KUWAIT: Through the celebration of World Diabetes Day in November, the first batch of graduates from the Dr Hamdy's program for weight loss, prevention and management of diabetes celebrated their graduation at Volvo Cars headquarters, one of the program's sponsors. The graduation was held under the auspices and presence of Dr Ebaa Al-Azairi, Head of the Medical Sector at Dasman Diabetes Institute, who gave her opening speech.

Prof Dr Osama Hamdy, Professor at Harvard University and Head of the Obesity Management Program in People with Diabetes at the Joslin Diabetes Center in the United States of America, congratulated the first batch of graduates and presented the results they achieved in terms of weight loss and diabetes remission and/or control, which exceeded in his opinion the results of the program in the previous 15 years in the US.

And he introduced the four cornerstones of the program, which are the psychological, nutrition therapy, physical activity and health education for diabetes. This program is considered the first of its kind in the world in the application of multidisciplinary technology (medical, psychological, physical activity, nutritional and health education), which works in harmony with the participants to reach one and consistent goal, which is weight loss and diabetes control.

The integrated multidisciplinary team works mainly to change the unhealthy nutritional behaviors and health habits of the participants and help them adopt healthy eating that help them manage or suppress diabetes, and prevent or delay type 2 diabetes for non-affected people, through losing at least seven percent of the weight, where studies have shown that losing seven percent to 10 percent of the weight leads to the prevention of diabetes by 58 percent. Also, people with diabetes may partly or completely stop their diabetes medicines.

The consultant nutritionist Shireen Al-Mutawa, the team leader, confirmed that the results of the graduates of the program were amazing, as some of the participants lost 15 to 20 kilos of fat, and in general, some were able to get rid of diabetes medications, while maintaining blood sugar levels in the target range.

Nutrition is essential

Dr Ghanima Al-Falih, a therapeutic nutrition specialist, also indicated that nutrition is an essential part managing diabetes, and that her efforts in the program have paid off through the participants' adoption of new convictions after educating them about everything related to proper nutrition on the basis of the Dr Hamdy's program. The participants also acquired new skills and methods of healthy nutrition to enable them to move forward in their future lives efficiently and to be able to control all the expected obstacles.

Psychological specialist and coach, Shatha Abu Hijleh, introduced the importance of scientifically proven Rapid Transformational Therapy (RTT) sessions in immediately changing behavior to contribute to imparting healthy behavior on the participants, in addition to the comprehensive psychological awareness of the participants in everything related to exercise and nutrition, which contributed effectively and extensively to changing the participants' perspectives on these aspects.

Coach Salah Al-Shatti confirmed that sports is one of the pillars of the program and that he trained the participants over a period of three months and contributed to the success of the program in terms of increasing muscle mass and the participants lost weight from fat mass, as this is one of the most important secrets to maintaining the ideal weight and not gaining extra weight again in the future. Also, coach Salah worked with the participants to increase their fitness, self-confidence and passion of exercise through his continuous motivation.

At the end of the graduation ceremony, Dr Walid Al-Dhahi, consultant endocrinologist and diabetologist and president of the Kuwait Diabetes Association (KDS), gave the closing speech and handed the participants graduation certificates of the program. The team and participants praised the support provided by the sponsors of the program, Volvo Cars, and the media sponsor Marina FM, who attended to cover the event, as well as Health Planet, which provided all participants with organic protein shake. Coach Shatha Abu Hijleh ensured that all participants were provided with a free consultation that contributed to their successful development and change of behavior.

The team also announced its readiness and passion to launch registration for the second group to complete the successful course of the program, which will start on January 11 and 12 for men and women, respectively. The registration has started via the program website https://www.webmediakw.comapplication, Or via the coaches' Instagram:

Specialist Shireen Al-Mutawa @shireenalmutawa

Dr Ghanima Al-Faleh: @Drg.diet

Coach Shatha Abu Hijleh: @shatha.hijleh

We all work hand in hand to spread exercise, nutritional, health and cultural awareness to protect society from the high rates of obesity, as obesity rates in Kuwait for adults reached 71 percent and for children and adolescents 51 percent, as well as diseases resulting from it such as type 2 diabetes and its dangerous complications if blood sugar is not regulated. Volvo is proud to sponsor this program which achieved outstanding results for the participants. We are not just a car company but a safety leader and a human centric brand and one of our main responsibilities is the safety and development of the community.