The Gathering of Nations is on April 24-25 and among all the dancers, and drummers, tribal members from the Diné Nation will be sharing their health journey and how changing from a European diet to a Native plant-based one helped improve their health and lifestyle.
The Native Food for Life program is a partnership of the Navajo Nation and a public health nonprofit known as the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine that advocates for ancestral plant-based foods to help treat, reverse and prevent diabetes.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Native American adults are 36% more likely than other adults to have prediabetes or diabetes.
Jenson Yazzie is a Diné college student attending the University of New Mexico. He said his family took the initiative together in 2010 when he was 22 to go vegan. Sixteen years later, he’s maintaining a weight loss of 80-100 pounds with the help of a Native plant-based diet and regular exercise.
Diné member Lyle Etsitty from Rabbitbrush N.M. also found success by switching to a plant-based diet and says Native Americans continue to struggle with food access on the Navajo Nation because it’s a food desert, with grocery stores 50-to-100 miles away from residents.
Yazzie and Etsitty will join other advocates, including former Navajo President Jonathan Nez, and Santa Fe-based chef Lois Ellen Frank, at three presentations on Friday and Saturday during the Gathering of Nations.
Support for this coverage comes from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
