Here’s how reporter Lena Sin started the story:His town was shrinking, and Greg Wadhams was determined to shrink with it. So on a cold December night in 2006, the 55-year-old commercial fisherman sat down to say goodbye to the past. He devoured a spread of chicken chow mein, fried rice and deep-fried prawns to triumphant delight. Then, with the final bite, he bade farewell to his favorite foods.Intrigued? Read on.Greg Wadhams lives in the small fishing village of Alert Bay, off the northern tip of Vancouver Island in British Columbia. Most of the inhabitants of this sleepy town (2006 population: 556) are members of the ‘Namgis First Nations people—the Canadian counterpart to what we would call American Indians. Obesity and diabetes are rampant here, about 3 to 5 times greater than the national average. Understanding why this is so can teach us a lot about diabetes and obesity—and about the value of low-carb diets.The ‘Namgis have always been fishermen. But the local fishing industry was collapsing.
