‘Take balanced diet to prevent obesity, diabetes’

LAHORE: Health professionals are concerned about the future health of our nation as childhood and adult obesity rate is increasing rapidly, said Prof Dr Shakeela Zaman, head of Public Health Department of the University of Health Sciences (UHS).

Speaking at a seminar here on Wednesday, Dr Shakeela Zaman said the recent report released by World Health Organization last year showed a doubling of obesity rates globally from 1990 to 2017.

Addressing the seminar “Health Eating Awareness and Tips” organised by UHS Family Medicine Department in collaboration with varsity’s Public Health Department, Prof Shakeela said Pakistan is currently among the top 10 countries with regards to obesity.

“As we saw obesity rates increase, prevalence of diabetes increased but obesity is not only linked to diabetes. There are other diseases such as hypertension, heart disease, and high cholesterol which can be caused by this condition”, she said.

Meanwhile, in relation to the cause of childhood obesity, Prof Shakeela said: “Obesogenic environments that our children live in with access to fast food, sweetened beverages and reduced physical activity are main contributors.”

Khadija Asim, lecturer from the Department of Public Health, presented her session on “Preventive Measures of Obesity and Diabetes Mellitus”. During her talk she made the audience aware of the preventive measures and techniques for the two major issues. She highlighted major risk factors that precipitated obesity and diabetes. She focused on the natural and healthy diet and emphasised that a balanced diet with different food proportion is highly recommended to prevent obesity and diabetes. Her main focus was on Lifestyle Interventions and how through little changes in our daily routine we can reap great benefits. She elucidated the preventive measures for obesity and diabetes for infants, children and adults. She also shared a video that highlighted evolution of society along with the changes in the lifestyle and eating habits.

Dr Hina Jawaid, Assistant Professor from the Department of Family Medicine, through her graphical presentation explicitly informed the audience about “Changing Dietary Habits”. She referred the studies showing rise in obesity in adults and children in Pakistan and explained what BMI is and how it is interpreted. Furthermore, she talked about super foods containing essential vitamins, antioxidants and omega 3 fatty acids. She iterated the importance of exercise and healthy lifestyle.

The last session of the seminar was conducted by Umber Khalid, Corporate Manager at the Culinary and Hotel Management Institute of Pakistan. She guided the audience regarding healthy recipes and healthy cooking practices. She prevented different healthy alternative for the conventional foods and condiments used in Pakistani foods normally.

To be healthy and to prevent disease it is better to adopt health alternative and healthy cooking practices rather than the conventional recipes. The alternatives food ingredients and cooking practices yields the same tastes of food as obtained the conventional methods.