Dietary Trends in India

I will post pictures tomorrow, internet too slow now!

Although today was a slow day at the clinic, it is amazing how quickly patients zoom in and out.  Because it was slow, however, some of the doctors took the time to explain to me Indian dietary trends.  Adults here are being hit on many fronts.  First, people here are genetically predisposed to be smaller and skinnier, so they have a lower calorie need.  Also, protein was scarce just ten years ago.  The head doctor told me that eggs were a rarity when he was a child, let alone meat.  Even in the legume-based foods I have seen here, mainly daal and idli, the main composition is rice.  Second, the adults grew up doing many tasks such as walking everywhere, making all food by hand, washing clothes by hand, among other things.  Now, a machine has replaced all of these things with the introduction of Western technology within their single lifetime.  So, they are smaller, moving less than they used to, and eating many processed foods that have made their way into the diet.  In a diet that is already dominated by carbohydrate (rice at every meal), junk food is doing no favors for the diabetes and obesity epidemic.   In Trichy, a city based on agriculture and village culture, many people either are too poor to eat well, or they are not educated.  Patients here usually pay in cash, and when they feel better, they leave the hospital.  Because they take all of their files and information and keep it at home, and pay with cash rather than using insurance, the doctor has no legal or other means to keep patients there.  Because of this, many patients will feel better momentarily, only to come back the next day with the same problem.  One woman with severe pancreatitis and severe intestinal pain was in a serious condition.  When she received treatment and medicine, she left against the doctor’s wishes.  I am sure I will see her again. 

I was also introduced to the diabetic diet here.  The target is to consume 40% of calories from carbohydrate, with the rest coming from protein and fat.  This does not seem possible at all, considering the prescribed diet at each meal is 30% wheat, 30% rice, 30% vegetables, and 10% legumes or meat.  I will have to ask the dietitian more questions tomorrow.  Unfortunately, the hospital I am at is very small, so not many people come in for diet advice.  Hopefully Dr. Relton will come through soon and hook me up with Kauvery Hospital, the largest corporate hospital here, so that I can see more!

Some interesting cultural things I learned involve marriage.  My wife Haley and I got married recently.  We chose each other, without much parental involvement.  We both work and go to school, we are relatively young, and we have discussed whether or not to have children some day.  Here, the custom age to be married is 25, the parents chose the bride and groom, students will study without working until they have completed school with the father paying for everything, and often the wife will not work.  Additionally, one Dr. Siva tole me that children are always a happy accident; they are never planned.  One married woman at the hospital said she is grateful that her husband gave her the freedom to work after marriage.  While she was not given an option, she said she will allow her daughter to chose her husband.  It seems things are slowly changing.