Disease has been spreading in our society at an alarming rate. The number of diabetic, heart, and cancer patients has risen drastically. According to Dr. Walid Bukhari, chief surgeon at King Fahd Hospital in Jeddah, three million Saudis are stricken with obesity. This inflation in body fat costs the government well over three billion riyals due to treating its consequential diseases. We are turning from a “young nation” to a “diseased nation.” We, parents, schools, community members, and the medical profession as well as health and educational organizations and agencies should collaborate to put a stop to the escalation of weight gain and disease, which go hand in hand, consequentially reducing productivity.
We should first start by the food industry. Health and education authorities should demand from the fast food industry and restaurants as well as school providers and caterers to serve smaller portions and healthier meals, containing less fat, sugar, carbohydrates, fries (trans fat), additives, sweets, and fatty desserts. Meals should contain more whole foods such as fresh vegetables and fruits; leaner meat, poultry, or fish; and legumes and whole grains. Soda drinks, sugar-laden canned fruit juices, milk shakes, ice-creams, and creamy cakes should be rare treats and not standard food items. Nutritious snacks of nuts and fruits are healthier than fatty sweet snacks and drinks. Water and unsweetened fruit juices should replace unhealthy drinks. Balanced nutrition and scheduled meals prevent food overindulgence and obesity. Schools, colleges, universities, and technical institutes should take physical education and sports for both genders seriously. Such a program should include physical workouts, body building, and aerobic exercises (running, jogging, cycling, swimming) as well as sports and games (basketball, tennis, squash, challenging games). Schools and universities should encourage competitive mental and physical games and sports amongst each other’s student bodies. Sports and physical training develop both brain and brawns. Muscle building and aerobic exercises enhance health through good blood circulation, lowering blood fat and sugar, building strong bones, increasing energy, enhancing stamina, and boosting immunity in order to avoid chronic diseases and resist infections. Physical activity can promote brain-wiring and improve the intellect, memory, and mental performance to fend off Alzheimer’s and mental decline.
Hobbies and recreational activities like reading, handicraft, artwork, vocational interests, boys and girls scout, community and volunteering work in hospitals, charitable and handicapped organizations and schools, and humanitarian contributions build self-esteem, encourage independence and self-confidence; eliminate selfishness and egoism; teach sense of sacrifice; focus on the need of others; prevent emotional voids; and develop altruistic attitudes. Such practices prevent indulgence in food, laziness, idleness, truancy, depression, and apathy, which lower productivity and open the doors to crime.
Along with good eating habits and physical activity, we need quality sleep and early bedtime, which also prevent overeating, late night snacking, and oversleeping the next morning, upsetting the human biological clock that leads to laziness, lethargy, and obesity.
Nutritious meals and snacks, drinking enough water, exercising, sports, hobbies, intellectual and humanitarian interests, scheduled meals, and good sleep are healthy approaches that should be applied at schools, homes, and work places to provide health, energy, and wellness and improve productivity. Such hygienic lifestyles can prevent obesity, debilitating diseases, physical disabilities, depression, mental decline, soaring health costs, diminished productivity, and eventually premature death. Modernity has its benefits, but modern living and eating habits lead us to the path of obesity and disease and make us an unproductive nation that does not fit in the twenty-first century.
Reminder!
The Month of Ramadan is coming to its end. I pray we all reap the ajr (the reward promised for fasting) as well as its health benefits. I would like to remind us all to abstain from overindulging in fatty foods during Eid in order not to overburden our digestive systems, which were cleansed by fasting. Enjoy the festivities with moderation. Eid Mubarak.
(Mariam A. Alireza is a holistic science specialist. Send comments to [email protected]. Log on to arabnews.com for previous articles.)
