Growing up on a Caribbean Island, there were so many ways to stay active due to the climate and the great natural resource of the ocean. Staying active came very easily when I was growing up in Barbados. Sometimes I wouldn’t even notice that I was being active simply because I was just having fun. Whether that was hiking or just days spent at the beach with my family, the intent on being active wasn’t necessarily my first thought.

Having a strong pull to furthering my education in a new country that came with a new climate, my concern grew as it neared the time for me to move away from the year-round warmth of Barbados. Throughout the concern that filled my mind prior to moving, I had no idea the different ways in which I would maintain a healthy level of physical activity when moving to a country that had a winter season.

Within the first week of my arrival to Canada, I quickly realized that the walking culture was quite vast in cities, especially major cities such as downtown Toronto. In London, I lived in a downtown area, which was walking distance to everything that tickled my fancy and of course my necessities such as bus stops, school, work, supermarkets, and more.

While there is public transportation in Barbados, most locals drive and, in most cases, tourists will also rent a car for their stay. In my experience living in the Caribbean, there wasn’t much of a walking culture where your home and city life intertwined. My body loved the increased walking that reflected on my health and allowed me to familiarize myself with the city.

Walking to and from work or spending weekends walking around a city wasn’t exactly the physical activity that I got back home. Needless to say, there were many other ways to expel energy and stay active in the Caribbean.

When it came to grocery shopping, that was a whole other level of increasing my health and being more mindful of what it was I was consuming. Contrary to what most Canadians say, the supermarket shopping was a lot less cost wise than what I was used to back home. Having cheaper options at the grocery store allowed me to purchase ingredients that weren’t always easy to get in Barbados due to a high import tax and high markup. Not only did this allow for much healthier meals but it also increased my love for being in the kitchen. Being able to buy ingredients that I liked cooking with on a regular basis as opposed to occasionally, drew me more and more to the kitchen. The price difference got to the point where on my first visit back home, the supermarket was a scary place for me to step foot in. 

In the same context, once I started cooking more on my own, I noticed that some of the eating habits that were embodied in Caribbean culture included a lot of sugar, oil, and salt.

According to the National Library of Medicine, “One in five Barbadians have diabetes, suggesting there is a severe burden of the disease.” It can be hard to break old habits, especially eating habits that are from your home country. However, having an affordable source of groceries that led me to cooking my own meals has allowed me to significantly reduce the amount of sugar, oil, and salt that I use.

Of course, there are always two sides to something like this. Barbados has the luxury of access to many natural resources that result in great health benefits. I often miss the ground provision that comes straight from farm to table such as breadfruit, yams, fresh seafood, and much more. While I can sometimes spot these ingredients in Canada, it doesn’t quite feel the same as when you’re living on an island. Additionally, I often miss weekends spent near the ocean and the physical activity that came from days like those. 

I rest my mind assured that I still engage in physical activity year-round in Canada and that my food intake is much healthier in terms of what I consume regularly. I believe that Canada promotes good physical health by providing resources such as city rental bikes, great public transit that encourages individuals to not just get in the car and go to work but maybe walk a bit further to a bus stop, building developers prioritizing good health with gyms and pools in residences, and much more. The determination to keep the people residing in Canada healthy regarding physical activity is something I can appreciate as someone who didn’t have as easy access to these things.