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Bahamas Wellness Chief, ADO Founder Plan Steps to Grapple with Nation’s Obesity and Non-communicable Disease Incidence through Local Farming

Wed, Sep 4th 2024, 04:01 PM
Environment Health

The old adage ‘an apple a day’ took on a new twist when two of the country’s most vocal spokesmen on the importance of healthy eating met over a basket of farm-fresh mangos recently.

ADO Bahamas Executive Chairman Philip Smith, left, met with Dr. Arlington Lightbourne, President of Bahamas Wellness Health System as both tried to grapple with the nation’s obesity rate and find solutions that will boost healthy living and decrease the incidence of avoidable diseases.

“Heart disease is still the number one cause of death in The Bahama, followed by stroke, hypertension-related conditions and cancer,” said Dr. Lightbourne, who operates clinics in Nassau and Eleuthera. “Every one of those conditions is caused by poor choices in diet and lifestyle. We consume too many high-fat, processed foods. On top of that, we find every excuse not to exercise, ‘I’m tired. I worked hard today. I’ll do it tomorrow, I promise.’ Then tomorrow comes and there’s another excuse.”

Until Bahamians face the fact, he said, “that what we are putting in our bodies is leading us to an early grave, The Bahamas will continue to be a nation of obese people bringing unnecessary suffering upon ourselves and our loved ones.”

Smith told Lightbourne it was seeing the impact of hunger and poor diet that drove him to found ADO after nearly a decade at the helm of the Bahamas Feeding Network.

“I saw hunger every day, but I also saw the tragic results of poor diet and the toll it took, especially on poor people,” said Smith. “That’s why we were barely scraping the surface of a nation that is killing itself by how it eats.”

So, Smith said he vowed to spend the coming years reawakening the desire to grow, to find the pleasure in the soil that his Bahamian forebears did.

“We must learn to grow what we eat and eat what we grow for two reasons – first, for our health, and secondly to sustain us and break the crippling $1 billion annual bond on food imports, a lesson we learned during COVID about the danger of dependence on foreign food sources to keep us alive,” he said. Since its founding two years ago, ADO and its partners have planted more than 2,500 backyard farms, six community farms and 22 school farms.

The meeting between the two who will help lead the fight to better health through better diet of locally grown produce, poultry and more, agreed to forge efforts to create the first community farm in Eleuthera where Bahamas Wellness operates three clinics, including the island’s private urgent care facility, Central Eleuthera Medical Center in Palmetto Point.

“We may be sharing pineapples instead of mangos but we know one thing for certain – whatever the season, it’s ripe for returning to a sound way of life that means more home-grown food and a healthier path for all,” said Smith.

The old adage ‘an apple a day’ took on a new twist when two of the country’s most vocal spokesmen on the importance of healthy eating met over a basket of farm-fresh mangos recently.
ADO Bahamas Executive Chairman Philip Smith, left, met with Dr. Arlington Lightbourne, President of Bahamas Wellness Health System as both tried to grapple with the nation’s obesity rate and find solutions that will boost healthy living and decrease the incidence of avoidable diseases.
“Heart disease is still the number one cause of death in The Bahama, followed by stroke, hypertension-related conditions and cancer,” said Dr. Lightbourne, who operates clinics in Nassau and Eleuthera. “Every one of those conditions is caused by poor choices in diet and lifestyle. We consume too many high-fat, processed foods. On top of that, we find every excuse not to exercise, ‘I’m tired. I worked hard today. I’ll do it tomorrow, I promise.’ Then tomorrow comes and there’s another excuse.”
Until Bahamians face the fact, he said, “that what we are putting in our bodies is leading us to an early grave, The Bahamas will continue to be a nation of obese people bringing unnecessary suffering upon ourselves and our loved ones.”
Smith told Lightbourne it was seeing the impact of hunger and poor diet that drove him to found ADO after nearly a decade at the helm of the Bahamas Feeding Network.
“I saw hunger every day, but I also saw the tragic results of poor diet and the toll it took, especially on poor people,” said Smith. “That’s why we were barely scraping the surface of a nation that is killing itself by how it eats.”
So, Smith said he vowed to spend the coming years reawakening the desire to grow, to find the pleasure in the soil that his Bahamian forebears did.
“We must learn to grow what we eat and eat what we grow for two reasons – first, for our health, and secondly to sustain us and break the crippling $1 billion annual bond on food imports, a lesson we learned during COVID about the danger of dependence on foreign food sources to keep us alive,” he said. Since its founding two years ago, ADO and its partners have planted more than 2,500 backyard farms, six community farms and 22 school farms.
The meeting between the two who will help lead the fight to better health through better diet of locally grown produce, poultry and more, agreed to forge efforts to create the first community farm in Eleuthera where Bahamas Wellness operates three clinics, including the island’s private urgent care facility, Central Eleuthera Medical Center in Palmetto Point.
“We may be sharing pineapples instead of mangos but we know one thing for certain – whatever the season, it’s ripe for returning to a sound way of life that means more home-grown food and a healthier path for all,” said Smith.
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