In case you missed it, The Lancet medical journal recently released it's findings regarding levels of obesity in Europe, and found that Malta was number one in the EU for men (second for women). A worrying 74% of Maltese men are classed as 'overweight' along with 57.8% of women.
Now I am not going to cast any stones here, as I confess to having belonged to the overweight category myself until a couple of weeks ago, but why is Malta on top of this rather unflattering list?
Since I can remember, I've been hearing people banging on about the wonders of the 'Mediterranean Diet', so surely you would expect an island plonked right in the middle of the Med to be the home of svelte athletes with sparkling eyes and clear skin. It's not, but why not?
Well for one thing, the Maltese diet does not exactly follow the Italian model (Italy has one of the lowest obesity levels in Europe). The Maltese people certainly embrace the pastas and pizzas, but less keen on the salads. When you add local favourites like the omnipresent pastizzi and Maltese breads to the mix and replace wines with beers then you begin to see why there is such a difference.
Despite all the lovely Mediterranean restaurants near where I live, McDonalds is the one place that's busy year round.
Coupled with that you've got the exercise problem. A survey a few years ago discovered that a worrying 60% of Europeans did very little physical exercise, where less than 30 mins moderate exercise a day for 5 days was considered to be 'physical inactivity'. Malta topped the charts on this one too, with a massive 72% admitting to doing less than this amount.
So either Maltese people are just more honest than everyone else, or they really are doing less exercise. Let's imagine the second one is true, so what's the reason?
The climate is certainly no excuse. Yes it's very hot in summer, but you can go for a walk on a summer's evening in Valletta a lot more comfortably than in a Siberian blizzard, for example. Malta is the most over-crowded country in the EU as well, which means there is less space for playing fields and less empty spaces to go for a run. That still doesn't explain why people can't walk for 30 minutes a day though.
It has got to come down to cultural and societal norms. People Love their cars in these parts. The car is status symbol, and is seen as a necessity rather than a luxury, even on this tiny island. Many's the time that my suggestion of walking to some place 10 minutes away - rather than hopping in the car - has been met with incomprehension.
You don't see Maltese sports stars on the world stage, and when you do, the most famous Maltese sportsman of all time was a snooker player. Likewise there are no kids on the streets playing football, although how could they with all those cars!
And is weight really seen as such a big health issue here? I'm not so sure. There are no shortage of parents bringing the kids to fast-food joints, and although a lot is lost to me due to the mysteries of the Malti language, it doesn't seem to be as much of an issue in the media as in other parts of the wold.
There are certainly no easy solutions, but hopefully Malta will step off this particular podium sooner rather than later.
Now I am not going to cast any stones here, as I confess to having belonged to the overweight category myself until a couple of weeks ago, but why is Malta on top of this rather unflattering list?
 |
| ...it's not only their fault. |
Since I can remember, I've been hearing people banging on about the wonders of the 'Mediterranean Diet', so surely you would expect an island plonked right in the middle of the Med to be the home of svelte athletes with sparkling eyes and clear skin. It's not, but why not?
Well for one thing, the Maltese diet does not exactly follow the Italian model (Italy has one of the lowest obesity levels in Europe). The Maltese people certainly embrace the pastas and pizzas, but less keen on the salads. When you add local favourites like the omnipresent pastizzi and Maltese breads to the mix and replace wines with beers then you begin to see why there is such a difference.
Despite all the lovely Mediterranean restaurants near where I live, McDonalds is the one place that's busy year round.
Coupled with that you've got the exercise problem. A survey a few years ago discovered that a worrying 60% of Europeans did very little physical exercise, where less than 30 mins moderate exercise a day for 5 days was considered to be 'physical inactivity'. Malta topped the charts on this one too, with a massive 72% admitting to doing less than this amount.
So either Maltese people are just more honest than everyone else, or they really are doing less exercise. Let's imagine the second one is true, so what's the reason?
The climate is certainly no excuse. Yes it's very hot in summer, but you can go for a walk on a summer's evening in Valletta a lot more comfortably than in a Siberian blizzard, for example. Malta is the most over-crowded country in the EU as well, which means there is less space for playing fields and less empty spaces to go for a run. That still doesn't explain why people can't walk for 30 minutes a day though.
It has got to come down to cultural and societal norms. People Love their cars in these parts. The car is status symbol, and is seen as a necessity rather than a luxury, even on this tiny island. Many's the time that my suggestion of walking to some place 10 minutes away - rather than hopping in the car - has been met with incomprehension.
You don't see Maltese sports stars on the world stage, and when you do, the most famous Maltese sportsman of all time was a snooker player. Likewise there are no kids on the streets playing football, although how could they with all those cars!
And is weight really seen as such a big health issue here? I'm not so sure. There are no shortage of parents bringing the kids to fast-food joints, and although a lot is lost to me due to the mysteries of the Malti language, it doesn't seem to be as much of an issue in the media as in other parts of the wold.
There are certainly no easy solutions, but hopefully Malta will step off this particular podium sooner rather than later.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please feel free to comment below, all feedback welcome - it's great to hear other people's opinions and experiences.
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.