Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

File photo Shutterstock/CC7

This Spanish town is trying to shed 100,000 kilos by 2020

Gone are bacon and fried calamari from the diets of thousands of residents in Naron.

IN A REMOTE corner of northwestern Spain, a small town has set itself the ultimate weight loss challenge – by early 2020, its residents must shed 100,000 kilos (220,500 pounds).

Gone are bacon and fried calamari from the diets of thousands of residents in Naron who are taking to sport again as part of a slimming programme that kicked off in January.

“In the 21st century, people forget they’re made to walk,” says Carlos Pineiro, the 63-year-old family doctor behind the programme, which has the support of the town council.

Pineiro often swaps his practice for the local wooded park where he helps dozens of others warm up and exercise.

Conrado Vilela Villamar, a 65-year-old former crane operator, is one of Pineiro’s regulars.

“In Spain where people say that you can eat everything in the pig, from the tip of the tail to the tip of the nose, the first food I stripped from my diet are tripe, pork belly and cold cuts,” he says.

Perched on the Atlantic coast of the Galicia region, the 40,000-strong town counts 9,000 overweight residents and another 3,000 who suffer from obesity, Pineiro says.

Known for its gastronomy and often gargantuan dishes, Galicia is the region in Spain with the most overweight people, according to a study by the Spanish Society of Cardiology.

“The rainy weather means people stay at home a lot with a very big daily ingestion of calories,” says Pineiro.

More than 4,000 residents – or a tenth of the population – have joined the project.

To show their support, the mayor, Marian Ferreiro, and her municipal councillors weighed themselves together in public on giant scales.

Personalised diets

The programme, drawn up by local doctors, offers personalised diets and physical activity adapted to those who adhere.

Every now and then, they come to the town’s health centres to weigh themselves.

“I walk with friends including a woman who is 80 or so, who holds on to my arm,” says Maria Teresa Rodriguez (55).

“In March, I weighed 82 kilos, now 70,” she adds, beaming, standing on the scales.

Every day, she walks or does gymnastics for an hour and a half, and has started dancing on Fridays since her “legs no longer hurt”.

In the town, 18 restaurants now offer healthier dishes by promoting an Atlantic-style diet full of seafood.

“I replace salt with algae, fish infusions or a simple dehydrated mussel, and butter with virgin olive oil,” says Diego Platas, a 37-year-old restaurant owner as he cooks a local mackerel.

‘I pedal while reading’

Earlier this month, the World Health Organization warned that obesity and the growing proportion of people who are overweight risked reversing the general trend of rising life expectancy in Europe.

In Spain, the topic regularly comes up.

An interview with a 34-year-old patient in eastern Spain who weighs 385 kilos recently made headlines.

“It’s not at all easy to convince adults” to change their lifestyle, says Pineiro, whose own family history has been blighted by genetic cardiovascular illness, albeit not linked to weight.

“Some say: ‘the last thing I need is for the doctor to tell me what I must do’.”

He is more hopeful that children will catch on.

At the Jorge Juan school in Naron, for instance, pupils are being encouraged to live a healthy lifestyle in a pilot programme in the town.

During recess, “we go out to the seaside promenade” with the youngsters, says Maria Jose Cazorla, a 55-year-old teacher, who has lost 14 kilos in a year.

The school’s 224 students are given the option of doing sport for one hour every day and those who are reticent can ride an exercise bike for an activity called “I pedal while reading”.

Those who live nearby are encouraged to walk or cycle to school, or ride scooters, wearing special electronic bracelets that let parents know when they have arrived.

The slogan “get addicted to fruit” adorns the walls of the school where fruit is given out every morning.

But “we don’t ever talk about weight directly” to the children, which “would have a stigmatising effect”, says Pineiro. 

Beyond the 100,000-kilo weight loss challenge, he hopes residents will adopt “a healthy lifestyle to put a brake on chronic illness”, which would also reduce health spending.

© – AFP 2018

Author
View 16 comments
Close
16 Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic. Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy here before taking part.
Leave a Comment
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute samstheman
    Favourite samstheman
    Report
    May 20th 2019, 8:08 AM

    Absolutely no place for this at any sports ground. They’re a disgrace to their county & should be barred from venues for life

    477
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute páraicS
    Favourite páraicS
    Report
    May 20th 2019, 8:41 AM

    @samstheman: They were kids, give them a break.

    54
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute reg gordon
    Favourite reg gordon
    Report
    May 20th 2019, 8:49 AM

    @páraicS: To be fair in any other sport they would see some sort of ban. By not doing so the gaa are in some way allowing this behavior to spread.
    I’m a similar note I saw an underage hurling game on my local park whilst walking my dog where there was a proper fight on the pitch between 2 players where they had to be separated. Neither was sanctioned( or even told to shake hands afterwards) that’s really poor behavior from the coaches

    158
    See 14 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Anthony
    Favourite Anthony
    Report
    May 20th 2019, 8:49 AM

    @páraicS: they weren’t ‘kids’ . Look at the footage. They were youths. And they were a disgrace. Pure thugs

    148
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute samstheman
    Favourite samstheman
    Report
    May 20th 2019, 9:03 AM

    @páraicS: big enough for kids. I stand by my comment. Then they got off with a caution. Joke, interestingly if they were Dubs what would you have to say?

    65
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute thephantomshit
    Favourite thephantomshit
    Report
    May 20th 2019, 9:15 AM

    @Anthony: what’s a youth? If I host an under 15s soccer match is it a game between a gang of youths?

    8
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Paul Holland
    Favourite Paul Holland
    Report
    May 20th 2019, 9:35 AM

    @páraicS: I would say the people harassed or intimidated because of their carry on also deserve a break

    39
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Eamonn Ó Maoldomhnaigh
    Favourite Eamonn Ó Maoldomhnaigh
    Report
    May 20th 2019, 10:12 AM

    @páraicS: Kids ? They were given Adult cautions, Kids my ass!
    Imagine the damage there could have been done by their behaviour and come back and tell us to give them a break.

    37
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Anthony
    Favourite Anthony
    Report
    May 20th 2019, 10:30 AM

    @thephantomshit: they were older than 15. Look at the footage.

    19
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ronan Sexton
    Favourite Ronan Sexton
    Report
    May 20th 2019, 10:39 AM

    @páraicS: Nope.

    4
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tim Oleary
    Favourite Tim Oleary
    Report
    May 20th 2019, 11:01 AM

    @páraicS: noisy disruptive teenagers can be a nuisance at games to spectators near them needing the Guards to be called. Responsibility called for.

    15
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute John Kelly
    Favourite John Kelly
    Report
    May 20th 2019, 12:19 PM

    @páraicS: cops should have given both of them a good clipping. Teach them some manners.

    16
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Richard James
    Favourite Richard James
    Report
    May 20th 2019, 12:22 PM

    @páraicS: They got their break by not being charged, but why should paying spectators have to endure gobshyte behaviour from people at a match, regardless of age?

    24
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Danny McCarthy
    Favourite Danny McCarthy
    Report
    May 20th 2019, 4:12 PM

    @John Kelly: bring back nidge, they need to be clipped.
    Everyone is responsible for their own actions, I’d say their families are proud of them today. If u keep messing with fire u get burnt & these guys have a long way to go if they keep lighting fires.

    3
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Don Dealgan
    Favourite Don Dealgan
    Report
    May 20th 2019, 8:46 PM

    @reg gordon: gaa use kid gloves wth onfield violence likewise wth thuggery on terraces

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute samstheman
    Favourite samstheman
    Report
    May 20th 2019, 11:17 PM

    @Don Dealgan: the GAA didn’t let them go with an “adult caution” the Gardai did

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tim Oleary
    Favourite Tim Oleary
    Report
    May 21st 2019, 10:55 AM

    @samstheman: talk a bit of sense. Don’t be trying to excuse this rowdyism. People like you add to the problem.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute John Smith
    Favourite John Smith
    Report
    May 20th 2019, 8:31 AM

    Too much Clonmel apple juice….

    227
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ronan Sexton
    Favourite Ronan Sexton
    Report
    May 20th 2019, 10:42 AM

    There seems to be a developing culture of phuckwits in the last year at hurling matches. I was at the Limerick match yesterday and there was a gang of aroud 40 neanderthals roaring out soccer chants for the whole match. These vermin have no place at hurling games and this must be nipped in the bud now.

    121
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Seán Ó Murchú
    Favourite Seán Ó Murchú
    Report
    May 20th 2019, 10:56 AM

    @Ronan Sexton: People were singing songs at a match and you got upset? Think you need a new hobby.

    120
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ronan Sexton
    Favourite Ronan Sexton
    Report
    May 20th 2019, 4:46 PM

    @Seán Ó Murchú: No Sean, are yout comprehension skills that bad? There are night classes for that.

    5
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Adolf Galland
    Favourite Adolf Galland
    Report
    May 20th 2019, 8:29 AM

    Why were Tipp fans beating up Tipp fans????

    90
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute shellakybooky
    Favourite shellakybooky
    Report
    May 20th 2019, 9:54 AM

    @Adolf Galland: drink

    61
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ed
    Favourite Ed
    Report
    May 20th 2019, 10:33 AM

    This isn’t the first time Tipperary supporters have been fighting each other at matches. There should be a ban on intoxicated people going into matches.

    44
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Seanie Bourke
    Favourite Seanie Bourke
    Report
    May 20th 2019, 2:09 PM

    @Ed: when was d other time

    6
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Colm O'Sullivan
    Favourite Colm O'Sullivan
    Report
    May 20th 2019, 10:34 AM

    Unbelievable they were let go.

    Their actions both warranted being charged with public order offences, the little thug on the left in the video being the chief culprit, its an assault in broad daylight with hundreds of witnesses for christ’s sake.

    58
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute tubbsyf
    Favourite tubbsyf
    Report
    May 20th 2019, 1:57 PM

    points deduction for Tipp

    15
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tom49
    Favourite Tom49
    Report
    May 20th 2019, 9:55 PM

    @tubbsyf: you can have 17 points of you’re from Waterford

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Liam Mc Meel
    Favourite Liam Mc Meel
    Report
    May 20th 2019, 10:30 AM

    Ah sure it only a bit of banter

    11
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ollie Watson
    Favourite Ollie Watson
    Report
    May 20th 2019, 8:11 AM

    Yup 50 year old Saracens fans Nayo

    9
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute matthew o reilly
    Favourite matthew o reilly
    Report
    May 20th 2019, 11:09 PM

    If that was the Dubs.liveline would get 2 weeks out of it

    3
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Michael O'Driscoll
    Favourite Michael O'Driscoll
    Report
    May 20th 2019, 6:51 PM

    Wildlings.

    2
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.

Leave a commentcancel