Today is European Obesity Day and to mark the event, new guidelines have been issued by the Health Department to encourage Maltese citizens to make the most of the Mediterranean diet.

Malta, slap bang in the middle of the Mediterranean, has huge obesity problems. We have some of the highest rates of varying forms of diabetes in the world, and we also have some of the most overweight adults in the world, and perhaps more worryingly, the most obese children in Europe.

Maltese people should be able to feast on a healthy Mediterranean diet, including fish, vegetables, olive oil and lean meats. Yet for some reason, many continue to prefer the diet of fat, stodge and carbohydrates which comes with copious amounts of pizza, pasta, pastizzi and red meat. In short, on the whole, our diets are terrible.

When we also factor in the usual portion sizes in Malta, there can be no doubt at all as to why we continue to suffer this problem. Experts have warned that by the year 2050, health systems could be paying more to treat obese patients than they do smokers. They have also warned that obesity will soon become the biggest killer and that palliative care wards – will be needed.

The fast paced life we live today also does not help. Families are eating take-aways and pre-packed and cooked dinners, which aside from not giving many nutrients and being packed with sugar (yes carbs are sugar) are also harmful to the environment in terms of packaging waste.

Aside from the obvious, in trying to curtail sugars, overeating, alcohol and smoking, the secret to a healthy life is quite simplistic. Regular exercise, healthy portions and eating fresh food. Eating can become an addiction, and like drug addicts of alcoholics, people who are addicted to food, for whatever reason, do require counselling and help.

But your average person, three meals a day of healthy options such as fruit, vegetables and lean meat or fish, coupled with at least 30 minutes of vigorous exercise a few times a week is good enough to keep the heart healthy and to prevent massive weight gain.

When it comes to Malta, perhaps the biggest problem is bread. We eat bread all day and every day, so much so that bread offered in restaurants to a table of two is usually enough to make a triple decker sandwich each.

The key here is education and awareness, but in a country where kids still have very little time in their schedule allocated to sports and fitness exercises, it will continue to be an uphill battle. The government needs to get more involved and parents really ought to put their children’s health at the top of the agenda. It is unacceptable to see so many overweight children, puffing and out of breath when they are only six years old, when they should be racing around trying to burn off excess energy.

While we all have a duty to look after our personal health, the government really must come up with a strategy. You can only lead a horse to water, you cannot make it drink, but if this epidemic does take serious hold, the already creaking national health service will buckle under the weight of the obesity problem and cost us millions of unforeseen millions in gastric surgery, counselling and palliative care.