Things that Matter: How to have a happy, healthy and mindful life: Part 1
Some definitions: Mindful = deliberately conscious or aware of one’s body, mind, thoughts, feelings and environment. Mindfulness = maintaining a non-judgmental state of heightened or complete awareness of one’s thoughts, emotions, or experiences on a moment-to-moment basis, encouraging a sense of peace, calm and compassion.
This column brings together several themes, prompted by recent pronouncements and events. The first is the repeated comment that eating healthy is expensive. So many people are unhappy about their bodies or others’ perceptions of their bodies, and about their choices or perceived lack of choice, and the impact these perceptions have on their physical and mental health, with a persistent sense of stress. So let’s start there: with food choices and the myth that eating healthy is expensive.
It’s said over and over again that healthy food, which avoids weight gain and promotes a trim, healthy body, is too expensive for many people. Nothing could be further from the truth. Let’s start with a few staples, such as bread: A large (regular) sandwich loaf (720 grams) was priced this week at $4.59 in the supermarket. A similar bran loaf was actually a few cents cheaper. But a similar weight of cake (half a cake) costs $11.99 – almost three times the price. Jean-Jacque Rousseau famously wrote: “A great princess, on hearing that the peasants were starving and had no bread, said “Let them eat cake”. That facetious comment, ironically, is the choice many people make, choosing the much, much more costly, less healthy choice.
A favourite snack is a pack of potato crisps – imported. A one ounce pack sells for $1.99 in the supermarket. A 1.4 ounce pack of local breadfruit chips made by Bibi’s Snacks, costs $1.75 – much less; it’s tastier and saves foreign exchange! And compare the price of healthy bananas. I bought 12 this week for $8.48 – that’s 70 cents each … so three children could each have a healthy banana for a total of $2.10, instead of a pack of crisps each, totalling $5.97 … three times as much for the less healthy, less filling choice. And remember: “A banana a day keeps the doctor away”!
Cereals: healthy bran flakes in a standard size costs $10 – 12, while sugary Frosted Flakes are as much as $13. Even jams tend to cost more than healthier peanut butter. What about another staple, milk? Standard milk and lactose free milk sell for $7.15 and so-called almond “milk” – which is really white, flavoured water, with only one gram of protein compared to 9 grams of protein in cow’s milk – sells for $12.99 for a slightly larger pack. And 450 grams of healthy yogurt sells for half the price per gram of imported ice cream!
What about vegetables. You pay your money and make your choice, because prices range four-fold. This week you could buy cucumbers for $1.89 per kilogram, tomatoes for $4.49 per kilo and pumpkin for $4.59. Or you could go for carrots at $8.99, butter beans at $10.99 and eight ounces of mushrooms for $7.95. The first three choices would have cost $10.97. The other three choices would have cost more than $50 for the same three kilos! And canned and frozen veggies tend to be higher still per portion.
What about that staple, cheapest of all and healthiest of all fish dish – sardines? For $2.59 a tin of sardines, chopped up with some onion, herbs and perhaps a bit of Jamaican Solomon Gundy, is a healthy alternative to a costly steak at five to ten times the price!
So let’s destroy that harmful myth that eating healthy is too costly. If you read the labels and follow basic nutrition principles, eating healthy can be perfectly cheap, and certainly cheaper than less healthy restaurant fast foods. And Epicurus, the ancient Greek philosopher would be pleased, because for him, the most pleasant life is one where we abstain from unnecessary desires and achieve an inner tranquility by being content with simple things and the company of good friends.
Which brings me to two events of the past week, that would also have pleased Epicurus: two delightful art exhibitions and the company of wonderful, creative friends – a major “Pop up” exhibition upstairs at Massy’s in Warrens, and “Art and Antiques” at Greewich House in St. James.
Artist and curator Oneka Small has done it again. Following her splendid 50th anniversary Independence Exhibition at Manor Lodge in November, she has been able to mount another inspiring, eclectic show in the spacious upstairs “long gallery” above the big Massy Supermarket. The “Pop up “ concept is to take advantage of a suddenly available space and bring together a wide range of artists. This show is called REVO’CLECTIC – a delightful portmanteau word, formed from “revolutionary” and “eclectic”. It’s a revolutionary concept to use non-traditional spaces, re-purposed as galleries, so that artists’ work can be seen (hopefully) by a previously unknown audience; and it’s eclectic because there’s a wonderfully broad and diverse range of artists showing a wonderfully broad and diverse range of work in many media.
My own favourite piece perhaps is a large “abstract” photo of what could be an ancient tayche, mysteriously titled “Red wrapping round” – a dramatic, vibrant exercise in colour harmonies … and a tribute to the hidden treasures photographers with a keen eye discover. But I also loved the constructionist, mixed media sculptures of Denyse Menard-Greenidge: “Altar: Delivery of the Last Canes” and “Conservation in 3D”, with the eloquent message: “Money is a good servant but a bad master”. This elegant piece deserves a good home in the entrance foyer of one of our Bridgetown banks.
I also enjoyed Rosalind Watson’s “Royal Poinciana”; Oneka’s “Flowers of Life” – 3 columns “exploding in energy”; Walter Bailey’s “Memories of Mali”, a musical instrument using the calabash, evoking the connections between our cultures; Joyce Daniel’s silk painting “Pressure” and Adrian Richards’ two photographs “Memories”. And there’s so much more, needing another visit or two!
And then, Thursday evening, to Greenwich House – home of our longest running antique emporium, started by the famous Mrs. Bishop and continued by her daughter Hilary Knight. The main attraction was a dramatic collection of paintings by Rosemary Parkinson, the famous Barbadian culinary guru and author of not one but several “magna opera” (I hope that’s the correct Latin plural of magnum opus). Rosemary followed the delightful “Caribbean Culinaria” with the two volume “Nyam Jamaica” and then “Barbados Bu’n-Bu’n” – a must-have for every chef and gastronome with an interest in great Bajan food! Rosemary has the genes of her renowned artist father, the late Gordon Parkinson, and has now taken up painting seriously, with energy and panache. Her colours are rich and exotic, while her decorative black and white drawings are stylish, but more subdued and meditative. Her work and subject matter is completely unlike her father’s more traditional landscapes and figure drawings but she shares his exuberance and originality. And I think there’s a lot of exciting work yet to come from this chef, gourmet, columnist, writer, artist! Her paintings would certainly be enjoyed and much discussed by a happy gathering of Epicurus and his friends.
And so I end with the happy conjunction of good, healthy food; great, creative art; and the company of friends – all the essentials for a happy enjoyment of a mindful life and peace of mind!
What I’ve repeatedly called the Explosion of Art in Barbados continues. But when will those who can afford to support our brilliant artists – individuals with money they can hardly spend and companies making healthy profits – start to do so? Visual art is the voice of the people, it’s inspirational, and it showcases our culture for everyone to share – from students to old folks to visitors. I’m calling for our banks and businesses to support the arts. And I’m calling even more loudly for government to keep its promise of converting Block A, the Garrison, into the National Art Gallery, as promised by three successive administrations over nearly fifteen years, and announced repeatedly by the Minister of Culture over the last two or three years. This IS a national priority, and it’s a shame that it’s not been done for CARIFESTA. Perhaps it can at least be started, which would provide a useful boast …
A Happy and Blessed Easter, everyone!
(Professor Fraser is Past Dean of Medical Sciences, UWI and Professor Emeritus of Medicine and Clinical Pharmacology. Website: profhenryfraser.com)