LINCOLN, Neb. (Flatwater Free Press) – Anthony Warrior pricked his finger with a tiny needle and squeezed a drop of blood onto a test strip. As he watched the number light up, the then 40-year-old absentee Shawnee citizen and Muskogee descendant knew his days of starvation had caught up with him.
Weighing close to 500 pounds and with dangerously high blood sugar levels, Warrior faced potential blindness, kidney failure, and limb amputation – all complications of unchecked diabetes.
If he doesn’t improve his eating habits and weight, he will likely end up in a wheelchair or a coffin.
That moment marked the beginning of a dramatic change for Warrior, now 49, and ultimately inspired him to change the lives of others for the better.
Warrior, who lives near the Santee Dakota (Sioux) Reservation and is one of the best Native American chefs in the area, started working with the Santee branch of Nebraska Indian Community College about two years ago. They teach healthy eating courses. Through his catering business, Warrior’s Palate, he travels to other communities to share recipes based on traditional foods while preaching the benefits of indigenous-based diets and healthier eating habits.
Native American adults have the highest rate of diagnosed diabetes of any racial group in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. they are Almost three times more likely to develop type 2 diabetes compared to white adults.
Warrior was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes when she was 18 years old. He said it felt like a death sentence.
“We were told it was hereditary and that we would probably get it,” he said. “And I believed that most of my life until about 10 years ago.”
Like many Native American children, Warrior did not grow up on a diet of corn, beans, squash, and bison that Great Plains tribes ate before Europeans arrived. Instead, I continued to eat a diet that consisted mainly of processed foods.
“When I was growing up, we lived in a time where it was normal for both parents to work, so my mom had to leave,” said Warrior, who grew up in Oklahoma. “My father was always out in the oil fields and we had to fend for ourselves. We ate at school lunches. I’m not very proud to say that.”
A typical school lunch included pizza, sandwiches, and spaghetti.
At home, my parents made enough money to qualify for federal food assistance, but not enough to keep the kitchen shelves from emptying from time to time.
With a view to feeding his family, dinner consisted mainly of starchy carbohydrates, he said. As an athlete, he was told to eat carbohydrates to gain weight.
Warrior was always a “big boy”, weighing between 350 and 375 pounds, and played football and also wrestled in high school. Until that bad test day at age 40, he thought his weight was where it should be.
Rejecting Western medicine to control his diabetes, Warrior embraced an indigenous diet.
He mainly ate fresh vegetables and fruits along with lean meat. These ancestral staples became increasingly appealing and he began to incorporate them into his cuisine.
Immediately, my blood sugar levels dropped to about 200 milligrams per deciliter, and then even lower. A blood sugar level of 100 is considered normal for someone without diabetes.
With his diabetes under control and his weight below 300 pounds, Warrior turned his attention to his children.
“To break that cycle, we have to start at a younger age group,” he said. “My children ate every vegetable before going to school. They ate every fish. They ate every nutritious thing they could. Once they go, that’s no longer an option for them.”
He says eating healthy at home isn’t as difficult as you might think.
A few years ago, Warrior approached the Santee branch of the Nebraska Indian Community College, which runs a program to help Native-owned businesses develop, about a healthy eating course. The university embraced the idea.
Twice a month, people gathered at the iSanti Dakotah Tribal Food Distribution Center to use everyday items (items distributed on reservations through federal programs) and affordable items available at grocery stores. Learn about healthy meal preparation. stores and farmers markets.
Ken Darby Jr., who formerly managed the tribe’s grocery program, said it helps that today’s grocery foods are different than they were a generation ago.
Many of those who have received the product in the past fondly remember the “cheese” that resembled a Velveeta bar, and some wondered if it was really cheese. Canned meat was also a staple food.
“I remember spending time with my grandmother as a kid,” said Tristan Runnels, who took over the program from Darby Jr. Reminds me of canned meat. It was greasy. ”
Canned meat is no longer in stock at the tribe’s distribution center, which serves about 280 Santee residents eligible for food assistance. Instead, bison, chicken, fresh eggs, dairy products, cereals, and vegetables are used. And, of course, cheese to satisfy the nostalgia of our elders.
On a warm, sunny April night, Warrior made a healthy chicken, egg, and berry salad using mostly household items. There were about 10 participants, all of whom were seniors.
“Last night I spoke at Northeast Community College (in Norfolk) and there were three minorities there,” he said. “There’s a party tonight!”
As we discussed each step of meal preparation, Warrior reflected on his own food background. His mother started out as a home cook and then ran a cafe in Bloomfield for about 10 years. He earned his skills by cooking for his girlfriend and later the casino.
“I remember discussing the menu with my boss,” Warrior said. “They wanted a Native American menu, so I started looking at items that I thought would be good, but they interrupted and said, ‘No.’ We want Indian tacos. ”
Indian tacos are taboo for warriors because they are based on processed foods such as flour. A popular food at powwows and other social gatherings, fried bread began as a lifesaver for many people in the early days of reservation life, when large bags of flour were given as monthly necessities.
“Tonight, I wanted to bring you some different flavors,” Warrior told attendees as he prepared the ingredients.
Less than an hour later, Warrior served the group with food to sample. Of course, as is customary among indigenous peoples, elders were encouraged to take some of the food home or have a separate meal for their families.
Warriors take pride in the work they do. Eventually, he hopes things will progress to the point where Santee residents can feed themselves without relying on the government for certain staple foods.
“We’ve talked about it. We’re looking at a land allocation with some of the agricultural land in the area that we own,” Warrior said. “We want to be able to turn that into a growth cycle.”
Runnels wants to run the food distribution program as an extension of the tribe, rather than a throwback to the days when the federal government handed out a month’s worth of food.
“We don’t want people to think it’s food,” Rannells said. “We want to increase it more. We want it to be beneficial to everyone.”
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