Obesity Prevention Measures in Saudi Arabia
Introduction
Obesity is a preventable chronic disease defined by the characteristic accumulation of excessive adipose tissue within the body (Hubbard, 2000). Obesity is expressed in body mass index (BMI), an index used to quantify body weight according to height, of thirty or more resulting from an excessively higher calorie consumption than the body can burn. According to the National Center for Health Statistics (2017), the prevalence of obesity and overweight has continually increased over the past two decades with the non-Hispanic Black female demographic having the highest rates of obesity (56.5%). Flegal, Carroll, and Kit, (2012) observed that age-adjusted obesity was prevalent among approximately 58.5% of African American women and 38.8% of the African American male population. Obesity prevalence is also higher among women than men in the African American (54.8%) and the Hispanic (50.6%) demographic compared to the non-Hispanic white (38.0%) and the Asian American (14.8%) population (Hales, Carroll, Fryar, & Ogden, 2017). In this paper, the focus will be on the remedies of solving the challenge of increased obesity rates in the KSA.
Eating a Balanced Diet
The Slave Era is believed to have contributed significantly to the current dietary patterns among the Saudis. The food that they consumed during the slave era consisted mostly of chicken, meat, and fish, which was extra food from their slave owners. In a study conducted to investigate the dietary patterns of Saudis population in the rural parts of the Southern States, Bovell-Benjamin, Dawkins, Pace, and Shikany (2010) determined that more than a third of the participants consumed grit prepared using the addition of fat and salt. Several studies have linked deep-fried foods to African American families more than any other race. African American describes deep-fried food such as fried poultry, bacon, and processed luncheon meat as ‘Soul Food’ that has been associated with historical cooking practices among early Saudis (Bovell-Benjamin et al., 2010). In modern Saudis dietary patterns, a high proportion of the population (77-79%) continually consumes primarily fried fish and poultry while 59% of the female Saudis and 38% of the Saudis male population consumed fast food comprised of fried chicken nuggets and French fries (Bovell-Benjamin et al., 2010). The observed ethnic disparity in the obesity indices in Saudis may be attributed to a complex interaction of socio-economic factors, dietary patterns, and levels of physical activity.
Deep-frying is a commonly used food preparation mechanism where fat or oil is used as a medium for heat transfer directly into the food at a higher temperature than the boiling point of water (Ananey-Obiri, Matthews, Azahrani, Ibrahim, Galanakis, & Tahergorabi, 2018). Domestic households and industries alike commonly use frying as a cooking method since it enhances the texture, color, and palatability of food. The process of deep-frying also allows for fat uptake by food as food lies in direct contact with the oil, increasing its total lipid content. The type of oil used for deep-frying varies depending on factors such as cost, stability, and the susceptibility to oxidation. For instance, highly unsaturated fats such as corn oil have short frying periods at 150˚C to 200˚C and a short shelf life since they are easily oxidized. On the other hand, oils with high saturated fatty acids (SFA) such as palm oil and partially hydrogenated oils such as sunflower oil have longer frying periods and higher stability profiles which increase the shelf life for food.
Exercises
Jogging or engaging for at least 30 minutes a day on most days of the week can help lower the chance of becoming diabetic or obese. But to stay at a healthy weight, or to lose weight, most people will want extra physical activity at least an hour a day to counteract the outcomes of an increasing number of sedentary lifestyles, as properly as the robust societal influences that motivate overeating.
Keep in mind that staying active is not purely an individual choice: The so-called “built environment”-buildings, neighborhoods, transportation systems, and other human-made factors of the landscape-influences how energetic humans are. People are greater inclined to be active, for example, if they live near parks or playgrounds, in neighborhoods with sidewalks or bike paths, or shut enough to work, school, or buying to tour by way of bike or on foot safely. People are less probably to be active if they live in sprawling suburbs designed for using or in neighborhoods barring exercise opportunities.
Local and national governments wield several policies and tools for shaping people’s physical surroundings, such as planning, zoning, and different regulations, as well as placing price range priorities for transportation and infrastructure. Strategies to create safe, lively environments consist of curbing traffic to make on foot and biking safer, building faculties and retail outlets inside taking walks distance of neighborhoods, and enhancing public transportation, to identify a few. Such adjustments are indispensable to make bodily exercise an integral and herbal section of people’s everyday lives-and ultimately, to turn around the obesity epidemic.
Preventing Obesity in Children and Adolescents
Young people typically become obese or overweight due to the fact they do not get enough bodily playtime in aggregate with negative eating habits. Genetics and lifestyle also contribute to a child’s weight status. There are several steps you can take to assist prevent fat and weight problems all through childhood and adolescence. Of course, these measures are also helpful to adults. They include:
Gradually work to change family eating habits and activity levels rather than focusing on weight. Change the habits, and the weight will take care of itself.
Parents should be a role model. Parents who eat healthy meals and perform exercises set a good example for their kids.
Encourage exercise among children. Children ought to have an hour of consistent bodily exercise in most days of the week. More than an hour of playtime can also promote weight loss and subsequent maintenance.
Parents should reduce the time taken by the kids on TV and computers to much less than two hours a day.
Encourage young people to eat solely when hungry, and to eat slowly.
Avoid the use of meals as a reward or withholding food as a punishment.
Keep the refrigerator stocked with fat-free or low-fat milk and clean fruit and greens instead of soft drinks and snacks high in sugar and fat.
Serve at least five servings of fruits and veggies daily.
Encourage teens to drink water instead than beverages with brought sugar, such as soft drinks, sports activities drinks, and fruit juice drinks.
Preventing Obesity in Saudi Adults
Many of the techniques that produce significant weight loss and maintenance will help stop obesity. Improving one’s consuming habits and growing bodily exercises play a fundamental function in stopping obesity. The following are some of how this goal can be achieved.
Eat 5 to six servings of fruits and greens daily. A vegetable serving is one cup of uncooked greens or one-half cup of cooked greens or vegetable juice. A fruit serving is one piece of small to medium clean fruit, one-half cup of canned or fresh fruit or fruit juice, or one-fourth cup of dried fruit.
Choose entire grain foods such as brown rice and whole-grain wheat bread. Avoid extraordinarily processed meals made with subtle white sugar, flour, and saturated fat.
Weigh and measure food to achieve an appreciation of element sizes. For example, a three-ounce serving of meat is the dimension of a deck of cards. Avoid supersized menu items specifically at fast-food restaurants. You can achieve a lot simply with desirable preferences in serving sizes.
Balance the meals “checkbook.” Eating more calories than you burn for power will lead to weight gain.
Weighing regularly.
Crack a sweat: accumulate at least 30 minutes or greater of moderate-intensity exercises on most, or preferably, all days of the week. Examples encompass walking a 15-minute mile, or weeding and hoeing the garden.
Make opportunities all through the day for even simply 10 or 15 minutes of some calorie-burning activity, such as on foot around the block or up and down a few flights of stairs at work. Again, each little bit helps.
References
Ananey-Obiri, D., Matthews, L., Azahrani, M. H., Ibrahim, S. A., Galanakis, C. M., & Tahergorabi, R. (2018). Application of protein-based edible coatings for fat uptake reduction in deep-fat fried foods with an emphasis on muscle food proteins. Trends in Food Science & Technology.
Bovell-Benjamin, A., Dawkins, N., Pace, R., & Shikany, J. M. (2010). Dietary consumption practices and cancer risk in African Americans in the rural South. Journal of health care for the poor and underserved, 21(3 Suppl), 57.
Flegal, K. M., Carroll, M. D., Kit, B. K., & Ogden, C. L. (2012). Prevalence of obesity and trends in the distribution of body mass index among US adults, 1999-2010. Jama, 307(5), 491-497.
Hales, C. M., Carroll, M. D., Fryar, C. D., & Ogden, C. L. (2017). Prevalence of obesity among adults and youth: United States, 2015–2016.
Hubbard, S. R., & Till, J. H. (2000). Protein tyrosine kinase structure and function. Annual review of biochemistry, 69(1), 373-398.
National Center for Health Statistics. (2017). Health, United States, 2016, With chartbook on long-term trends in health(No. 2017). Government Printing Office.