I grew up eating Cuban food.
White rice.
Black beans.
Fried plantains.
Palomilla steak.
Over and over again.
And don’t get me wrong — it tastes great.
But at some point, I had to ask an uncomfortable question:
Was high blood pressure really “in my genes”… or was it in the food?
My parents had high blood pressure. My grandparents had high blood pressure. So it would be easy to say, “Well, that’s just genetics.”
But maybe that answer is too convenient.
Because when a family eats the same foods, follows the same habits, lives inside the same culture, and then develops the same health problems, we have to ask:
Did we inherit the disease?
Or did we inherit the menu?
This is not about attacking Cuban food. Every culture has comfort foods that can become a problem when eaten too often, in too large a quantity, or in combination with modern sedentary life.
But the typical Cuban plate can easily become a carb bomb:
Rice.
Beans.
Plantains.
Then maybe bread, dessert, or sweet coffee on top of it.
For men over 40, especially those dealing with blood pressure, belly fat, blood sugar, or fatigue, this matters.
Sometimes the most powerful health breakthrough is not discovering a new supplement.
Sometimes it is questioning the foods we were told were “normal.”
Family history matters.
But family habits matter too.
And before we blame our DNA, we should probably take a hard look at what’s on the plate.
Be aware.
Other links related to this post:
Medical Metrics Are Sandcastles In the Sand
