By Siobhan Fitzmaurice, December 2020
Dr. Beatriz Gallagher (Dr. Bea) is well known amongst Lakeside residents. Born in Mexico, educated in the USA with advanced degrees in nutrition, Chinese Medicine, and Integrative Medicine, she has broad experience consulting with both Lakeside residents and poor populations east of Chapala. We recently spoke with Dr. Bea. about food poverty east of Chapala.
To provide some context, government studies have found that almost 42 percent of the population at Lakeside are considered vulnerable due to poverty, physical disabilities, age, illness, unemployment and/or substance abuse.
Dr. Bea, first, please describe the typical meal of people living in poverty east of Chapala.
People living in the food impoverished towns of Mexico usually only have two meals a day: breakfast and comida. Breakfast is often scrambled eggs with beans and tortillas. Comida, a late lunch, consists of fish (from the lake) with chayote, rice or sopa de pasta (noodle soup), beans and tortillas, or a Mexican dish with tomato sauce. And the beverage, of course, is Coca Cola or another soft drink. Very few fruits and vegetables are consumed.(1)
What are the nutritional challenges?
There are many!
First, in terms of the typical diet, 90 percent of children, and many mothers, are protein deficient, resulting in stunted growth. Also, many diets are low in Iron. The typical protein source is the fish from Lake Chapala, which in addition to being possibly toxic, is low in iron. Red meat, higher in iron, is consumed rarely, as it is more expensive. Although black beans provide a significant source of iron, they are stigmatized as food for poor people and are avoided.
Second, poor food choices are tempting for all of us. High carbohydrate, low food value foods are inexpensive and easy to serve. Children are very attracted to junk food from local grocery stores.
Third, there are social issues. Parents often must travel far away from home to find work, leaving older children in charge of younger kids with poor food choices resulting.
Hygiene is the fourth issue. If clean water is scarce, the food is not disinfected, hands are not clean, the result can be parasites in the body. Well water is frequently contaminated with fecal matter and/or heavy metals, compounded by underground volcanoes. Well water would have to be cleaned by a reverse osmosis system, which is expensive and hard to maintain. Instead, people buy drinking water in 20-liter jugs (garrafones). Buying water in this form drains a lot of money from frugal food budgets.
Last and not least, is kidney disease. A study by the University of Guadalajara of the town of Agua Caliente found that “more than half of school children in the village have damaged kidneys, and only one in six demonstrates healthy cognitive development.”(2)
You mentioned a lack of vegetables in their diet. Do they have gardens?
They grow corn in the nearby hills for their tortillas. However, they grow only enough for their domestic use, with nothing left to sell. Vegetable gardens have much potential in the fight against food poverty: they could use the abundant space available on the roofs of their houses.
What are possible larger solutions to food poverty?
While Foodbank Lakeside plays an important role, we can see that the issues are complex: social, environmental, and economic.
We also know that change happens through young women, specifically young mothers who want better conditions for their families. One idea is to form groups of such women and empower them with food education, cooking classes, community gardens ideas and even micro business training. The Church still has a lot of influence in these villages. Supportive clergy could be very helpful. In the past, the clergy were very influential in teaching local people skills and ways to improve their economy but that is no longer available as there is a shortage of priests, monks, and nuns.
References:
(1)CHAPALA DIAGNÓSTICO DEL MUNICIPIO. (2018). Jalisco Government Website. https://iieg.gob.mx/contenido/Municipios/Chapala.pdf
(2)Murky business: A hunt for answers as children fall sick around Mexico lake. (2017). Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mexico-health-village-idUSKBN1DY11E