‘Obesity Doesn’t Occur Overnight’: Dietician Breaks Down Malta’s Weight Loss Challenges

1. Eating lots of calories is part of our culture

“Many times obesity comes because there is an overconsumption of food. Not only the unhealthy food, but healthy food too.”

The Maltese are notoriously big eaters. In fact, we often tend to complain about restaurants that don’t give us sufficient helpings of the good stuff. So much so, that overeating, it seems, has somehow been ingrained in our culture.

That being said, the quality of specific foods does play a role. “The food industry markets food as being healthy. But to be honest, we have to pay attention. Both to what we’re eating, and how much of it.”

With 72% of the Maltese being classed as sedentary, it becomes the final piece of the puzzle that contributes to weight gain. This inactivity comes, in no small part, as a side-effect of our modern lifestyle.

“Our level of physical activity is impacted by working long hours, our lack of time. But it is also impacted by our desire or motivation. We know it’s important, but knowing and doing are two different things.”

3. “Obesity does not occur overnight”

The journey to obesity is a long one, but while we remain under the spell of that wholesome Maltese grub, people don’t even realise when they’re transitioning to an unhealthy weight range (an unhealthy body mass index).

And if they do, not many care about the impact it would have on health until health is compromised.

“We link obesity only to aesthetics,” Caruana said. “In fact, some research actually shows men want to be larger sometimes.”

4. Malta isn’t uneducated, it’s unmotivated

“Here in Malta, we just say ‘oh I’m just like that’.”

Like many other cultures, the Maltese know that eating less and moving more is a sound strategy to shave off some pounds. But having the motivation to get it done is a whole other kettle of fish.

“People get motivated when they start noticing symptoms [of disease],” Caruana said. “That being said, we need to focus more on the preventive side, which unfortunately, needs more money and better planning.”

“People seek help when there is a disease state. Only then do they have a high motivation state. We need to learn how to promote that feeling before the disease comes.”

“Of course, you can have obese and even ‘super obese’ people who remain healthy, and they still don’t seek help unless their activities of daily living are hampered, such as difficulty tying shoelaces or purchasing extra seats on a plane.”

In many instances, prospective weight watchers don’t even care about obesity as a risk factor for disease. And that becomes another factor hampering any future success.

“If someone doesn’t care about his life and surroundings, then he won’t see the need to care for himself even amid a disease state.”

5. We look for quick fixes and it just doesn’t work that way

Quick fixes in the form of fad diets and even surgery are becoming more and more common the more time passes.

Often-a-time, massive changes come from simple changes. Instead of counting calories, daily weighing and tracking foods, one could simply start from ‘common sense changes’.

“We [dieticians] don’t do meal plans and calorie counting. Instead, we figure out what the priorities are, like decreasing portion sizes. Like this, if you’re taking eight biscuits a day and reduce it to two, you’ve already made a big step.”

“You can reduce calories this way, then wait and see if the weight loss comes,” he added, highlighting that a simple and realistic way to fight obesity are sometimes the most powerful.

“If it’s not realistic, it just won’t work. Or at the very least, you won’t maintain it long-term.”

Quickfire strategies in the form of fad diets can be just as worrying as surgeries, especially in extreme cases.

Caruana used the recently flourishing concept of ‘keto diets’ as an example.

“I can’t say keto diets are inherently good or bad, because you need to see how they’re being done. Analyse the situation and the outcome.”

“My worry isn’t that people cut out carbs because ultimately, the body can cope with that. It’s in cutting out fruits and large quantities of vegetables. Doing so will make you lose an entire cocktail of nutrients. That is why we recommend at least five servings per day.”

“The outcome can be losing weight, but you will be missing out on these nutrients. Nutrients that fight disease. It might put your body under stress.”

6. Malta needs to take advantage of its stronger qualities

Becoming conscious of our culture, a school of thought that hampers any progress on the scales is an excellent starting point. One that potentially serves as the foundation for progress. In having such awareness, we can potentially start reducing portion sizes and even moving more.

“We also need a better legal policy, more unity from professionals who are presently ‘scattered’. There needs to be an orchestrated group of people whose job is to see what factors are causing damage and impleneting strategies to fight them.”

“The small size of our country, here, could be used to our advantage,” he said. However, there were more hints and tricks one could use to hasten a weight loss joruney.

“We can get our fruit and vegetables directly from farmers. To be honest, Malta has all the resources it needs to be self-sustainable.”

Caruana also stressed that ‘food reformulation’ can be another neat hack.

“Food should be kept to its culture. Knowing the ingredients can still allow you to enjoy the odd hot dog or burger.”

“Imagine having a hot dog with a smaller portion of bread. It still remains a hot dog, even though you’ve effectively cut off some calories from refined carbohydrates.”

Where do we go from here?

Obesity can take years off one’s life expectancy. Up to three years in moderate cases and up to 10 years in severe cases.

Lovin Malta has recently looked at Malta’s weight problem through a wide-ranging survey that has covered everything from eating habits to meal frequency, ahead of an upcoming documentary with Steve Miller, an international weight loss expert, on the issue.

Respondents in the survey gave us their own take on why Malta became the fattest country in Europe. Rising costs of healthy food, frequent snacking, lack of time to prepare, take-outs, and a lack of will to exercise were all earmarked as causes.

Do you think there are any other challenges standing in the way of Malta’s weight loss?