La ora na, French Polynesia!

La ora na! I heard this lovely phrase every where I went in French Polynesia. It's a beautiful Tahitian greeting meaning "hello" or "may you live." Which is exactly why I went .... to live and to see how others live. More than 5000 miles from the mountains of Montana lies this island archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean whose turquoise blue waters can only be described as paradise on Earth. I flew to these islands in search of a healthy population of Pacific Islanders, but what I came away with was something much less promising.

French Polynesia is a collection of 118 islands scattered across a vast area of the South Pacific Ocean. Most people know this place as Tahiti, but really Tahiti is only one island in the archipelago. The islands are a French territory, and everywhere evidence of French influence is obvious - from language to food.  Yet these Islanders of Oceania cling to their uniquely wonderful way of life as Polynesians too. They are originally a seafaring people, and they carry a genetic variant which makes them larger, which was a huge benefit when they were crossing oceans, farming, fishing and sometimes going long periods of time without food. But in today’s modern world, this genetic variant has now made them more prone to obesity and other chronic diseases.

And in fact, I took strong note of these factors while visiting. Expecting grocery stores to be filled to overflowing with amazing fresh and local tropical fruit, instead I found very poor selection on the smaller islands, while the larger islands offered the same Driscoll berries and honeycrisp apples we have at home. Nowhere to be seen in grocery stores was anything close to resembling guava, passion fruit, pineapple and others. What did fill the aisles were shelves and shelves of processed foods full of fat, sugar and salt.

A recipe for obesity and diabetes. 

In fact, French Polynesia ranks 9th in the world for the highest percentage of persons with obesity, followed closely by the USA at spot number 10.   Up to a third of their population has diabetes and it was disheartening to see the occasionally “Dialysis Clinic” across the road from a turquoise ocean. The primary cause of these conditions is a change in their cultural dietary patterns of eating fresh fish and local fruits and veggies to an increased intake of imported foods high in all the wrong things.   

Similar to our own Native American population in Montana, there are certain ethnic groups which do suffer more from the widespread use of calorie laden, processed foods. This should offer only more evidence, more reasons to say no to processed foods - that we have had enough of food manufacturers lining their pockets while we pay with our health. 

What can be done? As with all large scale problems, it must start with each of us. Everyday, we each have the opportunity to make our own food choices. What we choose guides the food industry. We can all do better to help turn this monster around and kick it out the door. Choose local. Choose fresh.  Choose whole, unprocessed foods. Shop the perimeter at your grocery store, and stay out of the middle aisles of processed junk. Better yet, find a local farmers market near you.

But near the end of my trip, I was actually feeling better about French Polynesians’ access to fresh, local food. I began seeing more local, road-side stands selling all their tropical fruits and lots of tomatoes, eggplant, cucumbers and cabbage. I hiked through a pineapple plantation and watched as workers picked each pineapple by hand to carefully transport them for sale. I visited vanilla plantations where I saw the process of vanilla being grown and harvested, and did indeed find it in many products there from honey to guava smoothies. 

While French Polynesia is indeed overrun with processed and non-local foods, they do at least have options available for local produce. And there is nothing better there than a bowl of fresh local papaya, pineapple, banana and coconut.

Mauruuru (thank you), French P for the nutrition lessons you provided! Bringing home wisdom from other areas of the world is one of my most favorite things to do, and it helps me to support my clients and provide them with a world's view of nutrition.