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Addicted to Chefette (Fast food)

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pro-shottas
Pro-Shottas Soccer School proudly displays the sign on the gate of the BET Sports Club.

The battle to win the taste buds of our youth has gone into high gear. Our society has reached the point where convenience is being given priority above eating healthy by a modern day Barbadian. Bear in mind the national health budget is over 700 million and per capita ranks as the third highest in the Caribbean.

If we accept that the health of a nation is the wealth of a nation then we should be very concerned about what 2010 research has revealed about the incidence of obesity in our youth population.

  • Over 30% in the 9 to10 age group are obese/overweight
  • 12% had high blood pressure

One does not have to be a medical practitioner to know that obese individuals are vulnerable to many types of health risks e.g. hypertension and heart disease, respiratory disease and of course the big D (Diabetes). They they are the non-medical issues which have to be managed as well read low esteem, signalization etc.

Parents are responsible for the upbringing of our children. Marketeers also know that purchasing decisions of adults are influenced or in this case manipulated by targeting the message at children. The image above is one example where a popular football school in Barbados that recruits young boys and girls has been able to attract sponsorship from fast food Chefette restaurant and all that comes with it. A visit to many primary schools will also reveal the Chefette brand printed on exercise books, pencils, book covers all done with the objective to keep the Chefette brand top of the young minds.

The fast food experience has become so embedded in decision making that a trip to Chefette restaurant has become threaded in our lifestyle. In recent weeks Barbadians have witnessed ministers of government featured at ribbon cutting ceremonies at the opening of Burger King and Chefette restaurants.   What message is our leaders sending? Our leaders publicly support the littering of fast food restaurants across the landscape of Barbados and at the same time struggle with executing policy to promote behavioural change in the citizenry. The BU household is not saying that fast food restaurants are to be blamed solely for the bad food being ingested by our youth. However, the question must be asked what is being done to counter the aggressive messaging of fast food restaurants.

Burger King and Chefette fast food restaurants are headed by Bizzy Williams and the Haloute family. The influence of big business or well off individuals on government will be difficult to counter. Government is in the business of promoting economic activity. Also as political parties contributions to the campaign coffers are welcomed from individuals and businesses like Bizzy and Chefette restaurant.

Is it too late to save improve the health of our children and in the process the wealth of the nation?

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103 responses to “Addicted to Chefette (Fast food)”

  1. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    Recall on Tuesday, June 16, 2015 during the 2015/2016 Financial Statement and Budgetary Proposals, Sinckler announced that effective August 1, a 10% excise tax would be applied to the cost of locally produced and imported sweetened beverages, such as carbonated soft drinks, juice drinks, sports drinks and fruit juices. The tax would be levied on the value of the product before the Value Added Tax (VAT) is applied.

    Reports in the Monday, June 22, 2015 edition of the Daily Nation suggested “the tax was less about health and more about generating revenue.” In response, the Ministry of Health issued a statement on Thursday, June 25, 2015, which mentioned “the tax is INTENDED to help REDUCE the HIGH INCIDENCE of non-communicable diseases, especially diabetes, and CONTRIBUTE to the OVERALL GOOD HEALTH of Barbadians.”

    The statement further disclosed “there is new evidence emerging, which suggest that taxing food high in salt and sugar “had good public health benefits”. The statement referred to international and local research which spoke to the devastating impact of high caloric sugar sweetened beverages on health.”

    Also, according to the statement, “the last study on the DIRECT and INTEREST cost of diabetes and hypertension indicated an ANNUAL expenditure of BDS $225M.”

    Yet, after placing this information in the public domain, “Our leaders publicly support the littering of fast food restaurants across the landscape of Barbados and at the same time struggle with executing policy to promote behavioural change in the citizenry.”

    However, some individuals will defend this “contradiction” by arguing these fast food restaurants are welcomed investments in the economy, which would provide much needed jobs and generate economic activity and growth.

  2. Anthony Davis Avatar
    Anthony Davis

    My problem with this tax is that the tax collector deemed it fit to remove fish – which is a health food – from the basket of goods which are zero-rated for tax. On the one hand he taxes carbonated drinks, and on the other he puts the same tax on fish, which became more expensive. This makes no sense whatsoever! I wrote an article about this which Barbados Today printed but chose not to put my name to it. Is that not plagiarism if it’s printed without my name?

  3. ac Avatar
    ac

    How about Liquor and Cigarettes don/t these items fall into the same category as consumables or products that are addicted and bad for peoples health, why not a ban,
    I tell you what i would believe the seriousness of your article for govt response to be applied to fast food restaurants as suggested in the article when you include items like rum and tobacco . Until such a call is sounded for alcohol and tobacco products i read and understand your article as politically mischievous and shallow in its attempt at chastising govt for allowing fast food restaurants across the island which are few when compared to the easy access of liquor and tobacco across the island products which have been medically proven to impact negatively on peoples health
    Btw across this island children are introduced to tobacco and alcohol in some households but no one ever hear the hue and cry for govt intervention on the calls for ban, However as usual when govt initiated a solution to jobs the first call out the box is for those who oppose to rummage through their Pandoras box pull out their imaginary friends and call on the frenzy brigade for action

  4. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    Fast foods will be the death of the nation, exactly what many want. It’s up to the public npt to waste money on fast foods that is damaging their health of their children and themselves for generations to come.

    The island is not so big that each community cannot be educated to the dangers of fast food by the same community councils that taxpayer’s money is being wasted on.

    The easiest people to get rid of are bajans who hate to listen, because of stuoid leaders.

    Each family who cares about the health of their loved ones are now responsible for cutting down on their intake of unhealthy fast foods. ..or allow them to suffer years of bad health…it is a personal choice.

  5. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    Stupid leaders and dumb yardfowls. …..

  6. balance Avatar
    balance

    “In recent weeks Barbadians have witnessed ministers of government featured at ribbon cutting ceremonies at the opening of Burger King and Chefette restaurants. What message is our leaders sending?”

    That fast food restaurants like any other business entity provide employment for people and that Barbadians still have a choice of what to eat and where to eat as long as they have the means to pay. Eating greasy foods has always been part and parcel of our culture.

  7. candy Avatar
    candy

    I still looking for a coroner’s report dat somebody dead from Chefette. Wunna full uh shite. Stupse. Guh long and drink more water an freaking drop down dead…EVERYBOdY GOT TUH DEAD..DUH INT NUH IMMORTALS PUN DIS EARTH. D stress gine mash up evaboody in Bim.

  8. june Avatar
    june

    Betcha eff deese facking critics had money in Chefette duh din gine utter one damn word ..matter of fact duh would prolly all like now be using duh ‘writing’ skills to create new Chefette ads. LEFF D PEOPLE LONE AN GO AN EAT WUH WUNNA FEEL LIKE EATING!!

  9. Anne Avatar
    Anne

    Several years ago the then prime minister of Barbados Hon Errow W. Barrow said that Bajan were cultivating north american taste as it relates to their food.

    We cannot blame the fast food owners. Blacks make up over 90% of the population in Barbados. The blacks are the ones who are supporting these businesses. We have stopped cooking our food for the grease and salt that these folks sell. I do not eat fast food, and I very seldom see white folks or indians at these places. Go figure that one out.

    Our population is obese, and people seem not to care.

    The people must make a conscious decision not to get trapped in this madness. Our eating habits must change, these people will be laughing their way to the bank, the doctors will reap the spinoff from the illnessses and the funeral directors will earn their pay too.

    As for the politicians they don’t care. Each person must decide IF they will allow these people to decide for them what they will eat. Bajans may be bright but they are not shining.

  10. Kammie Holder Avatar
    Kammie Holder

    Morning guys readers, I was wondering how many vagrants who eat from garbage cans and bite of rats heads die suddenly?

  11. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    That’s the bottomline…I lived in the US and Canada many years….never ate their fast food and there is a restuatant and roach coach on every street corner, ya can find several on one block alone.

    Eating out is a yearly thing for some people, some make it a daily religion, they are the ones who suffer health problems the most. To them I say, hapoy fast fooding.

    It’s up to Bajans to allow fast food to kill them.

    Several people I know said they have had stomach problens after eating Chefette beef rotis.

  12. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    Theu are immune Kammie…you try that and yall die immediately. ..lol

  13. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    They…you will.

  14. de pedantic Dribbler Avatar
    de pedantic Dribbler

    David, your rebuke of the ‘fast food’ industry has absolute merit. But this is a multifaceted problem and Chefette or Burger King or KFC is but ONE concern. @Balance has a valid point that “Eating greasy foods has always been part and parcel of our culture”. The older heads will recall years back that Dr. Fraser became ‘unpopular’ when he excoriated Bajans for their eating habits – based on our traditional love for sauce (food type only in this case) and our over indulgence in unhealthy eating.

    The problem did not start with fast food joints — just as joints dd not start our serious crime problems (complete non-sequitar, of course. loll) — so we must also discuss the lack of proper parental guidance which contributes to the obesity and other health problems. As you stated “Parents are responsible for the upbringing of our children”.

    As a parent I am confounded about getting my kids out on the playground in a really focused way…I tried cycling, de swimming pool, soccer. Even mandated a minimum five push-up reps daily to expand ideally to 25. Steeeupse. A successful coach I am NOT.

    But I have been able to ensure that sodas are a no-no…well every, three months or so, doesn’t hurt.

    All these issues are driven by parents; social class/education and income…

    Recently saw a reference to a condition seen in rural America called ‘Mountain Dew Mouth’. We can call it ‘Ju-C mout’ in local parlance. It was described as: “painful dental problems in young children caused by too much sugary soda”. Nothing strange to us in general as the new regulations cited above sought to address those exact concerns.

    My point is that when you are deprived of sensible alternatives (or are a damn lazy parent or a person who shouldn’t be a parent) you will feed your toddler Mountain Dew or Ju-C from his bottle because it’s the simplest way to satisfy his/her needs.

    As the years progress, you also default to Cheffette to satisfy those needs. So YES blame the joints for not providing more ‘healthy’ alternatives but who to blame for laziness and lack of an exercise program and lack of parenting sense…I gotta redouble my coaching skills!!! Oh lawd.

  15. David Avatar
    David

    @Dee Word

    We have always had crime.

    We have always suffered from NCDs.

    We have always have the Israeli and the Palestinians going at it.

    So what is your point?

    @balance

    In the same way individuals must hold themselves responsible what about the fast food industry that now little our landscape?

    Some of you believe gorging on fast food high in salt, and fats and god knows what else is fine go ahead. Let some of us who want to be sensible about what we eat do so.

    #jesustakethewheel

  16. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    The parents play the best part in deterring children away from fast foods and unhealthy sodas. I have one daughter hated me for years because I gave my children no sodas, no sweets…only water and fresh juice, mauby, if ya can drink it bitter….. if ya want to drink sodas, when you grow up, find a job and stock ya own fridge with it….that was my motto. ..of course I was unpopular.

    If ya want to eat garbage from restaurants…when ya grow up, find a job and buy garbage from restaurants. I thought that was being fair…as a parent.

    Surprise, surprise..nearly 40 years later, my children have children of their own and they cannot have sodas, sweets or fast foods, only water or fresh juice, of course if my grands want any of that along with fast foods, they are told, when you grow up ….find a job,…………and I smile to hear that.

    Discipline for healthy living and eating starts in the home.

    The folks I went to school with, those still with us, who could not live without sodas and fast foods…..well just say, I do not want to be them, I much prefer be me, no high blood pressure, no diabetes, no obesity, no heart problems, no liver problems, no kidney problems.,.not to be nasty, but when I hear them complaining, I tell them straight up, ya could have prevented it or slowed it down. We call know we will not be healthy forever or live forever, but why speed up ya own suffering.

    Those who are in a hurry to enrich doctors and undertakers. ..fine by me, I much prefer enjoy my money in the interim…lol

    Just like smokers, they all arrogant and nasty when you tell them their second hand smoke is bothering you , some have the audacity to want to curse you for asking them to move away with their poisonous smoke, but see them on their ventilators years later when they cannot breathe fighting and gasping for their last breath of air….they got the nerve to expect sympathy….and sue the tobacco companies too.

    Let me see them suing the fast food joints and winning…though there we some lawsuits against MacDonalds when the pigs tried to eat themselves to death.

  17. de pedantic Dribbler Avatar
    de pedantic Dribbler

    @David at 6:26 AM …re “….We have always suffered from NCDs. We have always have the Israeli and the Palestinians going at it. So what is your point?”

    Oh dear, my crisp prose (loll) is failing badly I see. I thought my point was like good pre and post Brexit Waterford Crystal: solid and clear. Hint, check the summary paragraph. smile.

    But seriously David, how can you ask me that question based on the essay YOU presented in which YOUR summary paragraph asked : “Is it too late to save improve the health of our children and in the process the wealth of the nation?”

    You were confronted with views which referred to our long past of eating greasy, salty and fatty foods, suggesting that this has been a long standing issue. Yet you just completely dismiss that to assert :

    “Some of you believe gorging on fast food high in salt, and fats and god knows what else is fine go ahead. Let some of us who want to be sensible about what we eat do so.”

    My brother, that is a Trumpism. You pin your debate opponent with a falsehood and then knock the stuffing out of him based on said inaccuracy. Tut. tut. smh. A good lollmho.

    Let the record show that WE are responsible for our eating habits. We have stopped our automatic exercising caused by lots of walking to and from home and have become less discerning about how we purchase ‘cooked’ food.

    If you are inclined to place the blame for our health issues squarely on the heads of the fast food industry then by all means do so…but PLEASE accept that others can see the other side to the discussion also.

  18. David Avatar
    David

    @Dee Word

    One should not engage in debate for doing it sake.

    We live in an age where a sedentary lifestyle has taken root. You connect the dots OR debate some more.

    >

  19. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    We wonder why these ‘edible substances’, not foods, are not banned like they have marijuana, cocaine etc?

    Indeed, they are much more dangerous, to many more people.

  20. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    Needless we say. If Barbados was a serious country interested in ‘Healthy Lifestyles’ and wanting to be unique it could consider banning the eating of all unhealthy substances at the commercial level.

  21. de pedantic Dribbler Avatar
    de pedantic Dribbler

    Ahh David come on now. Where am I engaging “in debate for doing it sake”. Did you think I was JOKING when I stated: “As a parent I am confounded about getting my kids out on the playground in a really focused way…I tried cycling, de swimming pool, soccer. Even mandated a minimum five push-up reps daily to expand ideally to 25. Steeeupse”.

    That is REAL world. Not some debate turn of phrase.

    The ‘Mountain Dew Mouth’ is REAL world. No debate turn of phrase there either.

    I spoke in serious and clear terms. Please don’t trivialize because you disagree.

    We cannot continue to belittle fast food joints because of the sedentary life style you chronicle. There are also lots of juice bars, health food operations and lots of open space to exercise.

    When I was a boy a Raleigh was a fancy bike almost too expensive for my civil servant parents…today you can get a real fancy ‘mountain bike’ for a good price and a standard but sturdy bike for a pittance.

    So how in heaven’s name can we cast the brunt of the blame on fast food places, David. I agree they need to be constantly reviewed as they need to held accountable to proper food safety and healthy practices but they dd NOT cause or do NOT perpetuate our sedentary life.

  22. David Avatar
    David

    @Pacha

    It is all about social justice isn’t it?

    Dee Word would have us believe he does not underThe awesome power of the marketing message by those who own capital.

    The Haloutes and the Bizzy’s will contribute to the political campaigns andd then what.

    >

  23. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    @ David

    We would venture that edible substances in Barbados are a major contributor to ill-health. The cost for the QEH etc.

    These costs can be outsourced by commercial interests to the rest of us. Let’s shut them down. Sue them for damages.

    As addictive substances, the pushers should be driven out of business and asked to repair the damage to national health caused.

  24. David Avatar
    David

    @Pacha

    “These costs can be outsourced by commercial interests to the rest of us. Let’s shut them down. Sue them for damages”

    You struck the nail squarely on the head didn’t you.

    >

  25. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    @ Jeff
    …today’s lesson….

    The whole point of life is to “identify and refine diamonds of righteous character”.
    Diamonds are not created by pampering and cotton wool….. but by heat, pressure and repeated stress over extended periods.
    That most of us choose to take the easy way to satisfying recurrent hunger by buying and eating KNOWN shiite is completely in character. It is easy, sweet and satisfies the immediate craving.

    This is also how we operate as a country.
    In pursuit of our BMWs, big-screen TVs and other bling, we borrow, beg, sell off our silverware for pittances ..and place our grand children in ridiculous debt…… just as chefette lovers spend their hard earned money buying this expensive shiite to eat – while KNOWINGLY compromising their long term health…wealth and well-being.

    We are mostly brass bowls…..but the problem is not cheffette or berger king. These albino-centric organizations are just playing their roles of applying heat, pressure and stress. Most brass bowls will succumb and crack under the stress, but the TRUE diamond materials will emerge – shining brilliantly and indestructibly.

    “Life-on-Earth” is a brilliant, carefully conceived project with very clear goals, very specific rules, and a masterful game-plan for the creation of “character-diamonds”. This is such a rare and precious product, that all the heat, pressure, stress and brass bowlery ….THAT ARE VITALLY NEEDED in order for these diamonds to become possible ..are well worth the temporary pain and suffering involved.
    Good thing no cheap….
    Cheap thing no good.

    @ David
    One of the MOST vital requirement for success in God’s plan for ‘life-on-Earth’ is therefore the collective brass-bowlery that we see everywhere around us…. the pressure, stress and heat.
    You should not be surprised therefore that it is being ‘turned up’ towards the final stages of the project as the last remaining ‘diamonds’ are fine tuned…. 🙂

  26. David Avatar
    David

    @Bush Tea

    Not good enough for a country that was regarded as a model small island state. We seem comfortable hugging the issues, too scared to determine our way of treating with the issues. It is all about dollars.

    What is wrong with the mantra more than an economy a society?

    >

  27. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    “THERE HAVE BEEN 554 strokes and 403 heart attacks recorded for the first six months of the year in Barbados.”

    http://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/news/86519/heart-check#sthash.4gnHOsIC.dpuf

  28. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    David

    Naive people assume that corporations play fair. This is a lie

    Do you ever wonder, for example, why department stores have certain smells?

    Why foods are so additive, especially to children?

    These are not accidents.

    They are the results of substances scientifically designed to control customer behaviour. To make us addictive, to make us spend money we don’t have.

    A classic case was Coke which once contained cocaine, not to be helpful to us, but make profits for the company. Remember when old people working in the field need a ‘hot’ coke at lunch time.

    This nonsense about freedom is just that. Anybody who believes that they have some choice to buy or not to buy is an effing idiot.

  29. Louis Belle Avatar
    Louis Belle

    Take a leaf out of the book of The Royal Commonweath Society (Barbados Branch) who gave all secondary and primary schoolchildren exercise books featuring educational matters NOT advertising. That book aimed to teach children about the Commonweath and our values.

  30. millertheannunaki Avatar
    millertheannunaki

    @ balance September 19, 2016 at 4:55 AM
    “In recent weeks Barbadians have witnessed ministers of government featured at ribbon cutting ceremonies at the opening of Burger King and Chefette restaurants. What message is our leaders sending?”
    That fast food restaurants like any other business entity provide employment for people and that Barbadians still have a choice of what to eat and where to eat as long as they have the means to pay. Eating greasy foods has always been part and parcel of our culture..”

    So what about also giving Barbadians the option to legally use marijuana in which ever form they so desire, except smoking in public places as exists with cigarettes? Isn’t marijuana a natural substance which can be turned into both cottage industry and an indigenous
    commercial enterprise to provide employment to the many idle young hands on the block?

    I personally do not support the banning of the sale of fast foods as it is with the case of marijuana. But I fail to see the health benefits that can arise from the consumption of processed nutritionally poor food not suited to the human body which in itself is a natural processing factory designed to produce both energy and nutrients for the proper functioning of the brain and other vital organs of the human body.

    You have already denied any link or association between the consumption of fast food and the astronomical rise in NCDS despite the statistical evidence as referenced in the article and reproduced below:

    “If we accept that the health of a nation is the wealth of a nation then we should be very concerned about what 2010 research has revealed about the incidence of obesity in our youth population.
    Over 30% in the 9 to 10 age group are obese/overweight
    12% had high blood pressure.”

    Why not impose an indirect tax on the sale of fast food the same way taxes are heavily levied on at the sale of alcohol and tobacco? Why not levy an annual charge on all fast food outlets whose turnover exceeds $400,000?

    This will be passed on to those gluttonous consumers and would meet the dual canon taxation requirements of both the benefit and ability to pay taxation principles. It could be part of the existing VAT collection system thereby obviate the need for a separate administrative regime unlike the impractical and stupidly thought out Social Responsibility levy which will distort competition and the market pricing mechanism.

    The moral justification for such a levy will not be one of social responsibility to fund the health care sector but one of making the consumers of these unhealthy fares contribute to their future health care via the public health system by paying in advance just as the alcoholic drinkers and cigarette smokers are doing.

    What do you think, balance? Or because of your blinkered diabetic condition you cannot see the need for equity of treatment stated in my proposal?

  31. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    LOL @ Louis Belle
    That book aimed to teach children about the Commonweath and our values.
    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
    Commonwealth values are NOT black Bajan values.

    @ David
    Not good enough for a country that was regarded as a model small island state.
    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
    Regarded by whom…?
    We were a ‘model’ of the albino Commonwealth values…. lotta bling; lotta show; lotta debt; lotta grants and ‘freeness’ (preferential sugar prices etc)
    Is this not how one sets up a beautiful young girl to become a hooker…?

    When Barrow spoke of being ‘friend of all and satellite of none’ that policy would have led to the kind of proud independence that allow us to pursue our OWN values…..
    ..as opposed to the mendicancy of having to adapt to the commonwealth values – such as co-ed, bulling, and mistreating our women – as if they were shiite men.

    Remember when we HAD to go coed …as a condition of World Bank loans for schools…?

    If we were TRULY independent, then your expectations of a sensible, logical policy towards fast foods (and drugs, and crime, and politics, and unemployment, and enfranchisement and…) would be completely different.

    @ Pacha
    People like Dribbler are so infused with the Kool aid (and the Toronto water) that they actually believe the hype about independent choice…
    But then, most drug addicts may have thought that they had ‘choices’ too…
    Have you any idea how many of us are addicted to MSG, sugar, alcohol and other legal, mind-altering drugs …. to the profit of many industries who spend millions is developing such control…?

  32. mitchlans Avatar
    mitchlans

    Chefette, KFC, Burger King etc, are the least of our problems.

    Look outside every school at the beginning and end of each day and see the utter crap being peddled, laden with salt, sugar, colorings and preservatives and absolutely no nutritional value whatsoever. The sugar content, colouring and every other damn chemical has all those who consume them high as kites when they get into the classroom and then the same by the time they get on the bus and arrive at home having consumed that poisonous junk the moment they leave the school premises.

    ADHD? Bullshit! High as kites on sugar and other chemicals in the ‘snacks’ and ‘drinks’ which, in many cases constitute virtually the entire diet of these children.

    Hot dogs for breakfast? Really? Fried chicken, macaroni pie and rice for dinner (if they are lucky) fizzy sweet drinks, ‘box juices’ and ‘snacks’ during the day, and you are worried about Chefette?

    And by the way, go to any buffet on the island, private or public and what is on offer? Fried chicken, macaroni pie, mashed potato, fat laden ribs, pork chops. Oh yes, and one dish of shredded lettuce.

    The entire dietary culture is so ingrained, that it will take a sea change in attitudes and tastes before the NCDs resulting from bad eating habits will be reduced.

    Can you just imagine the complaints if the supermarkets, events and street traders were to start eliminating some of the ‘killer’ dishes, or reduce the size of portions. Even adapting the recipes would cause outrage. “Yuh call dis pie?”

    I am no particular fan of fast food, but if the alternative is luncheon meat, hot dogs, ‘snacks’ and monstrous portions of pie, rice, mash and gravy, get the professional nutritionists to evaluate what we are consuming as a whole, rather than just what’s in a leg dinner at Chefette.

  33. David Avatar
    David

    @Mitchlans

    You have thrown your hands in the air?

    >

  34. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    “Have you any idea how many of us are addicted to MSG, sugar, alcohol and other legal, mind-altering drugs …. to the profit of many industries who spend millions is developing such control…?”

    That’s breaking it down to its basic element.

    Eliminating most of the above in your life = a very healthy life.

    If you must use some of the packaged stuff…read the labels, google the contents and side effects…it’s guaranteed to change your mind from using the products and save ya life. Most people do not know what they are allergic to…most packaged stuff trigger allergies.

    My idea of good health…

    Every morning….4 servings of papaya or mango or……..all before breakfast

    A typical homecooked meal for me, very basic in content:

    Fish or meat….fresh herbs only

    Sea salt…very small dash

    Vegetables….dashene, yam, cassava

    Pumpkin, Kale, Pak Choi, Spinach

    Grape Seed oil or Extra Virgin Olive Oil

    No margarine, butter, lard or any other liquid plastic

    Lots of water to drink, lots of fresh coconut water

    Rice…twicea week

    Soup…twice a week

    I can boast about my good health…lol

    The government should ban Chefette, Burger King and every other fast food joint advertising their garbage in schools, ban soda machines in the schools….but the ministers are such wimps and asskissers…will they.

    Someone told me Bizzy took out full page ads in the nation newspaper advertising hos garbage…he knows bajans can be foolish, he knows he needs the majority blacks to buy his garbage…so he can remain wealthy.

  35. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    mitchlans September 19, 2016 at 9:53 AM #

    “Chefette, KFC, Burger King etc, are the least of our problems. Look outside every school at the beginning and end of each day and see the utter crap being peddled, laden with salt, sugar, colorings and preservatives and absolutely no nutritional value whatsoever.”

    @ mitchlans

    You are absolutely correct. Vendors can be seen on the schools’ perimeters selling from chips, fried chicken backs, necks, wings, livers and gizzards to doughnuts coated with icing and candy.

    Some schools have implemented a “lucky dip” program in an effort to raise funds to purchase stationery. The prizes often consist of candy and “sweet biscuits.”

    Additionally, some days children are served sausages or luncheon meat for lunch by the School Meals Service.

    I wrote in a previous contribution that I have a friend whose daughter is about 31 years old and has two young children (11 and 4 years old). My friend (who is her mother) told her about cooking food for the children. She responded by saying cooking is old fashioned and young people don’t need to cook because there are many fast food restaurants in Barbados. She feeds her children a heavy diet of KFC.

    But what the heck… as “candy” (a recent member of the ACs???) wrote: “I still looking for a coroner’s report dat somebody dead from Chefette.”

  36. de pedantic Dribbler Avatar
    de pedantic Dribbler

    No David, @Mitchlans has a mouthful of food – that old fashioned Bajan fare made for generations. That we all grew up on. How many sugar-cakes did you eat as a lad…and how much sugar dd you eat directly from canes. I had TOO many of the former..not too many of the latter.

    What about lead-pipes. And every frigging day I used to drink a Seven-up at lunch and sometimes one at break too. That dear lady in the canteen – bless her soul – got to know my psiog and desires so well that she would put the drink there for me even before I made the request.

    Your fast food rant, as I said before, has great merit, but you do the topic a grave injustice by adopting such a laser like focus there only.

    @BushTea, not to worry about my Kool Aid. I try to use new fangle-dangle organic ingredients these days…helps me appreciate the natural cow manure better. LOLLL.

  37. islandgal Avatar
    islandgal

    I am not a fast food addict but will indulge in Chicken Barn once in a while and if not near then a Haloute chicken sandwich once in a blue moon. We now have Chutneys and Urban Kitchen in Welches and Hastings along Wok Up in Hastings. They sell a different fast food that is more appetizing and little more expensive.

    We have been eating unhealthy foods before these establishments came to Bim. The salt pork, pig tails, salt ribs, salt fish, smoke herrings the salt giving people pressure as the refer to high blood pressure. Before refrigeration came to homes, stomach cancers and high blood pressure was the disease of that time. Most people preserved their meats by salting them.

    Mankind will kill himself from whatever he enjoys doing. Fooping, eating, drinking, smoking are some of the addictions that shortens his lifespan.

    So all a wunna teling people what not to eat just wasting wunna time. Taxing it will not help them will only get the government richer and the government know that. People have become too lazy to go home and prepare food and if they do some of them eating the same greasy foods that is selling.

    So Bushtea when I see you at Chutneys or wok up don’t come here and lie bout fast food. And if yuh come by me I will give you real fast food that will have yuh wokking up fuh more.

  38. David Avatar
    David

    @Dee Word

    Do you agree we have to begin the struggle somewhere ?

  39. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    islandgal September 19, 2016 at 10:21 AM #

    “So Bushtea when I see you at Chutneys or wok up don’t come here and lie bout fast food. And if yuh come by me I will give you real fast food that will have yuh wokking up fuh more.”

    @ islandgal

    That is the reason why you listed “eating” directly after “fooping?” These days, no matter in which order you list those words, one action usually comes after the other.

    But islandgal, you would give Bushie “real fast food that will have (him) wokking up fuh more,” what???!!!!

    You OLD as shiite and you done know that for Bushie and PUDRYR, you would have to perform a “SÉANCE” to raise the dead.

  40. Khaki Samacho Avatar
    Khaki Samacho

    “When I was a boy a Raleigh was a fancy bike almost too expensive for my civil servant parents…today you can get a real fancy ‘mountain bike’ for a good price and a standard but sturdy bike for a pittance.”….true……… but where can our children ride safely on our roads today????

  41. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    On an offside.

    Meet the girls for the next ms universe pageant.

    http://ow.ly/1c3A304lHtv

  42. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    http://pageantsnews.com/10-facts-miss-usa-2016-deshauna-barber/

    This is the type of resume you want representing your country.

  43. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    @ Artax
    for Bushie and PUDRYR, you would have to perform a “SÉANCE” to raise the dead.
    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
    ….speak for PUDRYR.
    Islandgal know good enuff why she run from de whacker…. 🙂

    @ Dribbler
    Cow manure probably compliments your water nicely…. ent it?
    ha ha ha

  44. lawson Avatar
    lawson

    Well Well you keep crapping on chefette, and they will have to hire mourners for your jim fixx funeral

  45. ac Avatar
    ac

    David you take the wheel and start a revoluntion against junk food and see how far you would get? The way some here are expressing themselves it seems as if govt job should be the big brother of everthing that happens in family households.The fact being that there is enough literature to sensitize people on the do’sand don’ts of maintaining a healthy life style also in a free market people have a right to choose
    This kneejerk reaction that govt is encourging fast food is ludicrious

  46. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    Lol….Lawson…only if I eat their garbage..lol

    Bajans will have to start dropping dead from ill health by the thousands before they realize it takes only 20 minutes to prepare a good meal yourself and so much cheaper…they spend more time than that on the blogs, on facebook, facetime, twitter, shitter…lol

  47. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    REAL REAL FAST FOOD.

    “Murrell’s porridges contained a combination of ingredients like: linseed, sea moss, saga, oats and barley”

    the base included barley, lentil peas, pumpkins, carrots, sweet potatoes, green bananas, okras and of course, a soup is not a soup without good ole Bajan dumplings”

    http://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/news/86439/monday-breakfast-boss-outdoes#sthash.iDLRp0Nw.dpuf

  48. David Avatar
    David

    @Hants

    That looks delicious, it must be a generation thing.

    If this blog serves to trigger a greater awareness in ONE person it would have serves a purpose.

    >

  49. mitchlans Avatar
    mitchlans

    No David. I am not throwing my hands up in the air. I simply believe we need to start by closing down those ‘poison merchants’ outside the schools, or at least banning the products they purvey from being sold within 100 yards of the school and replacing them with more ‘appropriate’ snacks like ‘real’ fruit drinks with no sugar added, and home made ‘fruit bars’ and the like, gradually changing the kids’ palets. Maybe hot or cold grilled chicken breast strips with a healthy dipping sauce would replace hamburgers and ‘nuggets’ etc. These people have to start being creative, as do we all.

    And don’t let me hear “stopping the poor man just trying to earn a dollar and put food on his table” shitee nonsense. Stop selling poison to earn a dollar and start selling healthy.

    Sadly CBC tv is so god-damn awful that no-one actually watches it, or it could produce entertaining cookery style programmes that would start to change habits and introduce fresh ideas and takes on ‘traditional bajan fare’. Many, many appetizing, healthy meals are quick and easy to prepare, split into multiple portions and freeze. And they are sure as hell cheaper than buying from the supermarket buffet or fast food outlet. Even things like pizzas and bugers can be adapted to be healthy (by comparison). And by the way, so can the ubiquitous macaroni pie!

    If anything, campaign for Chefette et al to adapt their menus and cooking ingredients to reduce the fat and salt content. And the vans too. And encourage entrepreneurial home cooks and chefs to start creating healthier versions of Bajan staples and make them available for sale to busy homemakers.

  50. bajans Avatar
    bajans

    My favourite box cereals are the Dorset cereals from GB. All natural, no additives, no preservatives, lots of fruit, nuts and seeds. A half cup with an orange or half a banana and a cup of tea will hold you until lunch time. Very high in fibre which keeps you full.

    Healthy eating is a lifestyle ingrained from young. My Chinese nieghbour just came over to pick up some callaloo that I picked this morning. She looked out the kitchen door and asked if she can have some sweet potato leaves for her mother in law who is visiting. She asked if picking the leaves now would affect the growth of the potatoes but I told her this late in the season it does not matter. She took home a garbage bag full of leaves and gave me hell for not eating them. The Africans, Philippinos, Chinese in the allotment garden grow them for the leaves only. Same with beans. They eat the leaves and if some mature it is a bonus.

    I have been eating pumpkin since last week. In soup, in rice, in fritters, baked in the toaster oven and steamed. (The Africans eat the leaves and the Italians the flowers.) I have 14 here on my kitchen floor and another ten in the garden that are not ready yet. I have been and will share some more with friends. All the gardeners had heavy crops this year. Tomatoes are rotting on the ground. This morning I saw cucumbers, zuccinis and beets on the compost heap. I usually harvest the dry beans that others throw out.

    I planted 20 sweet potato slips. Five different varieties. The purple skin, purple flesh from Asia. they are heirloom and don’t produce a lot because they need 150 days and we have 120, but it has been extremely hot this summer so I may get a bumper crop. But they are very sweet, you just plant more. The white skin, white flesh, I smuggled from Bim, and this year I brought up a white skin, orange flesh one. I planted 5 slips of those and I think I will get a lot because in August when I felt around the stem I felt potatoes. then I have the red skin yellow flesh, and a whit skin, cream flesh from Africa. I have sweet potatoes down stairs from last year that have begun to sprout. I will keep them for slips for next year.

    I tried yams and eddoes, but got nothing, but I grew tumeric. It is cheap here now, so I buy it instead. This year I am growing quinoa. It should be ready in the next couple weeks. The seeds are there but still soft. I grew white, red and black. The red is the best producer, the black has flowered but I have not seen any seeds.

    I grow everything. A neighbour begged me yesterday for some apples. I told her she can have as many as she wanted as LONG and she made apple sauce for me. I have given up on pies. If I crave pie, I buy one slice from the bakery otherwise I would eat a whole pie in a few days. No more making and freezing. Up here we eat pie with ice cream, both no-nos for me.

    We grew everything down there in St. Joseph and had a launch for our fish as well as casting nets. I still eat the way I ate growing up. Diet rich in fish and veggies….no fast food.

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