How are Indigenous tribes getting back to native foods?

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Now back to the show. Happy Thursday, everybody, and thanks for tuning in to the Daily Sun Up.

I am here with Sun Rule reporter Tracy Ross, and we are going to talk about her recent visit to

the Denver March powwow over the weekend, and more specifically, really a group who is helping

indigenous peoples like the Navajo tribe change their diets to restore mental, physical,

and spiritual health as well as their own sovereignty. Tracy sounds like a lot. Sounds like it was

fun. How's it going? It's going well, Dave, and it was a lot of fun. I'm happy to be here talking

about it. For those people who haven't ever been to a powwow, you spent time there last weekend

in Denver. First off, kind of give us a general thought on going to the powwow this year,

especially it being the 50th anniversary. Yes, so I will preface this by saying that I've only

been to one other powwow in my life, and that was down in Durango at Fort Lewis College,

and it was amazing. It blew my mind, but this one was like, oh my god, it was so

incredible, Dave. There were at one point, I think 55,000 people attended, that's not only tribes,

but people who just went to check it out, but at one point there were 1100 dancers on the floor

in their traditional wear, and they were in part of the grand, this is the thing called the grand

entry, and they have different groups situated all the way around the floor of drumming circles,

so they were passing the drumming onto these different groups, and it was getting louder and

louder and louder as all of these people of all ages, from like little baby to like over 70

year old men and women, not marching, but dancing onto the floor, and I'm not like an overly

emotional person, but I was like tearing up, it was so moving, and one thing that really stood

out to me, I was sitting next to a woman who her son was dancing, and there was one guy dressed

in fatigues, and he was carrying a flag, there were lots of flags, but she pointed this guy out,

and she said, that is the great, great, great, great, great, great grandson of a Lakota warrior

who stole one of Custer's flags at Little Bighorn, and he was carrying the flag, so I all I kept

saying when I was there is why isn't everyone I know here, because it's one of the coolest cultural

experiences and historical experiences you could have in Colorado. I was lucky enough to go to

quite a few of them when I grew up in Oklahoma as well as a couple here in Colorado, so you're

right, it is something people should really think about if they've never really been to that kind

of cultural experience before, it's just a beautiful, beautiful display of dancing and drumming,

and all things indigenous. Tracy, you were there also to interview people with the Navajo tribe,

specifically to address their concerns about diet and health issues along the tribe.

Let's get into a little bit, we always like to talk about this on the podcast, how did you find out

about this story, and what can you tell us about the people involved? Yeah, so like every reporter I

know, I might email inbox gets flooded with all sorts of people pitching different stories,

pitching products or pitching, you know, things that are happening and a lot of them they're too

sort of like promotional and I skip right over them, but this one caught my attention because it

was for a story about the former president and first lady of the Navajo nation, Jonathan

Fafelia Nez, and a group called the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, and a couple

of chefs and a young man named Jensen Yazi, who's Navajo, and it was all about how for the past 15

years, this group of people have joined together to reintroduce native foods to the reservation,

and really encourage people to adopt a plant-based diet, which is what they had, you know, way before

colonization, and in order to tackle really serious chronic health issues, including type 2 diabetes

that is just rampant there, and so the combination of all of these things and getting to go and meet

some of these really important people, specifically the Navajo tribal members, I couldn't pass it up,

plus the fact that it was at the the powwow, I just was like, there's no way I'm not going to do

that, so that was the story, and I went and I got to hear the president first lady tell their

stories about their health and wellness transformations, I got to hear from the Physicians Committee,

and the chefs and Jensen Yazi. Tracey, get a little bit more into the narrative around

indigenous people losing their traditional diets and eating habits.

Yeah, it's infuriating, just like the whole story of forced assimilation

in the United States and North America, in on lands that, you know, never belonged to us,

but essentially when Native American peoples were being rounded up and forced onto reservations

in the 1800s, after the federal government had killed off the bison and done all the other

things that they did to the first peoples of this continent, they also radically changed their

diets, and one thing that they did to the Navajo peoples was a scorched earth campaign,

which is this happens all over the world in places where occupation is happening, but they

basically go through and just destroy all crops and all seeds and all ways of a people being

able to feed themselves, and they introduced the federal government, introduced commodity foods

that we're all pretty familiar with, and that would be large sugar, coffee, spam, and other

canned meats. I mentioned sugar already powdered milk later, and then the ubiquitous

five-pound disgusting block of orange cheese, which they gave people because there was a gigantic

dairy surplus at one point, and despite the fact that the vast majority, if not all indigenous

peoples, according to the First Lady of an Abihonation, are lactose intolerant. So they were given

all of these foods that essentially made them sick and has continued to make them sick with

type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, heart disease, and all those other illnesses to this day.

And so along the way, you know, people were hungry and they ate what was given to them,

and as a result, some of their traditional foods and methods of growing food have fallen

by the wayside along with their health. Tracy, you mentioned this group, the Physicians Committee

for Responsible Medicine. Who are they, and how did they get involved with the food systems

on the Navajo Nation? Yeah, that's really interesting. They are a non-profit organization

headquartered in Washington, DC, and they're essentially, they kind of combine the clout and

expertise of more than 17,000 physicians, and their whole thing is prevention. So they look at

different ways to help humans and animals improve human and animal lives through plant-based

diets and ethical and effective scientific research. So the way that they got involved with

the Navajo Nation is that one of them was invited onto the radio program Native American calling,

and they asked the president of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine to come on

and discuss a nutritional approach to type 2 diabetes. And so when that happened, that kicked off

this whole chain of events where the Physician Committee created these dietary guidelines that

eventually became the DNA power plate, which is sort of like a little bit analogous to our food pyramid,

and then began this long relationship of DNA leaders and the Physicians Committee working

together to improve food education and plant-based diet education and spread the word across

the Navajo Nation, trying to get people to buy into it and helping them sort of put that lifestyle

into action. And one interesting thing that drew me to this story too is Jonathan Nez, the president

of the Navajo Nation, when he learned all of this information, he was going around the reservation

telling all these kids, like talking to classrooms and saying, you know, you guys, you gotta get

healthy, you gotta stop eating junk food, it's not good for you, take care of yourselves,

and at the time he weighed 300 pounds. And he told me that he was in front of a class one day,

and one of the kids raised their hands and said, well, what's up? Why are you telling us to do this

when look at you, you're fat, like, what's what's the deal? And he said that stung,

but it was also a wake-up call, and he started running and changing his diet, and eventually he

went from five Ks to Marathons, and he has since run five Ks, Marathons, and a few Ultramarathons.

So he was this incredible success story. Your story, you also mentioned the success that

Jensen Yazzi has had. Talk to us about that a little bit more for being a young man and an artist.

Yeah, I love his story, too. And the interesting thing about Jensen is the second I met him,

I was like, wow, this guy has so much energy, and his whole vibe and spirit and personality was

so open and like light, just light was pouring out of him. And he is currently a photography

student at UNM, I think University of New Mexico, in Albuquerque. And his story is that when all the

stuff started coming out, all this information started coming out about the plant-based diet 15

years ago, his dad heard about it, and he came home, and he said, hey, family, we're going to

overhaul our diet and see how it goes. And Jensen at the time weighed 100 pounds more than he does now.

And he was, you know, classic like super overweight person, let Tharjik didn't have that much

energy, wasn't that happy, and was resistant to making these changes, but went along with it,

because his family was totally into it, and his mom was really good about the meal planning and

prep and all that stuff. And they said, okay, we'll give it a month. And after a month, they all

felt better, so they decided to keep going. And, you know, all this time later, they're all still vegan.

And Jensen is this incredible visual artist and photographer who is inspired by

Ansel Adams, but has his own twist on his photography. And I feel like it's just infused with,

as he says, like precious energy and pure energy that has come from

living this clean lifestyle and having this really beautiful, clean diet that incorporates

traditional native foods. Tracy, it's been decades a century and longer

for this change in diet. And now we've got this change kind of this movement to go back.

It has to come with a lot of challenges, I would think, some sweeping changes across the

Navajo nation. Talk about some of those challenges that the Physicians Committee has faced,

as well as some of the tribal governments who are trying to address this issue.

Yeah, so I think some of the major challenges on the reservation are

accessibility of these foods for people, because the USDA classifies the Navajo nation as

quote, heavy food desert. And there are only like 10 to 13 grocery stores for a population of,

I don't know, around 170,000 people I've read. And so based on proximity and income and a lot of

other factors, oftentimes people can end up getting the majority of their diet from a gas station,

where the only fresh food there and not processed food there would be like a banana.

And so that's hard. That's a hard economic barrier to overcome. And also,

getting someone to go from eating really easy to get food that tastes good even though it makes

you feel bad to say, starting a garden and keeping it going and getting off that really sugar

heavy diet to something that may not taste great when you first transform is a massive challenge.

And on top of that, former President Nez also told me that shockingly, even though they're a

sovereign nation with their own laws and their own rules, they have not been able to get the USDA

to certify what's called the three sisters. So squash, beans, and corn that they grow themselves

to be able to eat like in restaurants and assisted living facilities. So it's not only

an inside cultural kind of job. It's like the continuation of the federal government's

control over indigenous peoples and kind of refusal to give them the sovereignty that is

their birthright. Tracy, appreciate you jumping on the podcast and giving us some insight into

this story. If you want to read more coverage from Tracy around the people who make up this great

state in our region, you can check it out on our homepage and on our free Colorado Sun app.

Tracy, thanks again for jumping on the podcast. Thank you, Dave. Have a great afternoon.

Thanks for listening. And finally, here are a few stories that you should know about today.

Denver water is enacting restrictions for its 1.5 million customers for the first time since 2013.

Concerns are mounting about water storage with a record low snowpack and the unprecedented heat wave.

Denver water will allow outdoor watering twice a week and is advising sprinkler systems not be turned

on until May. A beaver no kill bill pitched as a way to expand Colorado's wildfire and drought

mitigation efforts is dead, failing to move out of a legislative committee. The bill would have

made it illegal to kill beavers for recreation on state public land or federal lands where state rules

apply. A car that pulled over on the shoulder is the cause of the 24 fire that has burned more

than 7,300 acres south of Colorado Springs. Officials said the malfunctioning vehicle pulled off

Colorado 115 and sparked the dry roadside vegetation and flames quickly pushed east onto Fort

Carson. To read these stories and much more, visit our website, ColoradoSun.com.

As an award-winning non-profit news outlet, we take our mission of credible independent journalism

seriously and you can check out our trust indicators at ColoradoSun.com slash ethics.

Our music is by the Denver-based Matt Skellinger Group. A link to their music is in our show notes

and a special thanks to Swallow Hill music. I'm David Krause, see you next time.