. It's tough to find a good organic apple shipped to PR. I needed a separation from Michigan to realize how much I love and appreciate simple things like apples, cherries, berries, etc...
I will now miss the tropical foods very much. Anyone who hung out with me in PR may attest to the vast amount of bananas I ate. I believe I could beat anyone in a banana eating contest. The PR bananas and varieties are SO GOOD. One banana that I believe they called "apple banana" has a berry like flavor that would sometimes make me feel like I was eating strawberry shortcake or a similar desert- just the banana! Brilliant!
While traveling around PR, it was difficult to find good greens whenever I left the institute where we were growing greens ourselves. So, I usually resorted to a high fruitarian diet. The best place to buy fruit is not from the supermarkets but from all the fruit stands that are set up daily on busy roads.
While visiting a beach one day, I stood out like a total foreigner as I ate watermelon. Although I was the only white kid on the beach- tanned white kid that is- it was my watermelon that was drawing attention. I cut it half and scooped it out with a spoon. A young group of locals started talking to me and thought it was funny how I ate the watermelon like a bowl. I'm not sure if it was just the way I was eating it that was weird or if eating watermelon on the beach in general is weird... We communicated a bit with our little understanding and speaking of English and Spanish. It was nice.
Although I was able to use Puerto Rico's abundant raw tropical fruit to create a healthy diet for myself, I found this contrasted with much of the island both culturally and economically. Unfortunately, there is an abundant amount of fast food in Puerto Rico. Traditional bakeries are everywhere serving nutritionally lacking products of refined sugars and flours. Food carts and trucks are parked on every street and corner serving fried meats, plantains (tostones) and other foods. Obesity is very common and it seems like fry oils are as imbedded in the current culture as it is in the cells and pores of the people.
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I thought about food and health a lot while I was in Puerto Rico: What foods do I like most? Eat most? What fuels me best for my particular body type and activity? Where do these foods come from?
I recall reading a nutrition book that challenged me with a radical suggestion that sounded something like this:
The majority of your food should come from fresh local seasonal produce. Perhaps you should MOVE to the region whose produce and growing season suits your diet and needs.
Woah! This idea may seem far out but it makes intuitive sense to me.
From my little bit of studies and experience, I think that diets and health use to be very traditional. People adapted to the available and abundant food sources of their geographic region. For example, a high consumption of seal, whale, salmon for Alaskan eskimos. High consumption of fish, rice, and sea vegetables in Japan and coastal regions. Corn and chia staples for the Tarahumara tribe of Mexico. Perhaps high fruitarian diet for the tropics...
Perhaps particular people have physically adapted to better digest and perform with foods of that region as well, or perhaps sought the food that suited their needs best. For example, the Tarahumara is known for being a running tribe and their diet includes chia seed that has the property to retain water for a longer period of time when soaked, which is important for hydration in hot climates. I haven't studied any of this enough though to really know...
When I say adapt, I mean to eat to really live healthily and not just survive but thrive. In terms of Puerto Rico, I cannot believe that the people have adapted because they thrive best on a high diet of fried foods. Obesity doesn't seem essential for thriving in the tropics whereas it may be for insulation and survival in the Arctic.
Right now, I do believe there is no optimal universal diet. That belief relies on the premise that I couldn't recommend a high tropical fruit diet for an eskimo that lives in freezing temperatures. It simply isn't possible, at least naturally.
Although if a universal diet is possible, I think it would include a very high quantity of GREENS. The Ann Wigmore Living Foods Lifestyle is created in a very SIMPLE way in terms of ingredients for a universal approach to health and healing. The main staples are sprouts and greens along with sprouted nuts, seeds, fruits, veggies and fermented foods. I believe there is much truth to the Living Foods Lifestyle in which you can then add or tweak foods for your own personal needs.
Bananas are probably one of the biggest staples in my diet because they are my go-to base for breakfast smoothies. There are very few days when my breakfast is not a smoothie. My typical smoothie in Puerto Rico would contain some combination of bananas, almond milk, rejuvelac, chia seed, avocado, coconut, sprouted buckwheat groats, sunflower greens, mixed greens, carob, mango, or papaya.
Now that I'm back in Michigan, I'm thinking of how I may rework my smoothie a bit more for this region... however, I'll probably still eat a good amount of bananas for now, even though they don't taste as great.
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Perhaps I am may be best suited to live in a tropical region. However, I'm not gonna settle yet. I'm gonna keep traveling and exploring: Looking for the geography, the community, the food, the fun and everything else in life that suits me best.
I'm not saying I'm gonna settle in the tropics one day just for a banana. Food is very important to me, but there are plenty of other aspects aside from a year round growing season that support the lifestyle I'm creating: Lots of sunshine, barefoot running on the beach, the fresh air by the sea, the latin music and percussion. I love the idea of living in a thatch tree house that I make myself... I love the fact that I just spent the first winter in a long time where I didn't experience a fair to significant amount of seasonal depression during winter in Michigan. The only thing I really missed was friends and family. But, just like fruit, I realize by separation how much I appreciate them!
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