Dr/Mai Hassan: Welfare and idle make Saudi Arabia society obese

Obesity afflicted segments of Saudi society, the largest percentage was among women as reached 23 percent, while men reached to 14 percent, in addition to children who suffer from it.

Obesity is a global disease, but the average has risen in Saudi Arabia, due to several reasons, including the country's economic boom and the accompanying societal changes in dietary habits, & relying on fast food in the form of excessive, & soft drinks, and the spread of sweets shops. And tables of Saudis and tables of  Hospitality don't devoid them on the ground that they are of generosity and hospitality, which contain concentrated amounts of sugar, margarine, which are the two cornerstones in its components, and above all, lack of physical activity, as lethargy, laziness and lack of movement have become hanging over most individuals young and old.

Mai Hassan nutrition specialist at the Islamic University of Imam Muhammad bin Saud, said that half of Saudi society is exhibited to obesity or already obese, which means that he suffers from a real health crisis, according to recent reports by the World Health Organization.

Hassan suggests several reasons for the worsening problem of obesity among Saudi society, such as food wrong behaviors, such as fast food and high energy soft drinks, and high hydrogenated fat rate in popular dishes, as well as desserts of all kinds because they contain too many calories and cholesterol and animal fat, and the absence of sport and physical activity with the tyranny of the use of modern technology in various forms, and the transformation of society from rural life to the city during the economic boom.

Hassan explains that we can overcome the problem of obesity and reduce the aggravation by following a balanced diet with practicing sport an average of an hour a day, or at least 3 hours a week, and stay away from usually eating sweets and animal fats and soft drinks, as well as snacks and replace them with natural juices and a skimmed drinks, and eat more fruits and vegetables, preferably the use of vegetable oils such as olive oil.

About the treating of high prevalence of obesity among children, Hassan stresses the importance of educating the children of the danger of obesity and to ensure the provision of free meals in schools under the supervision of specialists in nutrition, as well as to encourage them to engage in acceptable and lovely sports, through electronic games that require movement, such as electronic tennis game that moves the child and where the player interacts with them through his body movements, pointing to the need for parents' follow-up to their children's weight and analyzes them in order to form a periodic note the increase or decrease in weight.

Dr. Bilal Qureshi herbs expert specialist in therapeutic pharmacology, referred to the need for the body's health care initiate to follow a treatment program that helps those who suffer from obesity to get rid of it, by knowing the blood type and identify healthy food that fits with it, as well as foods that need to be avoided for the obese person.

Qureshi emphasizes the importance of practicing sport and fitness, including «Yoga». He says: «Some of them may can't accept this kind of sport for religious reasons may be, although it helps to spiritual serenity». It is noteworthy that green tea contains a large proportion of antioxidants that have a wonderful effect in burning fat and reducing obesity, a condition that it is used regularly.

On the other hand, the old man Abu Rashid (80 years) enjoys body lean, and didn't catch obesity era except for high blood pressure, he says: «We were living in  mud houses and narrow streets move from one neighborhood to another walk, and cars not scattered in abundance as it is now.

He added: «we didn't have foreign workers, and we do all of our own works. For example, we did extract the «Sawani» water from wells using animals and beasts trained for this purpose to meet the needs of people of the water, and was called the « water export ». as well as Sadu profession, for the furniture industry and the houses of the hair from the available environmental materials, such as wheat and grain milling by molar and livestock, and wood shavings and blacksmithing profession », pointing out that they were engaged in a daily walk, through grazing sheep.

Abu Rashid confirms that the professions that they did was considered physically active, and thus no time for laziness, lethargy and lack of movement.

He continues: «in the past who wanted to play something of his own, did it non-dependency on the other, so everyone had a strong bodies free of obesity, they were working under the sun, which provide them with energy« and »vitamin« D ». This what most of the children of the current era is missing.

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