Adopting America's Bad Habits

This article in the WaPo today highlights a phenomenon that I've long thought was a root cause of chronic health problems related to unsustainable lifestyle. When immigrants come to the US, they leave behind the physical manifestations of their culture but not the habits and mindsets associated with them. For example,

Instead of weeding fields and walking long distances, which make you burn too many calories, you vacuum floors and take buses, which make you tired and lazy. Instead of cooking rice and beans, which lack many vitamins, you stop off for pizza and fries, which have too much fat. Instead of catching tropical infections, you are at greater risk of developing diabetes and heart disease.

New immigrants typically lack knowledge of healthful behaviors that can counter unhealthy lifestyle:

"In my country, if you are thin, people think you are not healthy, but here it is too easy to get fat," Sosa said. "Americans sit in offices and drive everywhere, but then they go to the gym. We do the hard work, but we don't get any exercise. We need to get more educated and think in a different way. We are not in Guatemala now."