[PHNUTR-L] Fitness sinful for women in Saudi Arabia?

[Kathrynne Holden, MS, RD]

Colleagues, the following is FYI and does not necessarily reflect my own
opinion. I have no further knowledge of the topic. If you do not wish to
receive these posts, set your email filter to filter out any messages
coming from   @nutritionucanlivewith.com    and the program will remove
anything coming from me.
---------------------------------------------------------

It may be useful to understand the culture and mores of some who may 
become our patients. - Kathrynne


Fitness sinful for women in Saudi Arabia?
Strict religious code makes getting exercise a challenge for many
Saudi woman	
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12857161/

A woman walks through a market in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. There are no 
laws against women exercising outside their homes, but many are 
influenced by scholars and clerics who argue against it.
  View related photos
Behrouz Mehri / AFP - Getty Images file
	
   MESSAGE BOARDS
Diet & Fitness - Shape up & Speak up
• Share your experiences — and best tips
   Most Popular
• Most Viewed		• Top Rated		• Most E-mailed
• Read my chest: ‘DO NOT RESUSCITATE’
• Afghan general: Top Taliban might be caught
• Did elderly women kill homeless men?
• Guantanamo prisoners, guards clash
• Has runaway bride left her man for good?
• Most viewed on MSNBC.com
• FCC member wants telecoms’ NSA help probed
• Last chromosome in human genome sequenced
• Asteroid risk to Earth lowered, scientists say
• Ex-GOP official sentenced over phone-jamming
• Rescue recess, parents and teachers plead
• Most viewed on MSNBC.com
• Read my chest: ‘DO NOT RESUSCITATE’
• Zoo visitors watch bears kill, eat monkey
• Did elderly women kill homeless men?
• Ready or not, Northeast ripe for big hurricane
• Family sues salon over death after pedicure
• Most viewed on MSNBC.com
   SPECIAL REPORT
• Top celebrity trainers offer their advice
   RSS FEEDS ON MSNBC.COM

Add these headlines to your news reader
• Diet & Fitness
• Learn more about RSS
MEDPAGE TODAY
•Older Women with Early Breast Cancer Get Radiation Benefit
•Early Bariatric Surgery Mortality Rate Low at Academic Centers
•ASH: Blood Pressure Variability Tied to Elderly Cognitive Dysfunction
•Parental Smoking Linked to Allergic Rhinitis in One-Year-Olds
Physicians... Earn CME with your medical news
Updated: 4:40 p.m. CT May 18, 2006

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Under their modest flowing robes, two-thirds of 
Saudi women are too fat.

They can try dieting, but you won't find many in aerobics classes or 
power-walking along this city's walking trails. And very few of their 
daughters attend schools that have physical education classes.

There are no laws against women exercising outside their homes, but in 
this conservative society many are influenced by scholars and clerics 
who argue against it.
Story continues below ↓ advertisement

In Riyadh, hotel gyms and pools are off limits to women. Along the 
city's walking trails, where the women walk covered in the mandatory 
black cloaks, they are sometimes harassed by the muttawa.

Rana al-Abdullah said one such official ordered her to go back to her 
car when she was out walking one day and wouldn't leave her alone until 
she did. She now walks in malls.

Many Saudis say they are baffled by the religious arguments.

At a clinic that treats obesity-related diseases, a booklet left by a 
writer named Muhammad al-Habdan, warned that if girls' schools began 
P.E., Saudi girls would have to change into workout gear — and good 
girls should not disrobe outside their homes. Changing in a locker room 
might cause them to lose the shyness that is the hallmark of good 
morals, the booklet warned.

It went on to say that the girls might become attracted to each other 
after seeing their classmates in tight leotards and tops.

Rising rate of obesity
Changing such attitudes has become the goal of many health-conscious 
women who are alarmed about the rising rate of obesity in their country.

About 52 percent of Saudi Arabia's men and 66 percent of women are 
either obese or overweight, according to Saudi press reports. Among 
adolescents the rate is 18 percent and in preschoolers over 15 percent.

   Click for related content

Child obesity expected to soar worldwide

Health officials blame the plush, oil-fueled Saudi lifestyle for the 
expanding waistlines. As Saudis have become richer, they have abandoned 
fiber-rich meals for fast food and meat-based dishes. They have brought 
in millions of Asian workers to do manual jobs. And they are addicted to 
technology that encourages staying at home in front of a computer or the TV.

"We're a very affluent society, so we have the luxury not to have to 
move," said Yasmin al-Tuwaijri, an epidemiologist who studies the 
obesity epidemic at a leading Riyadh hospital.

Mindful of the dangers of obesity, the government is trying to educate 
its citizens about obesity and the diseases related to it. Almost daily, 
Saudi newspapers, which are government-guided, carry tips on healthy 
eating and exercise. The Health Ministry and a women's charity, Al-Nahda 
Philanthropic Society for Women, are spearheading campaigns to encourage 
Saudis to start moving.

Lifestyle changes difficult
Last year, during the fasting month of Ramadan, when people tend to put 
on weight because of the rich meals after fasting, the ministry set up 
an information center where Saudis could get health information by phone 
and fax.

Most of the callers to the "Hello Ramadan" program were women who wanted 
to learn about diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity.

Yet the efforts are not making Saudis leaner.

"It's because the whole environment doesn't support a change in 
lifestyle," said al-Tuwaijri.

One of those lifestyle changes is getting more women to work out. But 
it's not just a matter of persuading them to get off their couches. It's 
changing a mentality that believes that workouts in schools, gyms or 
outdoors are an evil that will lead, through giving women more freedoms, 
to the decline of society.

'A target for corruption'
"The Muslim woman should realize that she is a target for corruption," 
said al-Habdan in another booklet on why women should not go to fitness 
clubs.

"There is no faster way to corrupt nations than the emancipation of 
women — that is getting her out on the street to entice men and ruin 
their morals," he added.

Several years ago, some members of the appointed Consultative Council, 
the closest thing Saudi Arabia has to a Parliament, raised the issue of 
physical education in girls' schools.

Those who voted against it pointed out that exercise classes in boys' 
schools have not had much effect on male obesity, according to press 
reports. That is the same argument al-Habdan makes in his booklets.

Badria al-Bani, a member of the walking campaign al-Nahda is 
spearheading, said the group's effort will focus on raising awareness 
among Saudi men of the importance of exercise in a woman's life.

"The first point many women have raised is this point," she said.

She said the group will suggest that girls' schools dedicate 15 minutes 
of the lunch break for walking. "Isn't that better for the girls than 
eating?" she asked.

Some months ago, veteran Arab News columnist Abeer Mishkhas said she 
"was basking in the glow of satisfaction" at some of the successes women 
had made in 2005 when an article caught her eye and mocked her.

It was a Ministry of Education press release that said rumors that 
girls' schools will have P.E. classes soon were baseless and misleading. 
And it reprimanded newspapers for suggesting the possibility.
-- 
Kathrynne Holden, MS, RD < fivestar at nutritionucanlivewith.com >
"Ask the Parkinson Dietitian"  http://www.parkinson.org/
"Eat well, stay well with Parkinson's disease"
"Parkinson's disease: Guidelines for Medical Nutrition Therapy"
http://www.nutritionucanlivewith.com/