Episode Summary
In this episode of The Expat Files, Johnny Mueller explores the economic impact of the financial crisis in Latin America, including rising gas prices, changes in consumer behavior, and the struggles of the real estate and retail sectors. He also delves into the challenges expats face in the region, such as business ownership by non-native Oriental individuals and the job market for expats. Finally, he addresses the obesity and diabetes crisis, highlighting the role of diet, economic factors, and cultural practices in the region's health challenges.
Johnny begins by discussing the economic impact of the financial crisis in Latin America, focusing on rising gas prices and how even the wealthy are feeling the pinch. He notes that gas prices have risen to around $4 and are heading towards $5, prompting even the wealthy to self-serve at gas stations. Upper-class Latin women, who once had authority over gas station attendants, are now seen lining up in self-serve lines. Johnny also touches on the layoffs of bodyguards, a rare occurrence in the region, and the broader implications for the economy, including the struggles of new commercial malls and the resulting job losses.
Next, Johnny discusses the challenges expats face when living in Latin America, particularly the issue of businesses being largely owned by non-native Oriental individuals, such as Chinese and South Koreans. He highlights the opportunities for expats who know these languages, emphasizing the need for trilingual skills in the business environment. He also mentions his new social media presence and the potential for expats to connect with him.
In the third segment, Johnny explores the job market for expats in Latin America, highlighting the limited success of recruitment efforts for teachers with specific skills. He notes that while there are opportunities for expats who speak Chinese or Korean, the majority of expats are not fitting the bill. He also emphasizes that working for transnational companies like Apple, Microsoft, and Walmart in Latin America does not provide first-world salaries, with most employees earning third-world wages. However, there are rare opportunities for expats to be recruited for specialized roles with first-world salaries, often requiring them to relocate from the US or Europe and live in a protected, isolated environment.
In the fourth segment, Johnny discusses the challenges expats face when trying to secure high-paying jobs in third-world countries. He emphasizes that such jobs are rare and often come with hidden perks that are not openly discussed. He also warns expats against expecting to live like royalty in a tropical paradise with a first-world salary, comparing it to winning the lottery. Additionally, he addresses the issue of importing cheap medications from these countries to the first world, highlighting the legal and logistical challenges involved. Finally, he touches on the topic of rising obesity rates in Mexico, attributing it to the high-fat, greasy diet common in the region.
In the fifth segment, Johnny discusses the obesity and diabetes crisis in Latin America, attributing it to a combination of dietary habits and economic factors. He references the World Health Organization's definition of clinical obesity and explains that obesity is defined as being at least 20% over the recommended weight for a person of the same height and body type. Johnny highlights the role of traditional foods like pandulce (sweetened bread) and chicharrones (fried pork fat), which are high in empty carbs and contribute to poor nutrition. He also points out the prevalence of sugary drinks, including Kool-Aid-style beverages, which are often consumed due to their affordability and the strong sweet tooth of Latin Americans. Johnny notes that these drinks are misleadingly labeled as fruit juices but contain no real fruit, and the sugar content is alarmingly high. He also describes a unique custom of drinking from plastic sandwich bags to save money, which reflects the economic challenges faced by many in the region. The discussion concludes with Johnny emphasizing the severe impact of sugar addiction on dental health and the broader societal issues contributing to the crisis.
In the sixth segment, Johnny discusses the role of fast food and dietary habits in the context of obesity in Latin America. He argues that fast food is not a daily occurrence in the region, unlike in the first world, and that the blame for obesity cannot be solely placed on fast food restaurants. Instead, he highlights the use of cheap, unhealthy oils like palm and corn oil, which have replaced traditional, healthier oils like coconut oil. Johnny also notes that the shift to these cheaper oils has contributed to rising obesity rates, especially in regions where coconut oil was once a staple. He references studies and data, such as Mexico having the second fattest population in the world, to support his points. Additionally, he explains how coconut oil, once a common and healthy cooking oil, has been largely replaced by more affordable but less healthy alternatives, and how this shift has impacted dietary health in the region.
Finally, in the seventh segment, Johnny discusses the dietary habits and health issues prevalent in Latin America, focusing on the use of refined oils and processed foods. He highlights the shift from coconut oil to palm oil and corn oil, which he believes has contributed to the obesity epidemic in the region. He also mentions the affordability and widespread use of cheap, unhealthy foods, such as processed meats and fried items, which are common in everyday diets. Johnny suggests that the question is not why so many Latin Americans are obese, but rather why not everyone is, given the high prevalence of unhealthy eating habits.
Topics
Economic crisis in Latin America, Impact on the wealthy and upper class, Changes in consumer behavior, Real estate and retail sector struggles, Bodyguard layoffs and their implications, Expats in Latin America, Business ownership by non-native Oriental individuals, Language skills and job opportunities, Social media presence for expats, Job opportunities for expats in Latin America, Salary disparities between first-world and third-world employment, Recruitment challenges for expats with specific skills
Chapters
00:00:00 Opening 00:00:44 The Economic Impact on the Wealthy 00:01:21 The Decline of the Latin Jet Set 00:03:56 The Financial Crisis and Real Estate 00:06:05 The Challenge of General Questions About Living in a Country 00:06:10 The Problem of General Questions: A Comparison to Car and School Choices 00:07:33 Oriental Ownership in Belize and Business Opportunities for Expats 00:09:22 Recruitment Challenges for Teachers with Specific Skills 00:10:18 Salary Disparities in Transnational Companies 00:11:57 Limited Opportunities for First-World Salaries 00:13:30 The Reality of High-Paying Jobs in Third-World Countries 00:14:11 The Illusion of Living Like a King in a Tropical Paradise 00:14:59 The Legal and Logistical Challenges of Importing Medications 00:16:22 The High-Fat Diet and Obesity Epidemic in Mexico 00:17:05 Definition of Obesity in Latin America 00:18:36 Diabetes as a Major Health Crisis 00:19:24 The Role of Sugar in the Diet 00:21:10 Fast Food as a Special Occasion in Latin America 00:21:58 Obesity Statistics and the Role of Fast Food 00:22:23 Mayonnaise as a Staple in Latin Cuisine 00:22:48 The Shift from Coconut Oil to Unhealthy Oils 00:23:53 Coconut Oil as a Healthier Alternative 00:24:22 The Cost of Coconut Oil and Its Decline in Use 00:25:13 Obesity Epidemic in the Caribbean and the Loss of Coconut Oil 00:25:31 The Cost of Coconut Oil and Its Replacement by Palm Oil and Corn Oil 00:27:06 The Paradox of Obesity in Latin America
Transcript
Automatically transcribed from the original recording; names and wording may contain errors.
[00:01] South of the border, down Mexico way That's where I fell in love When the stars above came out to play Hi everybody, I'm Johnny Mueller And you're listening to the Exped Files Living in Latin America The one of a kind show that tells you what it's like To live, work, play and or retire in Latin America So let's get started He was a picture in Old Spanish Lays You know, when talking about the price of gas down here Now that in most places it's hit $4 and it's heading towards $5 Well, you're starting to see a few strange things
[00:47] Like for example, lately when I've gone to the gas station and filled up I've seen the luxury vehicles I mean the Mercedes and the BMWs and Audis And even in the cars that the bodyguards are driving Well, suddenly I'm in the self-serve line As usual, because I'm a little on the cheap side You know, you pay a couple of cents less per gallon that way, right? And for that matter, every other expat I know seems to pump his own gas too Anyway, right behind me and in front of me I'm suddenly seeing these luxury car owners and their bodyguards Filling up to save a few cents per gallon themselves Looks like things are getting rough even for the Latin Jet Set And even women are now lining up in the self-serve line And just a year or so ago, I never saw that And now even these upper class Latin women
[01:32] Who used to sit so queenly in their cars The same women that used to order the lowly gas station attendant around These same ladies with the $200 designer jeans and the $300 blackberries Are suddenly a bit more humble Oh, the shame of it all when people like that Have to resort to the self-serve line at the gas station Especially when they're used to being weighted on handed foot But, like I said, things always come to Latin America a bit late And it looks like the economic crash has definitely landed And it's knocked a few of these local blue bloods down a few notches, that's for sure Which raises the snicker factor for most of us expats And also, I'm noticing in the checkout lines That these days, more and more people's credit cards are being rejected You know what I'm talking about, that always embarrassing situation
[02:18] When the checkout person says, sorry, but your credit card's just not going through And then, of course, you shrink a little bit, pull out another, and hope nobody was watching And then you mumble a lame excuse and blame it on the bank so you don't look like a deadbeat I mean, haven't we all been there at least once? And you know what else I've been hearing lately? That in many high-level circles, bodyguards are being laid off And that's just the opposite of the norm down here Where thieving politicians and people in the higher classes Have always believed that the more bodyguards, the better Since having bodyguards is such a status symbol down here So, when you do lay one off, that proves that somebody's fortunes have taken a big step in reverse Because the rich people down here would rather sell off their first born than lay off a bodyguard, believe me
[03:04] But, like I mentioned in the past show, firing or laying off a bodyguard is not recommended Since a bodyguard knows practically every move you make And where all the goods are in your house And the whereabouts of your kids in all the places they go As well as their wealthy friends and their schedules too So, basically, everybody in that socioeconomic group knows that it's not a good idea to piss off your bodyguard And that's why bodyguards, usually ex-bodyguards, are almost always involved in kidnapping and robbery attempts But that shouldn't concern you expats or expat wannabes too much Since such a small percentage of expats ever end up getting bodyguards Though, one expat friend of mine, a case in point, does have bodyguards But it's obvious he's just not happy about it But that's another story, and I hope to tell more of it in a future show
[03:52] So anyway, the point is, the financial crisis has hit down here And that includes the banking sector, which always seems to be in a crisis anyway So that's nothing new And predictably, just like in the first world, it's starting to hammer the real estate sector And the unemployment numbers are going through the ceiling And you can prove that very easily yourself By walking through any of the big new commercial malls that have popped up in the last five years Most of them first world in every way Good and bad Including the fact that about every fourth or fifth store is vacant Which, like in the first world, is not a good sign at all The fact is, because malls are generally bank-financed The owners have a high time making their payments when they have low occupancy rates like that So down here, like in the first world, many hundreds if not thousands of these malls are technically in default
[04:43] And when occupancy rates start falling like that, it leads to a domino of negative effects Like for example, when there's a lot of empty floor space, the mall has less appeal so it gets less traffic The existing renters seeing that traffic is down and sales are down They start asking for rent rebates and make noises about moving out themselves Then the mall operator starts laying off maintenance and security people Because their income is down Then the whole place starts looking a little grungy and ragged around the edges You know what I'm talking about, you've seen it happen up in the first world, haven't you? Alright, enough said about that Now I want to talk just a little bit about some of the emails I've been getting And a good percentage of the emails are asking the general question What is the best country to come down and live in?
[05:28] Now I'm asking you folks please When you formulate a question like that, you have to be a little more specific For example, what are you asking? What's the best country for starting your own business? The best country to get a job working for someone else The best country for the climate The best country for sheer beauty The best country for backpacking or mountain climbing The best country to find love and romance The best country for water sports For protection against catastrophe To live dirt cheap To live secure, to raise kids The best country for sport fishing or diving or starting a farm So you can see that for me, answering a question like What's the best country to live in? It's almost impossible It's like somebody asking the general question What car is the best car to buy? Or what school should you send your kids to?
[06:14] Try that one on for size The point is, you have to really narrow it down And then I can narrow it down to a few likely suspects Otherwise, you might as well put up a map of Latin America and throw a dart at it Okay, enough about that People have been asking me if I have a Facebook page Well, I finally made one So, if you want to be my friend on Facebook or my Facebook enemy Do they have Facebook enemies? They should Well, there's an idea now, how about it? Anyway, as of right now, I'm on Facebook and Twitter And I don't have any friends yet So, if you want to be the first, stop on by Just look me up on a Facebook or Twitter search That's John Mueller M-U-E-L-L-E-R And we'll take it from there Now, I don't want to beat a dead horse But just one more thing about expats
[07:01] Who want to come down here and teach Because I've been getting a lot of emails on that subject Now, one thing I just may have mentioned in passing Is that every Latin American country's business sector Has a disproportionate amount of non-native Oriental owners and operators With the Chinese and the South Koreans Making up the vast majority of those Oriental owners Not to mention there's a pretty large percentage of expat Indians Owning businesses down here And by that I mean people from India In fact, the most stark example of that Oriental ownership Is in the country of Belize Where you'll see a huge percentage of hotels And dry cleaners and supermarkets and restaurants Which in a roundabout way opens up huge opportunities For any expat that comes down here Who happens to know one of the Chinese dialects
[07:48] Or the Korean language And in that case, not only will you be able to walk Right into one of the private schools And get a job on the spot You might even want to ask for a very big raise in salary And you'll probably get it Because the fact is, many of the large labor-intensive businesses down here The so-called maquilas Where they assemble clothing and textiles for export to the first world You know, the so-called sweatshops You often hear about in the news The ones that Kathy Gifford and Puff Daddy made famous Remember that? Anyway, the majority of the owners down here Are Korean or Chinese And I learned from an expat friend of mine down here Who was a liaison between the garment industry buyers And producers in New York And the maquilas textile factories down here Well, he assured me And he actually laughed about it
[08:34] When he said that the Oriental owners Don't know much Spanish at all And when they do try to speak it He has to bite his lip to try not to laugh And then he told me that there's really a dire need for trilingual people People who can speak Spanish, English And either Chinese or Korean And because the Chinese especially And not just the ones in the maquilas business Have been coming down here and buying land hand over fist And building factories Which means there's a dire need for them to communicate in Spanish And everybody that deals with the Chinese In these kind of businesses down here Knows that there's a big communication problem And if you have those bilingual skills You pretty much guaranteed a spot in middle or upper management In one of those companies And for that reason Nearly all of the private schools down here
[09:19] Are trying to recruit teachers with those kind of skills And even though they're trying to gear up for the future So far the recruitment efforts just aren't very successful So if you're an expat or an expat wannabe And are thinking about coming down here And if you're lucky enough to know some Chinese or Korean Just remember down here there's an employment door That's wide open for you Just thought I'd mention that Even though personally I've never met a North American Or a European who fit the bill But they're out there alright I got a few emails from some of those guys And since this is the expat files And you've asked me to talk about job opportunities I thought I'd mention it So there it is In fact it's one of the few jobs down here Where you can work for somebody else And actually pull down a first world salary That is your job skills would be so valuable
[10:06] That you pretty much could name your price Now like I said before As far as making a real decent first world style salary Let's say anywhere from $40,000 to $100,000 a year Well I can tell you right now It's nearly impossible to make that kind of money working for somebody else But you can make that kind of money if you have your own business I see expats do that all the time But then I get emails saying Well what about working for first world transnational companies That have set up shop in all the countries down in Latin America Like Apple and Microsoft and Walmart and Office Depot And Diesel and Guess and Starbucks and McDonald's And Citibank and Pricewaterhouse and Mercedes Benz and Toyota I could go on and on Well sure all those companies do exist down here
[10:53] And if you walk into any one of them It's exactly like walking into the very same branch of the company Up in the first world But 95 to 98% of all the employees at Walmart or Microsoft or wherever Even the ones in middle and upper management Are making third world wages Even the professionals like accountants and engineers and lawyers And technicians and laboratory personnel and quality control people They're all making third world salaries For example A certified public accountant up in the first world Probably makes from $50,000 to $120,000 a year In a middle management position in a company like Walmart up in the first world Whereas in the third world A guy with exactly those same qualifications Working in a transnational company down here
[11:39] Might only make from $12,000 to $25,000 a year Which believe me by Latin American standards Put you squarely in the upper middle class bracket And pretty much on poverty roll If you're used to living in the first world Sure there's always that 2% of the upper management In a transnational corporation down here Who actually make equivalent first world salaries And that's because they were recruited up north And brought down to fill a special position But even if you have all the right qualifications And come down thinking you're going to set the world on fire You're never going to walk into that upper 2% position like that Even though you have the advantage of being a first world gringo Or European And even if you speak very good Spanish The only way you're going to get a first world salary down here
[12:24] Is if they recruit you to come down While you're still living up in the United States or Europe Now those kind of jobs are available If you look in the back of the Wall Street Journal Or the Financial Times or Business Week Or the Economist or Forbes magazine In the back in their classified and help wanted ads You'll see how they recruit first world people With certain skills, engineers and MBAs etc And they'll pay you big first world salaries To come down and work in the third world For a certain period of time under contract But those are in no way your typical expat jobs believe me And if you do happen to get recruited in a job like that When you come down you'll not be living like your average expat Instead you'll more than likely be living a protected first world style life Isolated pretty much from the average guy on the street
[13:10] And your new third world friends and associates Are going to be from your own transnational company And from your new country's upper classes Your new friends will be embassy types, diplomats And the local corrupt politicians In fact, Latin politicians are always sucking up the transnational executive types And they'll be right there to bend the law for your company As long as you come up with the proper gift If you know what I mean Because that's the way the big boys do business down here So all you expat wannabes out there Getting a job like that down here with first world pay Along with some certain special backroom perks That people don't want to talk about Is pretty much like winning the lottery And in fact in those kind of jobs Most times they pay you much better than regular first world pay Since it takes a lot to lure a first world guy down
[13:56] With great credentials to a third world country That he's heard a lot of terrible things about Like drug trafficking, kidnappings, rotten infrastructure Corrupt cops, uncontrolled violence, and random shootings So the bottom line is Any of you expat wannabes out there Who are under the delusion that just because you have an MBA Or a degree in geology You're going to come down here and get a job with Nestle Or an oil company And get a big first world salary And live like a king in a tropical paradise Well, sorry If you think like that You're better off playing the New Jersey lottery And on another email subject After I did that show about pharmacies down here And when I mentioned You could get just about anything without a prescription And if you buy anything generic It's absolutely dirt cheap
[14:42] At least half again as cheap As any generic up in the first world Anyway, people started asking me How they could get that stuff down here And have it sent somehow up to the first world And I know we're all trying to save a buck Especially these days With the super high cost of medicine up in the first world But let me point out If someone has figured out a way to do that They'd be doing it already really And you'd be able to buy that stuff on the internet Or on somebody's website But to me In almost every expat down here It looks to us Like you'd be breaking a lot of laws if you tried that Though probably not any laws down here And if you were They don't enforce them so it wouldn't matter But I'm sure if you tried to send some controlled substances Or specific medications That required a prescription up in the first world You'd be breaking a lot of laws So my advice is
[15:28] Don't even think about it So if you want to take advantage of the fact That you don't need a prescription And you get tremendous discounts down here You just have to take a trip down And see what I mean And another thing Since everybody knows that Latin America is the land of the narcos And pirated clothes, CDs, and software Believe me If you send anything through the mail up north And it has a post mark From any one of the 20 Latin American countries It's going to get picked over by the customs people On the US or European side with a fine tooth comb So there's another good reason not to try it And now I want to talk about another interesting email question That I just received From a person who just got back from vacationing in Mexico And she said she couldn't believe How fat the Mexican people have gotten As compared to visiting the same place in Mexico
[16:14] Some 20 years ago And she's stumped And wondering just what happened to these people Since they seem to be on the same diet The frijoles, the rice, the chicken, the tortillas The same old things they were eating back 20 years ago When she visited Are they just eating more of everything? Well part of the answer can be explained by just observing Just look at the typical breakfast The common man eats in Mexico Or for that matter In Latin America in general And you'll see It's just loaded with grease In fact if you just look at the plate Many times Their eggs are actually floating In a bed of clear grease And of course they add grease to everything Including the frijoles And look at those nacho chips They're absolutely saturated with fat And they eat those things at practically every meal And in fact in Mexico
[17:00] 7 out of 10 adults are overweight And 3 out of 10, that's 30 percent Are according to the World Health Organization Clinically obese And the obesity figure includes both adults and children Which means they weigh at least 20 percent more Than the recommended weight Of an average person with the same height and body style And there are a lot of reasons why the Latins are getting so fat And one small reason is because at nearly every meal They eat this stuff called pandulce Which is in fact bread sweetened with loads of sugar Which to us expats Looks something like a big crispy sugar cookie And since pandulce is a staple at practically every meal It's just another load of empty carbs With no nutritional value whatsoever And add that to the fact
[17:46] That one of their favorite snack foods is chicharrones Which to most expats seem pretty disgusting Because what they are Is pieces of pig fat cut in thin strips And fried until they're full of air bubbles and airy light Kind of like deformed Cheetos Without the artificial orange color And speaking of pork fat They use a little dab of that In practically everything they cook too So by now you gotta be figuring The common Mexican has a terrible diet Well you should know that already By visiting a Mexican restaurant up in the States I dare you to tell me three things on the menu That are actually good for you And that's true pretty much throughout all of Latin America But here's something that me and a lot of expats think Really contributes to that obesity problem And as a secondary effect
[18:32] Contributes greatly to the exploding diabetes problem down here And speaking of diabetes In Mexico it's the number two cause of death And the number one cause for being admitted into the hospital Now that's scary So why do you think diabetes is completely out of control down here? Well I'll give you a little hint Everybody's addicted to Kool-Aid style drinks That is if the people can't afford a soft drink Like Coca Cola or Pepsi Or one of their cheaper clones Which in themselves are terrible for you Because each bottle has at least 10 spoons of sugar in it Think about that the next time you drink a Pepsi or a Coke And because most Latin Americans Can't afford to drink Coca Cola like water As people in the first world do They buy a much cheaper sweetened drink
[19:18] Grape, cherry, orange or whatever That's just pretty much Kool-Aid The fact is they buy that stuff because it's cheap And because they've got a terrific sweet tooth That they've been nurturing practically since they were born And the labels on that stuff they buy are totally misleading It says orange, grape or cherry juice But there's not a trace of the real thing Believe me And it's all about the money really Which reminds me of another strange custom the Latins have Down here you can have your soft drinks two ways With the bottle or without If you want it in the bottle that's fine But if you want it without the bottle They pour it into a clear plastic sandwich bag Stick a straw in it And charge you 10 cents less Because the bottles always have some value Whether they're plastic or glass So any day of the week when you're driving around at lunch time
[20:05] And you happen to see a group of workers or kids Sitting around a corner and eating their lunch Just look at what they're drinking out of Half the time they'll be sucking on a sandwich bag with a straw sticking out of it And to every expat at first it looks rather funny Because in fact you'll never see that up in the first world I mean who would transfer their coke to a plastic bag to save 10 cents But down here every dime counts But the point is people are absolutely 100% addicted to sugar down here In ways you almost can't imagine up north Just ask any dentist I've asked and they all agreed that there isn't a 10 year old kid down here That isn't running around with a mouthful of cavities or feelings The fact is under other circumstances This place would be a dentist's dream Except for the fact that the societies broke and always in crisis mode
[20:54] So the dentists have a real hard time getting paid And sure down here the people are absolutely crazy about places like McDonald's And Wendy's and Burger King too But because half the people down here live on $2 a day or less It's more like a treat to go to one of those fast food restaurants Which means it's a once a week or maybe even a once a month affair And an evening at McDonald's or Wendy's or Burger King Is considered an actual bonafide date when a guy takes out his girlfriend Try pulling a stunt like that with your girlfriend up in the first world And see how far that gets you So a Big Mac or a Whopper combo is not an everyday affair Or in fact just plain lunch Like it is for so many millions of people up in the first world So it's really hard to put a lot of the obesity blame
[21:40] On fast food restaurants that made it down here from the first world Oh they love this stuff alright But they just don't have the opportunity or the cash to eat it that much Though it's true if the latins had the money They'd all be eating that stuff everyday Just like people in the first world And in fact just for comparison's sake I read lately that Mexico has the second fattest population in the world And first place is shared by Australia and the United States And those are the solid facts At least in a study that I just read But with those top three obesity honors shifting all the time The next article you read might put Mexico at number one Two or three who knows And here's another thing If you hang around latin people long enough you'll notice That they absolutely love mayonnaise and put it on everything
[22:26] In other words mayonnaise is their ketchup In fact if you think that that wonderfully tasty guacamole on your lunch plate Is just a bunch of fresh avocados mixed up with some spices You're wrong It's about half mayonnaise And in fact the quality of the mayonnaise down here is worse than you think Of course the main ingredients are supposed to be eggs and vegetable oil But the thing is in the last 20 years Latin America has switched to the cheapest of all vegetable oils Palm and corn oil And of course those two are considered the most unhealthy of vegetable oils too And here's something to note Before 20 or 25 years ago The vegetable oil of choice was actually coconut oil Throughout the Caribbean and Latin America Because coconut palms grew practically everywhere down here But unfortunately that's just not the case anymore
[23:13] But when coconuts were plentiful It was everybody's favorite lotion and cooking oil And it's easy enough to extract You don't need any special machinery Just a few coconut palms Some pots, some utensils and some elbow grease In fact if you go to any of the smaller towns on the Atlantic coast Or visit any of the small towns in the Caribbean islands You'll often see older ladies sitting at the side of the road with their friends In a little kiosk selling 100% pure coconut oil That they made themselves The same way it was made throughout the Caribbean and Latin America for hundreds of years And if you've been paying attention to Gary Nall shows on PRN You'll know that contrary to popular rumor Coconut oil is one of the absolute best oils for a person to eat Even though to the uninformed
[23:59] It has a bad rep that it never deserved at all But in the last quarter century Since the big palm oil and corn oil refineries came in down here Practically no one buys or makes coconut oil anymore Because it's just too expensive and labor intensive In fact these days A gallon of 100% pure coconut oil Bought from these individual ladies who make that stuff by hand Costs anywhere from 30 to 50 dollars A gallon Whereas a gallon of cheap processed corn Or palm oil will only cost about 10 bucks Or even less So naturally since these populations are quite poor The cheap junk is always the oil of choice So expats You should know that if you buy any baked goods at all down here Or you go to a restaurant You're going to be getting cheap brand X cooking oil
[24:46] Whether you like it or not And that's just the way it is Unless it specifically says on the menu Like in any decent Italian restaurant anyway That they use only olive oil And even so you can't always trust them So coconut oil has pretty much disappeared off the menu down here And that means so did its excellent health benefits Including the fact that many studies show That Caribbean islanders who once used coconut oil every day As a staple in their diet were rarely obese Well if you've been on an island vacation lately You'll know what I'm talking about Nowadays obesity is an epidemic there too And you might be wondering why these older ladies Continue to set up their roadside stands And sell their pints and quarts of 100% coconut oil
[25:31] Even if it is very expensive Well that's because they market it like a suntan oil And a protective soothing skin lotion They know tourists are always looking for locally made souvenirs And they figured a way to sell it Because every tourist knows, especially the ladies That those expensive suntan lotions like Hawaiian Tropic Are mostly coconut oil And it says so right on the bottle Now these ladies generally don't market it as a food product But rather a suntan oil They found it's easier to sell that way So the fact of the matter is The Latins and the Caribbean islanders should never have switched over To palm oil and corn oil But it's too late now Pure coconut oil Which appears to have been a great help in preventing obesity Has become an expensive product
[26:18] Stocked in the kitchens of good chefs Because there's certain recipes that absolutely require it But you just don't find it in Latin American kitchens anymore But you do find jugs of that cheap refined palm oil everywhere And the Latins pour it on just about everything Add that to the fact that it's a margarine society Butter of course is way too expensive When the average guy makes $300 or $400 a month And think about this for a second The average latin buys the absolute cheapest cut of meat That is when they can't afford chicken Or there isn't one in the driveway to kill Personally I've been at many a house and dinner party Where they've served the guests A latin variation of bologna, hot dog and ham loaf That's what you'll find on everyone's dinner table down here So the real question is not why or how
[27:05] So many latin Americans are obese The question is why isn't everyone obese Especially when you stop and consider That the average person's diet down here Consists mainly of colored sugar water, sugar bread Everything else cooked or fried In refined corn and palm oil Processed lunch meat Tortillas, frijoles and mayonnaise You know what? That sounds a lot like the public school lunch program When I was a kid Yummy You've been listening to The Exped Files Living in Latin America And don't forget you can email me On anything at all about Latin America The Exped Files At gmail.com That's The Exped Files At gmail.com
[27:51] See you next time Nos vemos