Eating Well

Two months ago I read an article in Google on cancer and concern regarding the ability of Asian governments, especially China, in dealing with the rising costs of medication and care for cancer patients. I printed the article but somehow can't find it. I tried to check Google's archives but got lost in all those articles. What struck me in that article was the rate of cancers in different parts of the world: around 50% in Asia, over 150% in North America and over 200% in Europe! I can't remember the exact figures, or what the % means. But based on that information, it seems that the more idustrialized and advanced the country, the higher the cancer rate. I guess it must be the higher stress and pollution, and all those processed food you get in the more advanced places.

I've also noticed that whenever scientists research on food and its effects, eg salt intake of certain populations, they would study some exotic groups in exotic locations, such as the Yanomamo Indians of South America or the Inuits in Alaska or the Ainus of Japan, and the results would always be in favor of these minority groups. That plus the higher cancer rates in western countries have made me rethink my menu. With more affluence, our diet has changed from the simple, natural food we had as kids to something we think more suitable to our modern, westernised lifesyle, status and image: charred steaks, fat-laden pizzas, heavy cream cakes and pastas, greasy sausages and chips... Well, I have repented. I am going back to a more chinese diet, with less meat and more varieties of fresh, organically-grown veg and fruits, no unnecessary sugar (including juices), no butter unless the bread's worth eating, and most of all I'm staying away from processed, plastic-wrapped foods full of additives and preservatives. I'm glad I can still grab a bunch of sayur manis or taiwan bok from my veg garden to throw into my noodles, buy my fish from people who go out to the sea themselves, get that home-reared chicken from Auntie so and so, eat water buffalo meat instead of frozen beef. But I just don't know what to do about that essential meat for us Chinese: pork. Is it time to go hunting for wild boar?