The Indo-Trinidadian diet and links to heart disease.

Tomorrow, Ami's dad is undergoing quadruple bypass surgery. He is scared and he is debating whether he should just leave without taking the surgery and just go on pilgrimage to Puttaparthi where Sathya Sai Baba lives. I told him to do the surgery, Baba will look after him. See, his heart is still strong but his arteries are faulty and he hasn't suffered any major heart-attacks to signifiantly weaken his heart muscle so his chances are better with surgery. Ami is scared as well but I told him if my parents were ever in that position, they will not have time to say that they did not want to do it. They will have to do it whether they want to or not. In fact, i will do everything in my power to convince them...so for Ami's dad, I am doing that. See, it may be a selfish thing but from the point where i see it, people usually do better when they have their parents alive well into their life. There is a feeling of extra protection and an extra prayer for you when your parents are alive.
My mamoo was set to undergo this surgery and he never took it. He lived for 15 years from the day he ran away from the hospital, working and all until he suffered a stroke in the 13th year. He died 2 years after he had the stroke. Now, my job was to convince Ami that the 6-8 weeks of recovery will be better than years or days or months of uncertainty.
When I saw Ami today, he asked me to pray for his dad. it is all that we can do. tomorrow while he is having his surgery done, I will be teaching kids the Durga Chalisa at the Hindu Heritage Camp at our mandir. I know the power of this prayer and the automatic results obtained from it.
Now, in a scientific point of view. This is something I have noted from a long time. The Indian diet is significantly high in carbohydrates and fat. We eat a lot of roti and rice and i guess all our dishes contain either one. That is why we see a hig incidence of diabetes and heart-related diseases in our culture. (I am speaking of Trinidadian Indians here....of what i know). Although i have noticed that trinidadians do cook with a considerably lower amount of oil than that used in Indian cuisine, and Guyanese people only use just enough oil to fry the "poran"--onion, pepper, and garlic before the other ingredients are added. another thing is that Indian people are not equipped to handle meat-eating. See, other races have digestive systems that have evolved over a longer period of time with regard to meat-eating. However, Indian meat-eating began with the invasion of the Muslims and other cultures in India. hence, my theory is that their digestive systems have not yet evolved to handle the extra burden placed on it by meat-eating. This leaves a lot of waste, fat and toxic matter that puts strain on the kidneys and fatty deposits in the blood. It is even worse for the ones who eat pork and beef. See, in addition to the almost certain development of heart disease in the early 40's they run the risk of kidney failure due to the high uric content of these "heavier" meats.
Now see, many Trini Indians eat meat. For many of us, it is just chicken or fish but there are many who eat pork and a few "modernized" ones who eat beef. I was once a member of the chicken/fish group. It has been 8 years since i belonged to that group and it has been 8 healthier years. However i will not say that i am better than anyone who eats meat because after all, it is not what goes into your mouth that really matters but what comes out of it. and as for Ami's dad, I hope he recovers. In his day, and when my parents grew up, they did not know about cholesterol and how it caused heart disease. when my parents grew up, they worked much harder than we even know of and as a result their diets were high in carbs. Our ancestors were cane farmers and they needed to eat foods high in carbs to give them the energy to work the fields. their diets passed on to us, who no longer work in fields. we do not need all the carbs. so in trinidad when an Indotrinidadian gets heart disease we say, in a light-hearted manner, that it is becuase "he eat too much roti." Really, there is a definite predisposition to heart disease and diabetes in the Indo-Trinidadian/Indo-Guyanese communities. In Trinidad, we often say that if an Indian does not die from heart-disease, he/she will die from diabetes. They are the top killers of many of the people I know of...including in my family. We try not to think of things like these though---the optimism is always there. However, my prayers are with Ami's dad and for my own parents' health.