Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
Most people today don’t see obesity as a health hazard. And if I’m not mistaken, most people may see it as a fabulous opportunity to invent a whole new reality series complete with military style boot camps!
Doctors worldwide are calling for some serious action against obesity — campaigns which go beyond charging overweight passengers more for an extra seat occupied with the hand-rest up and the extra meals ordered. We’re talking compulsory regimes of well-balanced diets and exercise and educating young people about the illnesses associated with obesity so that they grow-up with a healthy fear of it.
Obesity in Bahrain has been gaining the spotlight for a long time. Statistics show that 15.6 per cent of boys and 17.4 per cent of girls studying in secondary schools are obese. Studies by bodies such as the World Health Organisation and the Bahrain Centre for Studies and Research claim that the blame for Bahrain’s soaring obesity count lays at its changing lifestyle and food habits.
With the oil boom which made the country and its residents very rich, their came a change which steered traditional Bahraini families away from their diets which consisted primarily of meat and rice to an increased consumption of sugar, processed and junk food. Fruit and vegetable were largely ignored and ‘fast food’ became very popular among the younger generation.
Women in the Gulf region are known to have a higher risk of obesity because of their inactive routines. Traditional Bahraini families do not delegate much work to women of the house as they usually have a whole army of servants at their beck and call. This means that many of them spend most of their time socialising with friends and eating. Bahraini women have admitted that only one out of 10 exercises while many have repeated pregnancies.
Even among the younger age groups, girls are seen as being more prone to obesity than boys. Studies show that this is mainly because of the discrimination in treatment of boys and girls which exists in many deeply cultural families. Boys are encouraged to go out to play with friends and kick a ball around while girls are content to stay at home reading or watching television.
Governments are now waking up to the increasing numbers of obese children and adults in the population. The warning that if obesity reaches epidemic-levels, it could be a blow to the economy as it increases the chances of contracting serious illnesses such as heart disease, severe diabetes and more which require dialysis and organ transplants which would bleed the health system dry is taking effect.
So watch those weighing scales, make sure you eat your greens and get off the couch and go for a walk once in a while because it isn’t hard to pile on those kilos.
