The bad thing about being a double major in Sociology and Chicana/o Studies and a minor in Spanish on the 4-year track was that I had to be very strategic about my courses. I’d often enroll in a class I had minimal interest in it and ignore classes I would have loved to take. Continuing graduate school at UCLA has given me the opportunity to go back and take classes related health and law related to my current research. The geek in me loves this.
This quarter I’m taking a class on health in the Chicano/Latino population with Dr. David Hayes-Bautista, director of the Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture.
I feel like a nerd in his class not only because it makes me think of my role as a researcher (e.g., what if my findings prove the negative stereotypes right?) but also because his research is fascinating. I thought I knew a lot about my community, but my knowledge of health issues was minimal. I’d only heard and read the negative stuff in the mainstream media about high rates of diabetes and obesity. Few people talk about the Latino epidemiological paradox.
Basically, Latinos have higher risk factors such as lower income and educational levels. On top of this we are less likely to be insured and have less access to quality health care.
But get this, we’re actually healthier than whites and African Americans. We have lower age adjusted death rates, lower rates of death from heart disease, cancer (excluding cervical cancer), and stroke. We do have higher rates for diabetes and cirrhosis. Our infant mortality rates are also lower.
The most interesting thing to me was about Mexicans. According to the studies I’ve read for class, Mexican immigrants are healthier than second generation Mexicans. Yes, the longer we’ve been here, the less healthy we are. Assimilation is bad for our health! (Take that, Arnold!)
What’s the cause of this? Could it be the tortillas, frijoles and chile?
I don’t know. Some people downplay the Latino paradox and insist that we just can’t be that healthy. They say Latinos are misclassified on forms or that we return to our homelands to die. Others might argue that it is no surprise that immigrants are healthier since you’re not likely to have sickly migrants trying to cross the border.
It’s times like this that I really miss Grandpa Bartolo. I’d love to pick his brain about this. He wasn’t a doctor, but he was a sobador and always had health advice to give.
Do you have any explanations?
that’s a great question, but i just don’t know that there is any accurate answer because of all the unknown factors you mention like access to medcial care, better nutrition options, and the question about the health of immigrants who are able to cross the border… so I don’t know if there is a sure answer. But one thing that I am sure of is that MY inner geek would also love that class.
I’ve read before on about how Mexican americans and Mexicans living in the US are less prone to psychiatric disorders then U.S. born gabachos. This dispite the stress leaving thier loved ones behind and adopting to a new country ? pretty intresting indeed.
I think it has a lot to do with being happy. happy with what you got. Instead of worrying and stressing about senseless things. material things probably.
Hahaha. This reminds me of my dad. My dad never stops talking about the wonders of beans. He reminds me of the father in the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding, you remember how he thought Windex was the cure for everything? My dad is that way about beans. Not just brown beans either, he primarily eats the black beans (he is from a small pueblo in Guerrero, black beans are more common). He once told me (no joke) that he read ‘somewhere’ how beans have been proven to reduce the likelihood of cancer and in some cases cure AIDS. LOL.
Anyway, I wonder how much the risky act of border crossing skews the data. It must be, to some degree, a filtering mechanism where the stronger, healthier and to some degree wealthier (coyote fees are $1k+, not just any peasant can pay that) of Mexico are able to make it to the USA and the weaker ones don’t. I wonder what results you would get if you compared apples to apples, the typical poor person in the USA with the typical poor person in Mexico.
Either way, my grandma in Mexico is 90 years old and still able to walk up and down the stairs to her pad with ease. It has been my personal experience that even the poor in Mexico live longer lives than the poor in the United States. Maybe my dad is right, it is all in the beans.
I read Hayes-Bautista’s “La Nueva California” and loved it.
Assimilation does affect health. Eating American fast food is obviously bad for you with all the preservatives they put in it. It is cheap and thus when low wage earning immirants have to choose between a $3.00 bag of beans or rice or a 99 cent burrito or happy meal they go for the quick cheap McD’s. BUT if we were to stick to our own cheap fast food, well we just have to be wise: no salt or powdered chili on our bags of freshly cut fruit, no chesse or mayonaise on our corn on the cob. Other than that we are ok eating chiles, corn, squashes, nopales, jugos, corn tortilas, frijoles, and all of these can be found anywhere in our neighborhoods. But when we reach for that American food then we screw ourselves. Also, we walk a lot more. We ride bikes or ride public transportation. Our jobs are active, not desk jobs.
I think this is just another reason everyone like hating on Raza, a) we don’t need no viagra to get it up, b) our Women from the other side of the false border are two times more fertile than whites, c) we make a lot of kids, d) we live longer!
If we were to just add more danza azteca, handball or even some tai chi, we would truly be the super raza! I’m just saying…
It’s the chile.
yup we are la raza cosmica =D
Simple – diet + activity = health
HP is right in terms of comparing US data with data from Mexico. There is a generational issue that goes beyond just assimilation to US eating patterns. Children in Mexico are also getting fatter and rates of diabetes and hypertension are increasing. The diet in Mexico is changing too. Less rice, beans, fruit, chiles, squash, espinacas, etc. and more Coke, chips, candies, pan bimbo, and fried foods. Moreover, even in Mexico rates of activity are decreasing, especially among children.
So the nostalgia many first generation immigrants feel towards the way of life in Mexico is actually also a nostalgia for the past.
I am working on some research that addresses the symbolic value of health, food, and eating among Latinos (mostly Mexican, though) in the US. I can send you a draft of an article when I get around to finishing it.
If you are interested in Health and Latinos, you should get in touch with Leo Chavez at UC Irvine. He has done some interesting research and he is a really great guy.
My mom is wiz on this health issue. She was born and raised in Mexico, she’s 51 years old, and she’s the healthiest person I know. For women, it’s different then it is for men. It has to do with iodine for us, not so much men.
The frijoles comment is actually pretty much it. Here in the US, our diets are more modern then in Mexico. Our diets consist of over-processed foods and lifeless foods which produce little enzyme activity and contain little or no fibrous material. These foods are not fresh and they have fewer nutrients. Most of the natural fibers have been removed in the refining stages.
What does that mean? Poor fiber, slow digestion, and waste materials stay in the body longer. Which is the perfect setup for toxic materials to form since processed foods can contain huge amounts of chemicals and toxins which were added in the processing.
You name it, we’re eating it. Coloring agents, artificial flavors and preservatives that make food attractive and taste fresher. . but they’re not. Even non-processed foods (fresh fruits and veggies) contain residues from pesticides, herbicides, hormones, and other products used to make them grow which reduce the vitamins contained in these “fresh foods.”
Mexicans are healthier because of the food. There, the fruits and veggies are fresh and always in season. They not only taste better but they are picked green and allowed to ripen in transit. Mexican produce is picked at its peak and sold in markets the very next day with little or no preservatives, which means they digest fewer chemicals.
Organic foods are the way to go, for now. But even if the label says organic, it doesn’t mean it’s organic. So read the fine print. The best thing to do is take as many blood tests as you can to find out what your body is allergic to. Sometimes we eat things we don’t know we’re allergic to which causes stress or low energy levels in our body without even knowing this is happening.
I know the top allergies include processed sugars, wheat, flour, and nuts. It might not be affecting your body on the outside with a rash or hive, but it is messing up with your digestive system inside. You can get tested for this in many clinics. What you want is for them to give you a food allergy blood test. You’d be surprised at the stuff you can find!
hey sister
you are another Lu-Lu sister (the more hip version of a Ya Ya Sister)
I was in a Doctoral Program and found most of my sanity in Qualitative Research.
I am on possibly permanent medical leave from school. but frankly it was the graduate program that just wasn’t receptive to my research interests.
I am interested in many of the points you make about the negative effects of assimilation on Mental Health and Diet. From a Native American – our communities are plagued by diabetes, heart disease …
Many community advocates are talking about decolonizing diet- or going back to traditional foods in accordance with growing seasons. I think that is smart, and of course designing and implementing health interventions that are culturally compatable. Food has a lot of spiritual significance, especially important in our ceremonies and cultural gatherings. Good foods, healthier foods are slowly being replaced by hamburger helper, cheetos, fry bread, and other very cheap but nutritionally lacking foods.
Anyway, like the blog and the spirit contained in it. Hope you can make some changes in the system by remaining an active participant in the educational process.