Go easy on that tasty fry bread

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/07/2010 (5547 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Summer isn’t the best season for watching TV, but the other day I found something inspiring to watch. I tuned in to an episode of Jillian Michaels’ new show called Losing it with Jillian, where she vowed to help a family from the Yavapai/Apache tribe of Campe Verde, Ariz.

Michaels is a fitness guru best known for her role on the popular weight loss show The Biggest Loser. She’s lean, buff and a little bit mean; it’s tough love when it comes to getting people on the treadmill.

Michaels got a call for help from Cora-lei, matriarch of the Plunkett-Marquez family. This Apache family was dealing with health issues like diabetes, as well as obesity in four out of five family members. Their problems weren’t an isolated issue either — it seems the entire reserve was in a bit of a health crisis.

As a tribal cultural leader, Cora-lei hoped her family’s quest for a healthier lifestyle would also kick-start other community members to try it as well.

But right off the hop, there was trouble. Michaels’ first order of business was to get rid of the fry bread, which later became known as “the fry bread incident.” Fry bread is just what it sounds like – deep fried dough.

To everyone’s dismay Michaels threw out a box of fry bread at a community celebration. Then one kid threw an Indian taco at her instead of throwing it in the garbage.

It’s not surprising that in the U.S. native Americans suffer from high rates of obesity and obesity-related diseases, like diabetes, similar to aboriginal Canadian rates. In fact, it’s time we back away from the fry bread, too.

It was a really tough road for the Plunkett-Marquez family, but four of them ended up losing about 150 pounds (combined) in only six weeks.

I’ve been aware of the dangers of fry bread for a while. I actually try stay as far away as I can from anything made with white flour, like white bread, white pasta and our beloved native staple: fry bread. I’m a multi-grain or whole-wheat flour lover.

Just like the Plunkett-Marquez family explained, fry bread is a relatively new but treasured part of our culture, but something we shouldn’t hold on to so tightly.

Think about it — we’ve only been eating food made with flour, or wheat grain, for a couple of hundred years. People of European descent have been eating grain products like bread and noodles and pasta for thousands of years.

Arizona is no different than Manitoba. Many people cook up a batch of fry bread to go with their dinner every day. And it’s killing us.

Fry bread tastes good, but it isn’t good for you.

Fry bread doesn’t represent a joyous part of our culture, like other foods, such as buffalo meat, wild rice or blueberries. Yes, those things are expensive, but a little goes a long way.

The creation of fry bread was born out of hunger and necessity. When the Indian tribes were being displaced from their traditional homelands and put onto reserve lands, they weren’t able to eat a traditional diet.

Just as in Arizona, the government here handed out rations of cheese, flour and other basics so that the native people wouldn’t starve to death.

If you think about it, fry bread is a reminder of those sad days of being forced into submission. Do you really want to keep eating a symbol of oppression? I’m only half-joking, by the way.

That’s not to say never eat fry bread, but like everything that isn’t all that nutritious for you, eat it in moderation.

Eating fry bread once a day or once a week isn’t a good idea, but having a piece of fry bread only once a month can make a huge difference in your life.

Anyway, it’s food for thought.

Colleen Simard is a Winnipeg writer.