The Green Screen

Reporter to spend month on Cuban rations

By ANITA SNOW, Associated Press Writer Thu May 31, 4:07 PM ET

HAVANA - The ration book that determines most Cuban diets — and that will briefly rule mine — fits in my palm. Thick brown pages list amounts of foodstuffs to be checked, signed and stamped at "la bodega," the local government distribution center.
ADVERTISEMENT

In my eight years as Havana bureau chief for The Associated Press, I've developed great friendships and deep respect for the Cuban people. But as a foreigner paid in U.S. dollars, I've never lived the way most Cubans do, using their ingenuity to make sure there's enough to eat at month's end.

The foundation of the Cuban diet is the communist government's ration book, or "libreta," and as a foreigner, I'm not entitled to one. Cubans, meanwhile, are barred by law from selling or trading their deeply subsidized rations, which cost 33 Cuban pesos a month, about $1.30. That's roughly 10 percent of the average government salary of 350 Cuban pesos, about $16.

But food is so central to life and culture that I won't fully appreciate the Cuban experience until I eat as they do. So I've decided to spend June eating nothing but the rations and other food that Cubans earning an average salary can buy at farmers' markets using Cuban pesos.

High in carbohydrates, the ration is a safety net for basic food needs, providing just 10 to 15 days of monthly nutritional requirements, depending on eating habits. My plan is to eat only the amounts and kinds of food listed in a friend's "libreta," plus whatever extras most Cubans buy at approved stores and markets.

My project comes amid debate over the 45-year-old universal food ration. Many say it's unfair to give all Cubans the same allotment irrespective of income. Even
Fidel Castro has said Cuba is "creating conditions for the libreta to disappear."

To make sure I consume the same products Cubans get as rations, a friend gave me part of his monthly allotment — coffee (4 ounces), vegetable oil (2 cups), rice (6 pounds) and dried legumes (10 ounces), including the black beans Cubans love and the split peas they hate.

My friend won't sell me his rations or trade them for what I could buy elsewhere — technically illegal but relatively common practices that are increasingly criticized in Cuba. For instance, Cubans who don't drink coffee or like fish will often sell or trade their rations for something they need, such as more yogurt for a child or extra rice.

My friend also cannot sacrifice the five pounds of sugar his wife uses for family desserts, or spare his monthly animal protein: 10 eggs, a half-pound of chicken, 10 ounces of fish, and about a pound of other meat including a mix of hot dogs, more chicken, a ham-like product called "jamonada" and "picadillo texturizado" — a bland ground beef-type mixture of mostly soy.

I'll have to buy the most similar products I can find at the "shopping" — an overpriced government supermarket with prices in Cuban convertible pesos — and do my best to make such things as vegetarian chili using only the ingredients average Cubans can get. I'll also need to find substitutes for other rations my friend can't spare — the half-pound of dried pasta, pound of crackers and four pounds of potatoes. (My friend does promise to give me his daily bread rolls — one for each day.)

Because potatoes are almost impossible to get without buying them "por la izquierda," or "under the table," I'll substitute boniato — Cuban sweet potatoes bought with regular pesos at farmers' markets known as agros. I'll also shop at agros for fresh produce, eggs and more dried legumes, spending only what the average Cuban can afford.

Rations aside, Cubans also eat a lot of other government-subsized food, such as sizeable hot lunches at workplace dining rooms for less than 1.20 regular pesos, or 6 U.S. cents. And while most schoolchildren go home for lunch, kids with working parents get a hot meal as well.

During this month of living on the libreta, I'll track my spending and post the results in an AP blog. I hope to develop healthier eating habits out of necessity: cutting down on red meat and dairy products, planning meals ahead, buying fresh produce at the agros.

But come July 1, I'll also be ready for a big, juicy steak.

A Month's Rations in Cuba
Here is what the average Cuban gets each month on the government's subsidized food ration at a cost of about 33 Cuban pesos, or about $1.30. It provides 10 to 15 days of nutritional needs each month. Cubans have other food sources, including meals at work and school, and can buy products at farmers' markets and at more expensive supermarkets.

Rice, 6 pounds.

Dried beans, 10 ounces.

White sugar, 3 pounds.

Brown sugar, 2 pound.

Coffee, 4 ounces.

Cooking oil, about 2 cups.

Eggs, 10

Salt, 12 ounces.

Bath or laundry soap, 1 bar.

Toothpaste, one tube

Dried pasta, 8 ounces.

Crackers, 1 pound.

Fish, 10 ounces.

Cacao (sweetened cocoa powder) 8 ounces.

Chicken, 8 ounces.

Bread rolls, 30 a month.

Potatoes, 4 pounds.

Liquid detergent, 1 plastic bottle.

mdubuque Wrote:Cool. Her cholesterol level and blood pressure and weight will probably come down. Scientifically there is only ONE thing EVER proven in peer-reviewed studies to increase life expectancies.

Caloric restriction.

Will she still be living in a fancy hotel?

She should go live with the people.

Why is she still living in a fancy hotel? Why won't she live with the Cuban people?

What is she afraid of? Good sex? Encountering people who love Fidel?

Anyone have a link to her blog?

Matt

Matthew, you are no expert on nutrition, and your statement about caloric restriction is untrue, you have repeated it at nauseam, but it is still untrue. Cholesterol is created within the body, and the foodstuffs that provoke such creation are mainly carbohydrates. You may compare with the animals whose meat is rich in cholesterol, they eat no cholesterol at all. It is not cholesterol that you eat that sets off in your blood vessels, your own metabolism produces that cholesterol from sugar, potatoes, rice and bread.

Caloric restriction is known to cause several diseases as well as early death, not increasing life expectancy.

There is nothing in the article suggesting that ms Snow is staying at a fancy hotel. On the contrary, the article implies that she is not. You made that up, just as you made up the "caloric restriction" myth.

It would also be handsome if you stop posting in bold, but it's no great deal, it just makes you look silly.

actually you're wrong cocuyo. There is now a definitive link to life expectancy and caloric restriction but I suspect most people wouldn't make the tradeoff and the are other nutrititional needs that have to be satisfied (vitamin supplementation, etc)

you're not going to get this out of the cuban libreta. I'd bet it's woefully nutritionally inadequate.

Bogey Wrote:actually you're wrong cocuyo. There is now a definitive link to life expectancy and caloric restriction but I suspect most people wouldn't make the tradeoff and the are other nutrititional needs that have to be satisfied (vitamin supplementation, etc)

you're not going to get this out of the cuban libreta. I'd bet it's woefully nutritionally inadequate.

No Bogey, I am not wrong. There is no scientific proof that caloric restriction would give you a longer life. However, caloric restriction with a well balanced diet, provided you eat enough, is healthy. Caloric restriction is closely related to the various GI diets, and the Cuban diet when you depend much on the libreta is quite the contrary. Cubans eat high GI produce as rice and sugar, the sugar consumption is higher than in many other places on earth. The Cuban diet is in fact not restricted in a healthy way, it lacks essential fatty acids, and it lacks vitamins and is high in carbohydrates. So the discussion is moot on that point, but the dogma around caloric restriction is not science.

The mechanisms behind aterosclerosis and diabetes type 2 are not fully known, but there is evidence indicating that it is connected to a diet with much carbohydrates as well as cereals. Those people that are free of these ailments do not live on caloric restriction, some even have a high fat diet. It is typical for people with weight problems to fall for ideas such as "caloric restriction", just as people that are not content with what they can do with their own lives fall for simplistic ideas like "socialism" and try to push their ideas onto others.

In short; Matthew would not even think of living on a caloric restricted diet, you can see from the videos of him that he is fat, and he won't live under the Cuban system, but he is promoting both those ideas purporting that they are sound. They are not.

needless to say I never claimed the cuban libreta "diet" would fall under this rubric and yes, having seen pics of bongo beating Matthew, it's be nice if he followed his own advice

Wrong again Cocuyo.  Caloric restriction is the ONLY peer-reviewed way to increase longevity.

But as I recall, you weren't even cognizant of what peer-reviewed meant.

Hmmmm.  Debating with the simpletons....:vomit_smiley_011:


Bogey, last time I checked my samba bongo video was the most widely watched bongo video in history.  #1 on google and youtube both, for videos containing actual bongo content.:gives22:

I should have 100,000 views by the end of the year.

For bongo lessons????? Geez.

I'm as surprised as anyone.  200 people a day continue to watch it at:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfSEliYhIEI

The people have spoken!

Matt

Bogey Wrote:needless to say I never claimed the cuban libreta "diet" would fall under this rubric and yes, having seen pics of bongo beating Matthew, it's be nice if he followed his own advice  

mdubuque Wrote:Wrong again Cocuyo. Caloric restriction is the ONLY peer-reviewed way to increase longevity.

But as I recall, you weren't even cognizant of what peer-reviewed meant.

Hmmmm. Debating with the simpletons.... :vomit_smiley_011:

Your lie will not become truth by repetition Matthew. I agree that you are a simpleton, but there might also be reasonable people reading this board.

So; let's get back to basic facts. Cubans do not live longer than people where I live. The "life expectation" figure is calculated by a formula and has little to do with reality, which can be shown by recent demographic statistics. Over-aging is a problem in Cuba, not because Cubans live longer, but because there is a decline in birth numbers as well as substantial emigration that distorts the age distribution of the population. Cubans are not healthier than comparable populations; osteoporosis is more common than in the Mediterranean region, mainly due to deficient nutrition.

The topic however is not that, although you are trying to twist it your way Matthew. You are trying to sidestep your backtalking of ms Snow by posting more and more lies about your silly "peer review". It is like your Yucatan ferry, it simply isn't there.

[sarcasm]
But you Matthew, should stop living in that fancy hotel of yours and go out to live among the people under their conditions for a change. You are the one staying in fancy hotels, you are the American here, the Yuma sex tourist. Shouldn't we apply all that prejudice on you, you white pig? You go to Cuba to exploit those poor Cubans, you are the one that wants them to continue living under abysmal conditions so you can go there to buy cheap sex, are you not? You are the one that benefits from continued slavery and promotes keeping slaves so that you can have cheap servants when you go to satisfy your lust for humiliation of blacks so you can keep boasting your white supremacy.
[/sarcasm]

Simpleton!

I have a book called the Okanawan Program. People from Okinawa are amongst the longest living people on the planet with very low rates for many types of cancers. The book contains research done on the island by north american experts in the fields of health and nutrition.

Key point: Okinawans consume considerably less calories than North Americans.

However, a key point is also that it is a balanced, healthy diet. Just not tons of it. Some rice, grains, legumes, fish, fruit, tea. But not in huge portions. Things containing Omega three are quite common. That's become a bit of a fad here, but taking a look at the okinawans, seems to be working.

Zelig Wrote:I have a book called the Okanawan Program. People from Okinawa are amongst the longest living people on the planet with very low rates for many types of cancers. The book contains research done on the island by north american experts in the fields of health and nutrition.

Key point: Okinawans consume considerably less calories than North Americans.

However, a key point is also that it is a balanced, healthy diet. Just not tons of it. Some rice, grains, legumes, fish, fruit, tea. But not in huge portions. Things containing Omega three are quite common. That's become a bit of a fad here, but taking a look at the okinawans, seems to be working.

Did I mention "essential fatty acids"? That's Omega3 for you. There has also been studies on Kitava and Greenland and a few other places, which clearly show that a healthy diet will keep you healthy to a high age. A long life isn't really a boon if you have to spend major part of it with bad health.

"Caloric restriction" is not the key. It is definitely detrimental to eat more than you burn, that will build up fat, but if you take it any further, restricting calories is equal to starvation. If caloric restriction were a Good Thing, the "special period" would not have caused health problems, but it did. Just about all kinds of ailments increased during that period, particularly those most closely related to nutrition. The incidence of circulatory diseases in Cuba is higher than many other places, causing early death for many people as well as discomfort at higher ages. Cuba is in fact not a place with lots of healthy elders, it is only a myth. The Cuban diet in general is unhealthy, with too little protein, too little of the good fat and too much rapid carbohydrates. It lacks essential vitamins, not only AD and E, but also B and surprisingly C; the latter because Cubans don't eat much fruit and green vegetables. Cubans need more fish, meat, fruit and vegetables but could spare the huge amount of sugar that is doled out.

Aye Dios Mio guys, who give a flying fungool what Matt says!

It takes 6 eggs to make a flan but since they don't have milk, how will she make it?

Also, there is a very big difference between a potato and a boniato. A boniato is hard and sweet while the potato is soft and not sweet.

Can't deal with the idiots.

Anyhoo, if I want to be fat, who the Fk is Fidel to tell me I can't be.

Cocuyo,

It's not calorie restriction as in dieting. Its calorie restriction in comparison with the North American diet that consumes way too many. Okinawans take in, as you said, the right amount of calories to function well. They don't take in much more than they burn. Just happens that this level is much less than we consume. Hence, the terrible obesity in North America.

Of course, there is a spritual aspect to their living where elders are respected more and have a place to be useful in society. Cuba has a bit of this too. Whereas here in North America people often think of old people as a bit of a burden (at least in white culture).

Zelig, I know that, but simplifying it to just caloric restriction won't help us to be healthier at higher age. The key factor is not restriction at all, because the Kitavans, Okinawans and Inuit eat as much as they like. However, when the intake of Omega3 is adequate, it seems as people don't tend to eat more than they need. The key seems a variety of foodstuffs, including sufficient Omega3.

All those people eat a diet with rather much fat, the Kitavans eat much saturated fat (cocos), but still, heart disease is unknown, they don't have diabetes type 2, and their blood pressure and insulin levels do not rise with age as in western societies. Man is the only mammal that has this problem. It is called Syndrome X, and it seems that it can be curbed with a more suitable diet.

The common factor among most of those societies where Syndrome X is absent is that most of their food is from nature; they eat virtually no cereals. Archaeological findings also confirm that syndrome X was not common thousands of years ago, it came with agriculture.

In Cuba the metabolic syndrome x is endemic. Cubans do not eat a healthy diet, it lacks Omega3, it lacks essential vitamins, and it is high in fast carbohydrates. Moreover, hygiene is generally not very good, much because there is not enough water of good quality, but also because of the hot climate, therefore food poisoning is common. Dehydration from diarrhea is a rather common primary death cause.

Matthew purports the Cuban system and the libreta rations as healthy, wrongfully claiming that Cubans live healthier to older ages, while this is completely untrue. Cubans are not healthier than Europeans, they do not live longer, and at high ages they display the same circulatory and metabolic problems as western societies. The Cuban propaganda machine, of which Matthew is part, tries to create an image of a healthy nation with advantages for quality of life. There may be such advantages, but they are not in the field of diets and health.

Mercy Wrote:Aye Dios Mio guys, who give a flying fungool what Matt says!

It takes 6 eggs to make a flan but since they don't have milk, how will she make it?

Also, there is a very big difference between a potato and a boniato. A boniato is hard and sweet while the potato is soft and not sweet.

Can't deal with the idiots.

Anyhoo, if I want to be fat, who the Fk is Fidel to tell me I can't be.

Please Mercenaria don't be so simplictic.

If you are fat but never to the hospital is ok, otherwise resources blatantly wasted.