The Bhutanese Leading the way.
For many Bhutanese Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) is something that cannot happen to them, but only to someone else until they get a NCD like diabetes, blood pressure, gout etc.
In our current society a sense of complacency and invincibility where people think they have time or that their body can take a few more years or a decade more of unhealthy living, is costing us dearly.
People should first come to grips with reality. The traditional Bhutanese diet removed from its physically active rural settings is an NCD diet.
The popular ema datshi is high in butter and fat and worse it can take dollops of salt and taste even better for it. Our shakham and sikam are not only bad for our stomachs but also our cholesterol levels. Traditional Bhutanese diet has very little vegetables incorporated in it except for chillies and some dried greens.
If the above is not bad enough we all eat vast quantities of rice even three times a day, and while it tastes good, rice is the most inferior of all the grains. Rice is also a sugar delivery mechanism to the body explaining how even Bhutanese without sweet tooth get diabetes.
The high proportion of red meat diet in Bhutanese cuisine may also explain our high cancer rates.
The habit of chewing doma kills taste cells in the tongue and that increases the propensity for salt intake which contributes in a major way to kidney issues.
Add to this the increasing consumption of junk food and fizzy drinks.
As more and more Bhutanese move to urban areas there is less space and time to exercise and people are confined to their apartments.
Thimphu kids maybe among the unhealthiest in the world with no space to play and move and that also contributes to a drug culture.
We may not have realized it yet, but we are in the middle of an NCD epidemic and it is only getting worse.
Given our limited population and human resources, it is important to take care of the people we have.
It is high time that a much more comprehensive approach be taken in dealing with NCDs, not just with screenings, but also more awareness and policy measures on the ground.
“Take care of your body, it’s the only place you have to live.” – Jim Rohn