Haleema Mahmoud, a Saudi mother is worried about her teenage daughter because, despite not being overweight, she starves herself.
“Because I am overweight my daughter is worried that she will put on weight,” said Haleema. “When we sit for a meal after much persuasion she will have half a glass of juice and two or three morsels at most. Her body has become very weak, and her color is pale, but still she won’t eat.”
Shaima Abdulaziz, says she and six of her children are suffering from obesity and have little option when it comes to healthy foods, like fruits and vegetables, or diet foods because they cost too much, and her family’s income is low.
“I have a big family, and when I want to include fruits and diet food in our routine I can’t because they're expensive — even vegetables have become expensive. For example, a packet of diet brown sugar costs 14 riyals while 2 kilos of normal sugar costs 10 riyals. 2 kilos of brown rice costs about 30 riyals, and normal rice is 20 riyals,” she said. “And we are a big family, we need things in large quantities. Health clubs and dietitians cost too much too. Rice and potatoes are the most affordable food we can get in large quantities, even low-fat Arabic brown bread costs more than Arabic white bread.”
Nafeesa Marwan said that she did go to a dietitian and he prescribed for her a diet regime which included several types of special dieting foods.
“I purchased the items that costs me around SR400, and I ate according to the regime, the items were for one week. That meant I would have had to spend SR1,600 a month on my food alone, adding this extra amount to the family budget. It is unaffordable to me. I went back to trying different diets that I found on the Internet,” she said.
El-Bagoury says there are many different types of diets that can cause serious harm to one’s health.
“There is the water diet, in which a person drinks large quantities of water throughout the day, thereby achieving weight loss. But there are many negative effects on the muscles and organs of the body, such as the heart, kidneys, blood, liver and pancreas,” he told Arab News.
“And there is the diet of dry food, not taking water or liquids so that the body loses large amounts of water and fluids necessary for the person without affecting the reserve of fat in the body. Its negative affects are dehydration, fatigue of the digestive system, urinary and kidney problems, and an increase of fat and cholesterol level in the body with risk of heart disease, arteries, liver, diabetes, and psychiatric and neurological reactions,” she said.
The doctor also warns against taking pills and different types of medicines to lose weight without consulting a doctor because these have direct effect on all the internal organs in the body.
