A study done to gauge the attitudes of people about their health showed that most UAE residents believe they are not overweight.
That's exactly like my mother-in-law who believes in the power of positive thinking, or is it the power of self-deception, I am not sure.
When I called her the other day at her home in New Delhi, she said she was fine except for a couple of alarming symptoms which she blamed on a black cat that crossed our path when she was visiting us here.
We were touring a Jumeirah landmark one Friday when I saw the black cat calmly crossing the street.
My mother-in-law is obsessive about black cats. The other thing that freaks her out is crows, especially if only one of them sits near the window and starts cawing. That means that something dramatic, health-wise is going to happen. So just to make sure that I never hear about the incident ad infinitum, I revved up the engine hoping to cut the blur of fur off, when she hopped, skipped and jumped across the road, and then I saw two Indian expatriates standing on the pavement, grinning at me as she zipped past.
Bad luck
"Turn back, turn back,' they gestured at me, waving and laughing, while I shrugged helplessly because it was now futile as the bad luck had crossed our path. The next day my mother-in-law felt a twinging pain in her tummy and she felt it was all the cat's fault.
The study done by a healthcare company showed that most people here feel that they have no issues about their health, that everything is just fine. All the study needed was someone playing a harp and singing paens of praise for health in the atrium of the Mall of the Emirates.
The happy and glowing picture painted by the residents endures despite the many and varied ways the ministry of health has adopted to tell the public to please shape up before you all go to fat and start rolling down the hill.
The minister himself had on one occasion walked the streets of Sharjah to make sure people understand the need to exercise and lead a healthy lifestyle. He is a great role model as he is slim and tall, but I think most people thought he shouldn't be on the road as he was holding up the traffic.
The health authorities then even brought in Bill Clinton to Dubai to scare the sedentary guys, but he looked too scrawny and underfed to have any effect on the people. Clinton, as we know loved hamburgers and had to undergo a bypass as all that fat was clogging up his arteries. He now most probably eats tofu and drinks soy milk, something which you only wish for your enemies.
The study showed that only a small minority in the UAE consider themselves to be overweight, while the reality is something else. The World Health Organisation says that more than half of the men are overweight and nearly 72 per cent of women are obese.
According to the study a vast majority of people believe that good health depends on personal effort. But interestingly, says the report, greater exercise was the least popular weight loss option despite the fact that it helps curtail many lifestyle diseases.
I am sure the guy who was doing the survey must have been a scrawny, short expat. One afternoon he knocks, and an enormous person opens the door. "Hello, sir, I am doing a survey on your health. Can I ask you a few questions? Do you think you are fat?" Then going red in the face, says, "Of course not. I will mark you as thin. Sorry to bother you. Have a good day!"
