Every year my parents made plans for us to go back home to visit our family in Trinidad. I was privileged since the age of one to be pulled out of the monotonous humdrum of New York and be transported to my favorite island paradise.
As soon as the plane’s door sealed I would be glued to the window as I watched New York fade away and would day dream as we sailed over the clouds. With my eyes closed I could feel the welcoming Caribbean air waiting for me. I could hear the Kiskadee birds calling out on the power lines. The sweet melodies of Trinidadians conversing with one another would flood my ears and I could feel my excitement welling in my throat.
My favorite uncle always picked us up when we arrived at Piarco airport. He knew every snack I wanted and every restaurant I wanted to eat my full at. We would go to the market together where many vendors would have their stalls filled with goods that words can not fully express their goodness.
After a week of eating and drinking like royalty you would think my return plane would struggle to return a heavier version of myself. But after every trip my parents and I would weigh ourselves to experience the phenomenon that in later years we are desperately trying to return to. Our scale would always reveal that in our time away we lost a minimum of 10 lbs.
A PLACE THAT NO LONGER EXISTS
You see, the time of our visit we walked more than we would in the States. We swam for hours in the ocean. We ate actual food sourced from non genetically modified animals and my favorite Solo sodas were made with real cane sugar. We drank soup for lunch and embraced sweating as a natural and normal occurrence. Stress couldn’t come with us on the trip because how could you feel it as you drift off to sleep to the sound of the rain bouncing off of our galvanized roof.
I’m thankful for my rich heritage, it has blessed me with so many skills and experiences that I currently benefit from. My parents came to America pursuing better lives. They worked diligently to secure union backed employment and were able to experience the “American dream”. But despite becoming successful in America, there was nothing like going back home.
I’ve had many conversations with our older generations that express that the America I know is not the one they experienced at my age. They talk of cleaner air, nutritious food, better party experiences and their eyes glaze over as they mentally travel to a place that no longer existed in our current reality.
America evolved to become a place that hosts many unhealthy citizens. We struggle to solve our obesity , attention deficit and burnout crises. Our current experience is due to the consequences of our capitalistic society. Big businesses traded human physical and mental health for profit as the American people were distracted with the taste of the dream of being successful.
As the years went by the American people were told that we were problematic because of our choices and it is for us to solve. The food industry created the organic product market and told consumers if they want to be healthy they should buy these products.
Imagine being a naturalized citizen. You came from a distant country to face discrimination because you spoke differently and enjoyed different foods. Your food that would be put down and viewed as products from your country’s poor economic status is now being marketed as “organic”. Your at home remedies that people once mocked you for are now being soft introduced by media influencers as new developments. The hard work of tending to animals and crops for survival is now a part of people’s digital detox journeys or going off the grid ventures.
REMEMBERING OUR PAST
Why 1970s fast food didn’t make people fat explained the business choices that changed our food to what we know now. In the 70s restaurants still valued their customers and made sure that they experienced the best food possible to make profits. But over time the capitalistic pursuit of increasing business profit margins poisoned our food.
Businesses were interested in making food last longer as opposed to making food fresh for each order. This introduced a long list of chemicals that were added to our food that did not exist before. Heat lamps and chemicals prolonged inventory reorders which increased business profits. The thing about capitalism is that there is no satisfiable end, there is just a glutinous need for more. Businesses continued to research how else they could cut costs, prolong product expiration dates and hook their consumers through addiction.
Our food contents changed drastically over the years, every ingredient is either genetically modified, chemicals added to enhance tastes or scents, or preservatives were added to extend shelf life. The contents were not the only things altered in the name of profit. Our portion sizes were manipulated greater than we can remember and we have been trained to accept them as reasonable. A large soda in the 70s was 16oz, that is now a small soda’s portion size. We have been handed over larger portions of unhealthy food which has made many of us sick and wanting to go back to the food we once knew.
Leverage Points: Places To Intervene In a System introduced the understanding of the common statement that knowledge is power. In 1986 the US government instituted the Toxic Release Inventory. Every factory releasing hazardous air pollutants reports their emission publicly every year. When one chemical company found itself on the Top Ten Polluters list, it reduced its emissions by 90 percent, just to avoid being on the list.
Shame or having a conscience isn’t what drives businesses to make proper changes, it is exposure to the public and monetary consequences that will cause them to change. All of the chemicals that are added to our food are listed on labels as businesses “practicing” accountability. They are able to sell unhealthy food due to consumers not reading labels and understanding what ingredients will do to them as well as the addictive nature products have most consumers disregard that their favorite foods are unhealthy for them. But there is also the harder reason which is that food that has not been tampered with is extremely expensive. Most families can not afford to eat “clean”.
WE WANT TO GO BACK
In my blog post Disconnect For Maximum Connection, I set a plan in place to nurture my flow states by going on nature walks. Disconnecting from technology to spend time in nature has been extremely healing. My mind is able to wander and focus on what interests it instead of whatever advertising firm wants it to. I can feel the sun on my face, feel the wind blow through my clothes and I can smile at random strangers who too decided to invest in their mental and physical wellness by taking a walk.
I have gone to Sleeping Giant and Woodtick Reservoir for the majority of my walks. Last week I decided to switch things up and go to Hubbard Park. There is a small trail located off to the side of the park that pulls walkers away to a mini walk in the woods. The only thing about this trail is that I-91 is screaming alongside it as traffic whips by. There is something about being fully submerged in nature that offers a boost versus a light submergence.
My walk made me reflect on my recent reading of Stolen Focus, Hari explained that we currently eat a diet that causes regular energy spikes and energy crashes. When our energy is too low then we’re not able to give things our full attention. Just as we need full submergence in flow state activities to nourish our minds. We need fully balanced foods to support our mental cognition.
There has been a call for us to turn back to our previous ways of living. Whether it be to return to how we consumed our food, our media, our physical fitness or hobbies. It is time for us to take an assessment of what simplistic practices we may have turned away from that would solve the complicated issues we face now.
Change can seem overwhelming especially when we are tasked with surviving extreme mental exhaustion. But we know that if the issues we currently face have been fabricated then we are capable of finding our solutions, we just need to take our first steps.