Limelight:
Eat, drink, and be wary
By
Lubna Abdel-Aziz
Is this the best of times or is it the worst of times? It should be a season for rejoicing and renewing friendship and family ties, a time of "little nameless and unremembered acts of kindness and of love"; instead food takes centre-stage in reflecting the season's traditions. It assaults our senses from every corner, pursuing and chasing us until we give in. We sample, savour, enjoy and relish. Moderation goes out the window, makes it easy to indulge. A typical weight gain is 2-4 kilogrammes during the last month of the year.
As if that were not enough, another danger lurks around the corner waiting for the end of the holidays to deal its deadly blow. Scientists call it SAD for Seasonal Affective Disorder, one of the most common forms of depression during the winter season. It is related to our reaction to the amount of light we receive when the days become shorter and there is less daylight. The majority of us may experience the winter blues or "blahs", a period of low energy, fatigue and general lethargy. A carbohydrate craving and increased appetite occurs leading to the inevitable weight gain. SAD victims fall into a deeper depression and start consuming even more food to cover up disturbed emotions.
Whatever the reasons the result is weight gain. It is a subject that will not go away. We live in a fat world that is steadily getting fatter. Obesity rates are spiralling across the globe. Diet-related diseases such as heart, cancer, hypertension and diabetes account for 45.9 per cent of global diseases. They are responsible for half of all deaths in Arab countries. Africa and Asia, long suffering from malnutrition, are now victims of weight gain. In India women between the ages of 20 and 69 are overweight. In China diet induced illnesses called "rich people's disease" are filling their hospitals. In Europe 30 per cent of adults are obese. The US leads the world with 60 per cent of its adult population overweight. John Galbraith was prophetic when he wrote, More die of too much food than of too little!
The World Health Organisation (WHO) in an alarming report this year has declared obesity a global epidemic. The International Obesity Task Force revealed that out of a world population of six billion, 1.7 billion are overweight or obese. Five of the top 10 global diseases identified by WHO are caused by obesity. The need to lower fat, salt and sugar in our diets has reached the emergency level. The rise of obesity, once considered a "Western" disease, now poses a serious threat to the health of developing nations. Western values, life-styles and food habits, better defined as "coca-colonisation" of the world are its biggest health threats. The challenge of famine and infectious diseases pale in comparison to the dangers of obesity in countries like Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East.
Diabetes, like cardiovascular diseases has experienced an explosion in recent years. In 1985 an estimated 35 million had the disease. Today it is over 177 million and will rise to 300 million by 2025. Half of these cases will be in Asia. The only way to reverse the trend is to get our weight gain under control.
Holiday fare -- approach with caution
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Nothing puts weight on a nation like the shift from an agricultural to an urbanised economy. Consider the work of the farmer, ploughing, planting, sewing, reaping. Consider our grandmother's daily trip to the market, picking her food, cleaning, cooking, sewing her clothes, washing them, hanging them to dry. Compare all this daily activity to what happens when technology sets in. We pay dearly for this sedentary lifestyle by filling doctor's clinics and hospital beds. "Beans and rice have given way to burgers and coke," complains Dr Augustus Barza of the Brazilian Society of Cardiologists. "Obesity is an epidemic of progress."
Another sign of progress is the spread of supermarkets. They have literally changed the eating habits of the world. Miles of aisles of brightly and neatly packaged food products beckon. Grabbing becomes irresistible.
Children are the major victims. An important and alarming concern is the spread of Type 2 diabetes among children and adolescents. More than 20 per cent of European children between the ages of five and 17 are now considered overweight or obese. North Africa, the Middle East and Asia are seeing a marked rise in children's obesity, while the US heads the list for both adults 60 per cent and children 37 per cent. Obese children have a high risk to become obese adults.
Blaming obesity on genes no longer holds true. Genes establish our susceptibility for weight gain, but genes do not make us fat; we make ourselves fat. Once obesity takes hold of us it is much harder to lose or stabilise the weight gain. Our bodily resistance is mediated by hormones released by the hypothalamus and the brain, a mechanism by which the body protects itself from potential future deprivation.
In recent years the Body Mass Index or BMI has become the International Medical Standard to measure overweight and obesity. To determine your BMI simply divide your body weight in kilogrammes by your height in metres squared. For example, if you are 1.6m tall and weigh 58 kilogrammes, your BMI is 58 divided by 2.56 (1.6x1.6). If the result is less than 25 you are normal, between 25 and 30 you are overweight and above 30 you are obese. The formula applies to both genders and excludes those who are body builders because they are deliberately increasing their muscle mass. It is by no means a perfect measure for all body types, but for now it is the best science can offer.
Diet reporting has become a major concern for all publications, serious and otherwise. The media has exerted a concentrated effort to make the public aware of the hazards of obesity. On radio, television, medical journals, essays, articles, debates, reports, books, news items, the Internet, it is coming at us from everywhere. We are told we are fat, we are told why we are fat, and we are told what to do about it, to no avail.
The first thing we should know is that "diets" do not work. Sure we lose the weight, but it eventually returns, and even increases. What we need is a conscious and conscientious change in our lifestyle. Danger levels are highest during the holidays. The sights and sounds of the season, and the quantity and variety of the foods seduce our senses. Long buffet tables are tempting for the eye and the palate, ending up in our stomachs, abdomen, hips and legs exhausting our hearts and joints. By no means one should start a diet now. It should be kept for the New Year's resolution. By all means one should keep out of harm's way by primarily avoiding refined sugar, restricting our consumption to natural sugars in honey, syrup and juice. Any additional sugar should not exceed 10-25 per cent of our total caloric intake. Excess only leads to distress, as old Russian grandmothers used to say, He that eats till he is sick must fast till he is well.
Whatever our reasons or excuses for overeating, it is only a sign that something is eating us. The most troubling danger concerns the young; we set the example that puts them at risk. The life expectancy gains made in the last century are likely to be lost in this one. Members of the next generation could end up dying before their parents. At your next party or holiday gathering be wise, be wary, but do not deprive yourself. Deprivation leads to indulgence, indulgence leads to guilt, guilt leads to overindulgence. Think twice before you reach out for that second helping of dessert and three times before you serve it to the little ones. And take heed of what old Spanish grandmothers used to say, Better lose one supper, than gain one hundred physicians.
Happy Holidays!
