In my office I say, “So, these thrifty genes are a gift; they helped your people survive famine and scarcity. But imagine if you took those genes to the Old Country Buffet? Lots of food, lots of insulin and fat storage, pants that don’t fit, diabetes.” And then we craft a lifestyle plan that improves upon the one that landed them in my office, and both of us are happier.
Yesterday I had one of those horrifying revelations: I’d never actually BEEN to the Old Country Buffet! So of course I went for dinner immediately. The place was packed with seniors and kids; I’d estimate that more than half were overweight. It was cheap — and challenging (but not impossible) to get a good thrifty-gene-person meal there. Yup, lots of fried things and pizza, but also roasted chicken pieces and a couple different kinds of fish, and what looked like a turkey breast on the carver’s table. Or you could make a chicken Caesar salad.
The vegetable station had green beans, but they were mixed with bacon; the other “veggies” were various shapes of noodles. I imagine it’s hard to keep green vegetables from going totally gray and limp when they have to sit out like that, but surely if we can sample the dirt on Mars we have the technology to overcome this. (Spinach maybe, or roasted tomatoes, or ratatouille?) The other veggie choices were corn, carrots, potatoes and lima beans, all pretty starchy for a good thrifty gene program. The salsa was yummy, so I put some on my chicken breast. You could get by.
Fruit? Not so much. There were prunes (AKA dried plums). Dessert was brownies, cookies, ice cream, “dessert pizza,” cheesecake, assorted cobblers and Rice Krispie bars — not so good for us thrifties. After a taste of brownie (following my three-bites-of-anything-won’t-kill-ya rule) I beat feet. And now, no more mystery about the Old Country Buffet. (Have you had grilled peaches yet? Now there’s a great dessert!)
Susan Fekety is a Yale-educated advanced practice nurse with special expertise in nutrition and dietary therapies. She provides women’s healthcare and coordinates the First Line Therapy program at True North Health Center in Falmouth. Contact her at sfekety@truenorthhealthcenter.org.