Eat home-made food, live healthy to avoid diseases

Dubai - As part of its second annual health screening and diabetes awareness campaign for employees, Khaleej Times invited a host of doctors on site to present talks and give advice.

Instilling bad eating habits since childhood and personal denial have a lot to account for when it comes to the high prevalence of diabetes in this region.
This was the consensus among leading healthcare experts from Aster DM Healthcare who visited Khaleej Times on Tuesday.
As part of its second annual health screening and diabetes awareness campaign for employees, Khaleej Times invited a host of doctors on site to present talks and give advice on how to best prevent and manage the oft-debilitating disease.
On the occasion Saghir Ahmed Khan, Senior Vice President (Finance & Operations), at Galadari Printing & Publishing, welcomed the medical team and thanked Dr Azad Moopen, Chairman & MD, Aster DM Healthcare, for the group's continuous support.
More than 180 employees turned out to Aster DM's mobile health screening unit to avail of free flu vaccinations as well as free diabetic risk screenings.
In the UAE, it is estimated that one out of five people aged between 20 and 79 years live with diabetes.
Noted as the fastest growing debilitating disease in the world, by 2020 it is estimated that 32 per cent of the UAE population will be diabetic. "Diabetes is a pandemic we are facing," nutritionist at Jubilee Medical Complex, Lubna Hanif Surya, said.
"Overweight and obesity are the baseline problem for many health disorders. We need to take action before a doctor makes a reaction."
Moderation is the key when it comes to food intake and Surya urged people to "understand their weaknesses" and equip themselves to "take action" on them.
And opthamologist Dr Vikram Mohindra agreed.
"The World Health Organisation defines health as a 360 degree process. It's not just about disease or illness, it's about mental, physical and spiritual wellbeing. We need to encompass all these elements to tackle such lifestyle diseases," he said.
With diet and lack of exercise noted as the main risk factors for diabetes, Dr Mohindra said people need to encourage more cooking at home and parents need to instill good eating habits in children.
"Taste buds develop at a young age. Parents are mostly to blame for causing that memory of taste when it comes to unhealthy food in the child's taste buds. Education needs to start young and healthy eating habits should be instilled from a young age."
"Health awareness in the workplace is so vital when it comes to educating employees about staying healthy. People spend the best part of their day at work so it is great to see employers being proactive when it comes to their employees health," said Dr Nasrullah Jakhrani, General Medicine Practitioner at Jubilee Medical Complex in Dubai,
Tuesday's health campaign concluded with a quick fire round where about 40 participants where quizzed on their knowledge of diabetes.
From the origins of the disease, which was first discovered by the Egyptians thousands of years ago, to some of the world's famous diabetics including Tom Hanks and Pakistani Cricketer Wasim Akram, Khaleej Times employees managed to successfully claw back a 100 per cent record when it came to their diabetes knowledge.
reporters@khaleejtimes.com

• Dubai