The island nation of Samoa in the Pacific has one of the world’s highest rates of obesity.
Imported fast food is favoured over natural, local produce.
But a campaign’s underway to change that.
Al Jazeera’s Yaara Bou Melhem reports from Apia, Samoa.
– Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe
– Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish
– Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera
– Check our website: http://www.aljazeera.com/
Arent they naturally big people?
Naturally big? Yeah, but I doubt that they’re naturally prone to diabetes…
At the same time, the American standard of weight is far from accurate and the illusion of or eluding to an Amercian sense of fitness and idea that American’s are skinny is simply an alternative fact. I see more “large statured” and obese people in the US compared to anywhere. Though with a larger population you also have a lot more diversity.
Big doesn’t mean unhealthy. Diabetes and obesity is killing them off thanks to imported food.
Shannon’s Random We’re big boned. Does not give us an excuse to eat excessively to become fat. I feel sorry for my people. They’ve become lazy not eating of the plantations and going out hunting and fishing. Most, i’ve seen and heard depend on imported food from America and New Zealand which are processed; therefore, will have a lot of sugar content. I feel so sorry for my people.
But no one is naturally obese
Come on, Al Jazeera. You can do better than this. WHY are people eating unhealthy, imported foods in the first place?
Chavvah there are a lot of factors. Biggest one IMO is the brainwashing of my people. I come across a lot of Samoans who look at traditional foods as poor people food
@53A17 E Not true. Preparing traditional food is pretty hard compared to buying chicken from the store and making a soup. You can’t expect people to work from 9 to 5 and come back home only to go back to doing hard work. Also local meat product are really expensive compared to imported meat which are really cheap.
Tama Matu uso the exact words out of their mouths were, “e le ai a’u meaai Samoa. Magaia aku le Big Mac ma le moa falai”
Not all of our cooking involves the umu. E mafai kugu se i’a ma le ulu i le open fire
Agriculture farming requires A LOT of moving parts, think about the amount of land you need, money from the top feeding the way to the suppliers, logistics, etc etc. It’s cheaper and easier to import.
It’s also factors like poverty and cultural attitudes towards food that contribute to obesity
No mention of how in the Polynesia culture , fat = sexy. Sounds like local farmers butthurt over the popularity of imported food.
Tom Servo nobodies but hurt dumbass the rise of imported food and the adaptation of foreign lifestyle habits has contributed to the vast health problems, diseases and chronic illnesses we now see on our islands. All of this never existed prior to these devils stepping foot on our shores.
Yeah diabetes, amputated limbs, and rotting flesh is really sexy
Nobody in Samoa thinks fat is our people like well built not fat
Fat ain’t sexy ( unless you’re into that) most of our grandparents were fit and slim
I read samosa..
Rashmi Singh no one should weigh 300 pounds. That is not normal for a human body
Omg, this WHO dude is Azerbaijani ❤
Bless you Chef John! Keep fighting for our people!
Aii ka’e
Orkanic food
They are born big man.
Josep Sankhill Born big boned. Not with a big appetite.
The Samoan Island is beautiful….. would like to visit😍
Royal Flight It is beautiful. Just most people are fat.
Haha he’s so hot
In the U.S. we eat food that should not be fed to animals frozen meat like substances that are digested and chewed for you. It is cheap you blame the poor people for eating it but it is so much cheaper to eat unhealthy. What we need is a tax on unhealthy foods that supplement healthier choices fruits and veg and REAL meat that you can tell was actually from an animal.
When you visit Samoa, they gonna ask you: _”You like Samoa?”_ Slow it down, what they’re really asking you is: _”You like some more, huh?”_ ……as in food, you like some more food?!?
hmartinspliff It is true. We’re a nation that loves our food and don’t know when to stop. Sadly, instead of eating of the plantations like my grandparents use to; they’re now relying on imported cheap food because they’re lazy to work. Their exercise use to come from working out in the plantations; hunting, fishing, carrying coconuts etc… Now all they do is eat and sleep. So sad!
This guy is a hero of his people. They should take that spam and use it like it is supposed to, as fish bait.
Just stop eating processed food . And yes that means pisupo too. And get rid of McDonald’s and Carl’s Jr KFC etc .
YBN-SHOOTA-RAY Tt You choose what you put in you’re mouth
There are non of the big fast food chains on (most of) the Pacific Islands. It’s the Spam Corned Beef and Mutton Flaps, being sold by little Chinese (street) vendors/restaurants!
The problem is that imported foods are more cheap and convenient compared locally sold ones. Buying fish from the market is more expensive compared to getting a 2 kg of chicken from the many Chinese stores in Samoa
Another problem too is Polynesian people genes were designed for them to be active all the time and can go
Without food for longer periods. In Polynesian families there’s really no gifts or presents when there’s events on but always excess food available. In other words, the Western style of eating doesn’t agree with Polynesian genes.
Keto, fasting, praying, and teaching each other about ketones and autophagy is the key to saving Samoa.
Keto is a dumb diet, yeah it can be fast but it’s not sustainable for most people and nowhere near as healthy as a balanced diet.
Keto works and its healthy! I’ve dropped 25lbs from keto/fasting/working out
The quantity of the food you eat is the key, 5000k a day calories of heathy food still make you fat and diabetic
Absolutely. But nutritious food is far more satiating than junk food, so very useful in limiting total calories.
Is it the sugars in the processed imported food that’s the problem? Excess sucrose… could they teach the population about how insulin resistance comes from excess sugar nor excess salt?
Yes. With Polynesian people it can be controlled if they avoid those sugars and be replaced with natural sugar. Polynesian people genes were made so they could stand long periods without eating.
Gosh if I live in an island, I will always eat seafoods, vegetables and fresh fruits. 🤤 Grilled fish is sooo good. Clams are so good too!!! My exercise will be swimming, surfing and climbing trees. It’s a very good excuse to be just on a swimsuit and flip flops. 🤔
Vegan
as a samoan. I love food, any food healthy or not
@MARCI’A THE HOOLIGAN yep it sure is.
@Tori McGhee I weigh 112 pounds.
I’m trying to recover from anorexia/bulimia.
Food IS a large part of all cultures just different types
@MARCI’A THE HOOLIGAN sure is, however my people enjoy it without whats the word??…thats right moderation.
Thats why we have high rates of preventable illnesses such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, gout etc.
@MARCI’A THE HOOLIGAN sorry to hear about your condition, I was 100kgs after I had my son and lost weight. I then went off dairy and meat and only ate fruit, vegetables, water, legumes, coconut water and healthy foods and lost 22 kgs in a month.
I wouldnt eat packaged vegan foods either. I ate what grew on earth
it s a human condition
They would also be very attractive and good looking if they weren’t so extremely overweight.
nah average looking
Not all Samoans are fat 😑
Omg the cutest accent
fatties
Blame the WTO for obesity in smaller countries.
They Force these countries to take in imported foods that the Developed countries Export. …. Samoa can’t do anything about it because they’re in Debt up to their eyeballs to these countries. …UN is complicit in forcing these Processed foods into these countries.
It’s not just imported foods but cultural habits and attitudes! Polynesian people in western countries seem more overweight / obese because they choose not to eat healthy or Excercise. Polynesian people use food to celebrate everything too
One issue in Polynesian culture is every occasion is celebrated with food (lots of food). Add that too a big family and friend unit you’re constantly eating all the time lols
I blame Globalisation, but their are some positives
The problem isn’t what you eat, but rather how much. There are plenty of people that loves bacon but aren’t obese. You can also eat a lot of fruit and still become fat.
Do some gardening. Very lazy people.. what’s next, migrating???
It’s also genetics 🧬 that are against them
.
No matter how much “good” food you feed us we won’t get skinny. We have to eat and live like our ancestors did to make major weight loss. Health food known in America or other countries such as whole wheats, beans, corn, etc is not good for us because we didn’t have that. We had pork, banana, coconut, taro, fish and a few amount of other things to eat. We had that diet and we were going on long voyages where we wouldn’t eat for long periods of time. Now that food is so easily accessible to us, we gain weight easily because we don’t have to hunt for it or plant it and wait for it to be ripe. You can get everything at the supermarket.
I eat any type of food I want, admittedly often unhealthy, and I’m only 105 pounds. So while I agree eating fresh, nutritional food is the healthiest thing to do, I don’t buy that’s the reason so many Pacific Islanders are fat. I think it has to do with proportions more than anything.
Oh I love fish, I wish I could eat everyday where I live , Brasil , unfortunately is quite expensive here, I wish I lived in Samoa
Nah you wouldn’t want to live in samoa
@steve boy I like the ocean, love surfing and swimming, love living a healthy life, I live in São Paulo, Brazil, it’s a concrete Jungle, full of traffic and pollution, very depressing, I’d rather have a calm life near the nature and ocean, I have junky food.
Lazy