QATAR NATIONAL GUIDELINES
Qatar Dietary Guidelines
Qatar National Physical Activity Guidelines
NUTR- 494
Joyce Moawad, MSc.
Qatar Dietary Guidelines
Qatar National Guidelines - Objectives
Help people stay healthy and strong
Maintain a healthy weight
Reduce the risk of obesity, diabetes, CVD, osteoporosis, and other
non-communicable diseases.
Why Qatar dietary guidelines is needed?
Qatar Dietary Guideline Recommendations
1. Eat healthy choices from the 6 food groups
2. Maintain a healthy weight
3. Limit intake of sugar, salt and fat
Qatar Dietary Guideline Recommendations
4. Be physically active
5. Drink plenty of water
6. Adopt safe and clean food preparation methods
Qatar Dietary Guideline Recommendations
7. Eat healthy while protecting the environment
8. Take care of your family:
Exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 month of life
Breastfeeding until 2 years of age
Build and model healthy patterns
QDG Recommendations
1. Eat a variety of healthy choices from the 6 food groups
QDG Recommendations
1. Eat a variety of healthy choices from the 6 food groups - continued
Dietary diversity is a qualitative measure of food consumption that
reflects household access to a variety of foods, and is also a proxy for
nutrient adequacy of the diet of individuals
Low dietary diversity Medium dietary diversity High dietary diversity
≤ 2 food groups 3 – 4 food groups ≥ 5 food groups
QDG Recommendations
1. Eat a variety of healthy choices from the 6 food groups – continued
QDG Recommendations
Vegetables – TIPS:
Choose a wide variety and color of vegetables
Eating vegetables can help you feel full and replace other foods
higher in calories
Rinse canned vegetables to reduce the salt content
In restaurants, order salad dressing separately and limit how much
you add.
QDG Recommendations
1. Eat a variety of healthy choices from the 6 food groups – continued
QDG Recommendations
Fruits – TIPS:
Choose a wide variety and color of fruit.
Favor fresh fruit in season.
Favor fresh or unsweetened frozen fruit instead of canned fruit
packed in syrup.
QDG Recommendations
1. Eat a variety of healthy choices from the 6 food groups – continued
QDG Recommendations
Difference between whole grains and refined grains:
Whole grains: Refined grains:
- Have entire kernel - Processed so that the germ &
- Retain valuable nutrients and the bran are removed
fiber - Lacks 80% of the nutritive
- Great source od essential value keeping mostly starch
nutrients (B9, B1, B2, B3, Fe,
Mn, Se) White bread, white rice, white
Whole-wheat flour, brown rice, toast…
jareesh, whole oats, hares,
whole-wheat pasta
QDG Recommendations
Cereals and Starchy Vegetables – TIPS:
Make most of your choices whole grain: choose brown rice, whole-
wheat pasta and whole grain bread.
Whole grains will keep you full longer than foods made from refined
grains.
Make sandwiches on whole grain breads.
Keep moderate portion sizes – especially for refined foods like pasta
and white rice.
When eating out, order pasta with a tomato rather than a cream
based sauce.
QDG Recommendations
1. Eat a variety of healthy choices from the 6 food groups – continued
QDG Guidelines
Complementary proteins: Cereals + Legumes
Protein in one plant food can provide the essential amino acid(s) that
the other plant food is missing
QDG Recommendations
Legumes– TIPS:
Rinse canned beans with water before using to decrease salt.
Include foods rich in vitamin C (tomato, peppers, lemon) with meals
to enhance absorption of iron and zinc from legumes.
Allow 30 minutes after meals before drinking tea to allow for
absorption of iron from foods.
QDG Recommendations
1. Eat a variety of healthy choices from the 6 food groups – continued
QDG Recommendations
Milk and dairy products– TIPS:
Include a glass of low fat milk, laban or yogurt with your meals.
Use low fat milk or dairy products in cooking. Favor plain dairy
products like milk, laban and yogurt over sweetened and flavored
ones. Add your own fruit when desired.
When drinking karak or other hot drinks, choose low fat options and
add only a small amount of sugar.
Prepare your milk-based desserts with low fat milk.
Choose low fat types of halloumi, mozzarella and feta or other cheese
for cooking.
Limit processed cheese
QDG Recommendations
Calcium rich alternatives to milk and dairy products
QDG Recommendations
1. Eat a variety of healthy choices from the 6 food groups – continued
QDG Recommendations
Serving size:
- 2 servings per week but the serving amount is not specified.
- One serving = 30g of fish, poultry or lean meat (Omani health guide)
- Recommendations:
→ 2-3 servings per week of fish
→ 2 servings per week of poultry
→ less than 2 servings per week of red meat.
QDG Recommendations
Meat, Fish and Poultry – TIPS:
Remove skin from poultry before cooking or buy skinless pieces
Choose less fatty cuts of meat, lean ground beef.
Trim off visible fat from meats. Discard fat drippings from cooked
meat.
Broil, grill, roast, poach or boil meat, fish and poultry instead of
frying.
If frying meat, use little oil. Eat at least one “meatless” main meal per
week.
Allow 30 minutes after meals before drinking tea to allow for
absorption of iron from foods.
QDG Recommendations
More about fish
Fish and seafood are high in protein.
Oily fish has the most omega 3 fatty acids such as salmon, oysters,
and some varieties of canned tuna.
Some large wild fish (grouper, king mackerel, tuna) may contain
contaminants such as mercury.
QDG Recommendations
2. Maintain a healthy weight
Healthy weight is a weight that reduces risk for illness and disease, as
well as an increased quality of life.
Both underweight and overweight have negative consequences for
our health.
QDG Recommendations
Assessing a healthy body weight:
Normal range of BMI
QDG Recommendations
Assessing a healthy body weight:
Normal waist circumference
QDG Recommendations
3. Limit sugar, salt and fat
Sugar:
Is deprived of all micronutrients. Free sugars result in:
- ↓intake of foods containing more nutritionally adequate calories
- ↑ in total caloric intake
- WHO guideline proposes that sugars should be < 10% of total energy
intake per day.
QDG Recommendations
3. Limit sugar, salt and fat
Sugar – Tips:
Eat regular meals so you are not tempted to make impulsive decisions to
eat high sugar foods because you are hungry.
For a sweet treat, choose foods high in naturally occurring sugars such as
dates and fresh fruit.
Be aware of the amount of sugar in hot and cold coffee beverages served
in cafes.
Avoid sweetened drinks such as soda, energy drinks, fruit drinks, and
sports drinks.
Be aware of the “hidden sources of sugar”
QDG Recommendations
TIPS
3. Limit sugar, salt and fat Eat fresh and home-made foods
more often, minimizing fast food and
Salt: highly processed foods.
- Major cause of hypertension Do not keep the salt shaker on the
table, and taste your food before
- Recommendation is: reaching for the salt shaker.
≤ 5g of salt (< 2,000 mg sodium) per day per Use lemon, spices, pepper, herbs,
person. garlic and onions to flavor food.
Soak high salt white cheese
(halloumi, akkawi) in water before
eating to remove excess salt
QDG Recommendations
3. Limit sugar, salt and fat
Fat:
QDG Recommendations
3. Limit sugar, salt and fat
Sugar – Tips:
Steam, bake, broil, grill or sauté foods instead of frying or deep-
frying.
Remove the skin from chicken before cooking and before eating.
Choose nuts that are unsalted and not fried.
Limit fast food such as burgers, French fries, shawarma and deep
fried falafel.
Choose unsalted and unsweetened kaak instead of biscuits, which are
high in saturated fat.
QDG Recommendations
Nutrition Labeling
- assists consumers to better understand the nutritional value of
prepackaged food
- enables them to compare the nutritional values of similar food
products & to make healthy informed food choices based on the
relevant nutrition information.
QDG Recommendations
Nutrition Labeling
1. Nutrition claims
- state, suggest or imply that a food has particular beneficial nutritional
properties
- are similar between countries
All Natural: Fat:
No artificial colors or Low-fat: Less than 3g fat/100g
synthetic ingredients food (or 1.5g/100g liquid).
in the food Reduced-fat: At least 25% less
fat than the regular product.
Fat-free: No more than 0.15g
total fat/100g food.
QDG Recommendations
2. Nutrition Facts or Nutrition Values Table
Almost all pre-packaged foods are required to have a Nutrition Facts
table.
Some exceptions such as fresh fruit and vegetables; raw meat, poultry,
fish and seafood; foods prepared or processed at the store: bakery
items, sausage, salads; foods that contain very few nutrients: coffee
beans, tea leaves, spices.
QDG Recommendations
3. Ingredient List
Lists all of the ingredients for a food by weight, from the most to the
least.
QDG Recommendations
4. Be Physically Active
Physical activity: any bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles that
requires energy expenditure
Physical inactivity: an absence of physical activity or exercise
QDG Recommendations
4. Be Physically Active – continued
Moderate and vigorous intensity activity
Intensity refers to the rate at which the activity or exercise is being performed.
Metabolic Equivalents (METs) are commonly used to express the intensity of
physical activities .
One MET is defined as the energy cost of sitting quietly and is equivalent to a
caloric consumption of 1 kcal/kg/hour.
It is estimated that compared with sitting quietly, a person’s caloric consumption is
3 – 6 ×higher when being moderately active (3-6 METs) and more than 6 ×higher
when being vigorously active (> 6 METs)
QDG Recommendations
QDG Recommendations
4. Be Physically Active – continued
TIPS
Organize a regular walk with your family.
Take the stairs, up and down, wherever you are.
Reduce the time spent being physically inactive such as watching television and sitting at,
or playing games on the computer.
Walk indoor (e.g. shopping malls) or outdoor (e.g. parks or walking paths in your area).
Start slowly and build up to the recommended amount of weekly physical activity.
Be a role model for your children. Establishing positive habits early in childhood can last a
lifetime.
Organize a physical activity break at work or at school – even if it is just some gentle
stretching!
Join a fitness gym or take exercise classes.
QDG Recommendations
Vitamin D Production from the
Sun
The sunshine vitamin, is now
recognized not only for its
importance of bone health in
children and adults, but also for
other health benefits including
reducing risk of NCDs
QDG Recommendations
5. Drink Plenty of Water
Around 70 % of the body is comprised of water, and our blood is 90% water.
Some benefits of drinking water:
Relieve constipation
↓the risk of kidney stone formation
Drinking plenty of water can help you lose weight. In two studies, drinking a half
liter of water was shown to increase metabolism by 2430% for up to 1.5 hours
This means that drinking 2 liters of water every day can increase your total
energy expenditure by up to 96 calories per day.
QDG Recommendations
5. Drink Plenty of Water – Continued
TIPS
Drink 2-3 liters (8-12 cups) of fluids each day, choosing water often
Choose water instead of sugar-sweetened beverages to help maintain your
weight and the health of your teeth.
Choose water instead of other beverages when eating out.
Add a wedge of lime or lemon to enhance the taste of water.
The timing is important too, and drinking water a half hour before meals is
the most effective. It can make you feel fuller, so that you eat fewer
calories
Drinking enough fluids is important when exercising.
QDG Recommendations
6. Adopt Safe and Clean Food Preparation Methods
Keep your hands, equipment and food preparation area clean.
Separate raw and cooked food.
Use separate equipment (e.g. knives, cutting boards) for handling raw
foods.
Cook food thoroughly.
Keep food at safe temperatures. Do not leave cooked food at room
temperature for more than 2 hours.
Keep foods that are supposed to be cold in the refrigerator
QDG Recommendations
7. Eat Healthy while Protecting the Environment
Emphasize a plant-based diet, including vegetables, fruit, whole grain
cereals, legumes, nuts and seeds.
Reduce leftovers and waste.
When available, consume foods produced locally and regionally.
Choose fresh, home-made foods over highly processed foods and fast
foods.
Conserve water in food preparation.
QDG Recommendations
7. Eat healthy while protecting the environment – continued
TIPS
Plan meals and shopping to reduce waste from spoiling food.
Try not to overconsume food and drinks.
Store foods safely and properly to decrease food waste.
Choose foods that do not have more packaging than is required.
Use reusable shopping bags
QDG Recommendations
8. Take care of your family
Prepare meals that include foods from each of the 6 groups.
Involve children in learning how to prepare their favorite foods.
For a treat at home, instead of sweets try a new exotic fruit.
Be patient in introducing new foods to children. If an unfamiliar
food is rejected the first time, it can be offered again later. The
more often children are exposed to new foods, the more likely
they are to accept them.
Keep in mind that while parents and caregivers are responsible
for what children eat, children are responsible for how much
they eat. Offer suitable portions with options for second helpings
THANK YOU
