The Obese Arab Emirates

The best thing a doctor has ever said to me about my weight is nothing at all. The worst is a condescending look and a warning that I should go down a couple of sizes. Those were my experiences with doctors, until a couple of days ago when I ventured into an Arab doctor’s office, as I stood on the scale, a good twenty pounds overweight, the smart, sassy, US-educated doctor proclaimed, joyously, “You’re not fat at all!”

I didn’t argue, but I must have looked a little confused because she explained that many of her patients are extremely obese. I knew that the UAE is in the midst of something of a health crisis, but apparently enough people here are so heavy that I look downright skinny.

The United Arab Emirates currently ranks as the 18th most obese country in the world, with a 33.7% obesity rate among adults. Last week, The New York Times ran an article on obesity in nearby Qatar. Qatar ranks higher on the health problem scale than the UAE, but the reasons behind the problem are the same – including passing on genetic disorders because of marrying cousins.

The obesity problem is both hidden and visible for all to see. When I first arrived, I did not realize that I was living in such a fat country. Because of the recent popularity rise of “traditional” Gulf region clothing – abayas and kandoras – visible evidence is often veiled along with hair and faces. Long black robes have a slimming effect on even the very heavy. Traditional Pakistani clothing consists of a long tunic and elastic pants, which is somewhat more form-fitting but flatters larger bodies.

But in shop dressing rooms and in the gym, the abayas come off and the fat rolls out. Most of the women are big. They range from chubby, probably about twenty pounds overweight, to morbidly obese. Of about fifty gym regulars, only two appear to be of what is, in the US, considered proper weight. Of those, just one looks athletic. She stretches and lifts and jogs along with no jiggles or spills. The others stroll on the treadmill, lift weights, and then ask the Filipino receptionists for glasses of coffee. It is a stark contrast to my Utah gym, where hard-bodied rock climbers pump iron and run for miles.

Though abayas and kandoras mask the bodily manifestation of the UAE weight problem somewhat, the issue is evident in a trip to a store, restaurant, or, especially, my pre-kindergarten classroom. Like their counterparts in the USA, store aisles are overflowing with junk food. But unlike in the USA, it is difficult to find skim milk and anything other than white, marshmallowy bread. Restaurants serve heaping portions and Arabic sweets drip with sugary syrups. The problem is exacerbated by delivery service. Everything from groceries to ironing is delivered – including fast-food. It is not significantly more expensive to order in than it is to buy groceries, so delivery has become a dietary staple.

These are far from healthy eating habits, but lunchtime in my classroom takes poor nutrition to the extreme. I have never seen anything like my students’ lunches. The best ones have a hot dogs or a gooey, processed cheese sandwich or croissant buried under the piles of junk food. A lot of my kids open their Spiderman lunchboxes to reveal nothing but soda, potato chips, and sweets. Another popular item is the chocolate sandwich: puffy white bread with chocolate spread slathered in the middle. I strictly enforce the eat your sandwich! rule, which means that every day children run up to my desk, chocolate sandwich in hand, and proclaim, “Miss! I eating sandwich!” They flash big grins with rotten teeth.

I have spent most of the school year torn on how to handle this issue. I do not want the kids to eat junk food for lunch, but do not feel comfortable letting them go hungry. At the same time, I refuse to purchase lunch for fifteen four-year-olds every day. Despite numerous conversations with parents about the issue, every day I face piles of junk food.

There are obvious ramifications of such “lunches.” Ten of my twenty students have rotten teeth. Some have weak little points of enamel hanging out of swollen gums (think of the lizard man on a pre-schooler). Some have miniature teeth because a dentist cut off the lower, rotten half. Most have black, sick-looking stubs that give off a rancid odor during song time. One boy has no teeth at all but suffers from bleeding gums and poor word pronunciation. The students also suffer from the typical behavior and attention problems associated with too much sugar and poor nutrition. They are either hyper and distracted or sluggish from lack of energy. Most of them have sallow skin and dark circles under their eyes. These problems are exacerbated by Sharjah’s poor air quality and the nocturnal culture which puts them to bed around midnight and awake around 6 a.m.

As if the food culture weren’t enough of a health problem, people here are not encouraged to exercise. Sprawling Middle-Eastern cities and suburbs are exceedingly difficult to navigate as a pedestrian. Where there are sidewalks, there are extremely high curbs and very few ramps. My knees constantly hurt from jumping over the curbs on and off the sidewalks. There are even fewer cross-walks, which means that crossing the street is a terrifying, traffic-dodging affair.

Most US suburbs (and some US cities) are pretty pedestrian unfriendly, but we try to encourage exercise in other ways, especially for children. There are organized sport clubs and dance classes. The UAE only offers such things in extremely Westernized areas of Dubai, and they are marketed to ex-pat families. My school has no real PE program to speak of, let alone extracurricular sports teams. I have been told that this is normal in UAE schools. As for adults, I sometimes see adult men playing pick-up games of soccer and basketball outside. Women are unable to play because of cultural taboos and for the simple reason that abayas prohibit free movement. Those who join and go to the small, tucked-away, poorly equipped gyms are a small minority of the general population.

As an American, I know that it was primarily my country that exported this unhealthy lifestyle throughout the world. It saddens and worries me that wealthy, emerging countries like the UAE and Qatar are following in our fat footsteps.

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Tags: Children, Culture Shock, food, health, teaching