How active lifestyles, sports and fitness programs are enabling Arab women to beat obesity, manage weight

JEDDAH: Obesity charges worldwide have been steadily rising over the previous half-century, reaching a degree at which consultants say many countries are approach off schedule to meet the World Health Organization’s 2025 world vitamin targets.
Mindful of the pressures that top weight problems charges place on native healthcare techniques, to the detriment of high quality of life, international locations reminiscent of Saudi Arabia are working exhausting to promote fitness and problem folks to change their sedentary life.
According to a latest research by Ohio State University College of Medicine, weight problems and the related well being implications value the Saudi healthcare system $3.8 billion in 2019 alone, equal to about 4.3 p.c of the Kingdom’s whole annual well being expenditure.
Keeping weight below management is however simpler stated than completed within the age of globalization. (AFP)

Excess weight and weight problems — outlined as irregular or extreme fats accumulation that may impair well being — just isn’t solely a priority within the Arab world. More than a billion folks worldwide are labeled as overweight, which implies that they’ve a physique mass index (a measure of physique fats based mostly on top and weight) of 30 or increased, and the quantity is rising.
According to the WHO, weight problems is extra prevalent amongst women than males, with elements reminiscent of sociocultural points, economics, genetics and biology all contributing elements. Worldwide, weight problems impacts 15 p.c of women and 11 p.c of males. In the Middle East and North Africa, this gender hole is even wider, with 26 p.c of women labeled as overweight in contrast with 16 p.c of males.
A latest article printed by The Economist attributes the issue within the area to two key elements: Socioeconomics, on the grounds that the most affordable native meals are often probably the most unhealthy, reminiscent of bread and rice; and tradition, on the grounds that pervasive social conservatism within the Arab area can stop women from collaborating in out of doors train or shedding energy passively within the office.
The actuality is, after all, extra complicated than that. The notion of Arab women as mere sedentary housewives seems grossly outdated as women within the area more and more enter the labor pressure, take cost of their diets, and seize new alternatives within the worlds of sports and fitness.
Obesity and the related well being implications value the Saudi healthcare system $3.8 billion in 2019 alone. (AFP)

Keeping weight below management is however simpler stated than completed within the age of globalization. Arab international locations, too, have skilled important way of life modifications and fast urbanization which have launched many extra high-fat meals to the market alongside the preexisting unhealthy consuming habits, together with the historically carbohydrate-rich Arab weight-reduction plan.
Nations within the Middle East and North Africa, together with Saudi Arabia, haven’t been immune to such modifications. Obesity ranges have soared in latest a long time owing to a mixture of unhealthy consuming, inactivity and conserving “fats in style” — a stereotype related to Gulf international locations on account of their affluence.
Globally, the notion of weight problems varies broadly. In many high-income and, more and more, middle-income international locations, weight achieve carries a social stigma that fuels a notion of particular person weak point that undermines the assist for complete prevention, remedy and administration measures.
Different beliefs related to weight and physique form can present in varied cultures. Specific cultural pressures to be tall and skinny are postulated to trigger folks to misreport their top and physique weight in an try to seem what’s deemed extra socially fashionable and fascinating.
An identical state of affairs exists in some locations when it comes to attitudes to extra weight. Many African and Polynesian, and some Arab, cultures affiliate obese women with affluence, well being, energy and fertility. In the Gulf area a minimum of, nonetheless, being fats is actually not in style.

Sulafa Kurdi, a photographer and cafe proprietor, has been obese virtually all of her life. In August 2020, she took the primary steps on a virtually two-year journey to get match and wholesome by signing up with a gymnasium. She selected Sweat Army in Jeddah and started her transformation.
“I used to be ready for the appropriate time to make the transfer and flip my life round,” she informed Arab News. “Breaking down that wall was powerful however, with the assist I obtained from my coach, the journey was what I wanted. I wished to lose weight the wholesome approach, the appropriate approach and the tough approach.
“Within three months of signing up, I discovered the self-discipline to preserve a wholesome way of life that I nonetheless stick to as greatest as I can. Yes, all of us fall off the wagon and really feel sluggish at instances. With the appropriate assist, I’ve managed to get again once more and transfer, breaking my very own data.”
Indeed, opposite to the assertions in The Economist’s article, anecdotal proof suggests extra and extra women within the Arab world are taking management of their bodily lives and setting off on a journey to improved their fitness. This has in flip motivated many to pursue their desires of changing into skilled athletes.
Studies have discovered that engagement in sports and bodily exercise has been decrease amongst women than males. Now varied government-led and personal programs are offering women and women with entry to sports amenities, encouraging them to grow to be athletes and even position fashions for youthful generations.
This has challenged outdated stereotypes about women in Saudi Arabia and the broader Arab area and the inaccurate notions about social conservatism stopping them from going outside each to train and to participate in organized sports.
Dubbed “Cleopatra Squash,” Egyptian Nuran Johar has gained padel tournaments such because the England Open Junior Championship 5 instances. Meanwhile, Ulfah Alkaabi, one of many UAE’s high padel gamers, has been making her mark on the courtroom.
Halfway world wide, Saudi Arabia’s feminine nationwide soccer crew gained a silver medal on the Special Olympics Unified Cup in Detroit, Michigan this month. 

Although Saudi sprinter and first-time Olympian Yasmeen Al-Dabbagh fell quick in her first race in Tokyo 2020, she has set her sights on bringing house a medal from the following Games in Paris in 2024.
By all accounts, women’s participation in sports and fitness boils down to a supportive group. In the Kingdom, the Sports For All Federation has been constructing community-driven programs to enhance general well being via group sports programs, a strong device to create a wholesome society according to the Vision 2030 Quality of Life targets. 
The Saudi feminine athletes main the way in which. 

SFA says its programs and initiatives are created based mostly on a group’s particular wants and what motivates them, and might be integrated simply into their each day routines reminiscent of strolling, operating, biking and different actions. It says the variety of feminine members in group sports has elevated dramatically.
“Since 2018, we’ve seen the numbers mirrored throughout our programs,” an SFA spokesperson informed Arab News. “SFA needs to present women with the appropriate programs and female-driven initiatives to encourage them to go additional.
“We offered a particular course for girls in our Spartan race, there was an space for women at SandClash to compete, and the identical goes for our Neighborhood Clubs throughout the Kingdom for women preferring to have their very own areas.
Women’s participation in sports and fitness boils down to a supportive group. (AFP)

“SFA has additionally hosted the Global Goals World Cup, a five-a-side women’s soccer event, and is the primary nation to add basketball to the video games. One of the primary targets of SFA is to allow them, present them with entry to amenities, encourage them and really feel that they are a part of the group.”
Underscoring the significance of community-based bodily exercise programs, Haya Sawan, a fitness coach and the proprietor of SheMatch Gym in Jeddah, informed Arab News that having such programs helps to construct a powerful fitness tradition amongst women.
“There’s been an enormous leap previously 5 years and you’ll be able to see extra folks engaged in some type of bodily exercise than ever earlier than. It’s not only a matter of gyms opening, it’s extra about altering the mindset and altering the life-style,” stated Sawan.
“The area’s local weather and distinctive surroundings limit us from strolling for miles, so we’d like to put in additional effort simply to keep active all day. We make the most of the area that we’ve got and create programs becoming for the area, and utilizing huge areas reminiscent of malls and out of doors pathways designated for strolling or jogging is an effective way to interact the general public.
The notion of Arab women as mere sedentary housewives seems grossly outdated. (AFP)

“Initiatives reminiscent of those launched by SFA the place they cooperated with malls makes it a lot simpler for folks to be active. It’s accessible and you’ll be able to depend your steps. It’s a small gesture that makes a distinction in the long term.”
That stated, private motivation stays an integral a part of any fitness journey, and altering perceptions amongst Arab women — and wider society — about their position, standing and physique autonomy little doubt has a component to play.
“I’m a powerful believer that your ideas can actually management your life,” stated Sawan. “A optimistic mindset will at all times imagine that there’s room for enchancment, and take a look at challenges as a supply of motivation to overcome, fairly than challenges that will cease you from shifting ahead. Everything modifications.”

https://www.arabnews.com/node/2139551/middle-east

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