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Montana tribal author and artist,
Marietta King
(Photo by Ron Selden)
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EAST GLACIER PARK, Mont. -- Blackfeet tribal member
Marietta King watched her mother and father die after being debilitated
by poor health. That's when she vowed to make lifestyle changes
and help others do the same.
"When my parents passed away I began to look at my own health," she
said. "I realized I was going right down the same path."
Instead of becoming another tragic statistic, King, now 50, embarked on
a journey to learn all she could about healthy living, especially through
diet. The journey became a trek through the largely unwritten history of
traditional American Indian foods and the well-documented onslaught of afflictions
that continue to devastate Native peoples today.
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The outcome of King’s quest for knowledge was multilayered. On the personal side, she dropped unwanted pounds and gained a new physical vibrancy by altering her diet and getting more exercise. Her many months of research also led to the writing of "Native American: Food is Medicine," a fact-packed, 160-page book that explores the prevention and control of diabetes and hyperinsulinemia, and the "Renewal of Life: Food Journal," that helps users track their daily intake of carbohydrates, proteins and fats.
Both books were released last year by McCleery & Sons Publishing (www.mccleerypublishing.com), based in Gwinner, N.D. Their discount price of $8.95 and $7.95, respectively, was designed to make them more affordable to low-income people, she said. She’s also working on another volume that’s geared more to the general population.
"We know diabetes is not prejudiced regarding race," she said. "It goes after anybody."
Although King’s parents were never diagnosed with either Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes, she said they suffered a variety of ailments - high blood pressure, liver and kidney problems, high cholesterol, severe anemia and heart maladies - that nonetheless are closely linked to poor nutrition and insulin instability. The list, she noted, is all-too-common in Indian country, where Natives are afflicted by these and other diseases at rates far higher than non-Indians.
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