Question

An Indian physician has contacted you for a nutrition intervention with a community group where he is also a participant. This group consists of Indian Muslims who have emigrated to the United States. The group meets one evening per week as a social support event and shares a meal. The physician, as a member of the group, has noted a growing interest in nutrition among members but cannot field many of the questions that are directed to him. He has invited you to come to share the meal with them and hold an informal question-and-answer discussion twice a month, as well as to set up nutrition counseling sessions with individuals who have health risks. He says that they are particularly interested in nutrition and in prevention of cardiovascular disease. You have done a lot of consulting for this physician and would enjoy the challenge of working with this Indian Muslim community; however, you do not know anything about their culture or their dietary habits. You decide you need to research the Muslim culture before you can provide any nutrition intervention with this group. You find information about the Islamic dietary laws, including foods considered haram and halal. You speak with an Indian colleague who informs you that traditional women dress conservatively and cover their hair with a scarf, that men and women tend to avoid mixed groups, and that many Muslims avoid contact between sexes, such as shaking hands and hugging. The Indian physician states that his group is traditional and consists mostly of married couples

1. identify and discuss cultural food practices and any other components that may be relevant to Muslims.

2. Outline cultural beliefs, attitudes, or practices that you discovered in your research on the Muslim way of life that would be different from those of your ethnicity. How might this affect your interaction with the Muslim immigrants when you hold a group session, share a meal, and conduct individual counseling sessions?

3. Indicate what questions you may need to ask the physician before coming to a meeting and what questions you may need to ask the group when you meet with them, to gain a greater understanding of Muslim food habits and behaviors.

4. What strategies will help you to provide culturally sensitive interventions for your target group?

5. create a Muslim food guide.

6. Describe how you would use this pictorial food guide with your target group.

7. Develop additional interventions (resources, community participation, activities, shopping, food preparation, and the like) for presenting information about nutrition and prevention of heart disease as you become more familiar with the Muslim population

Answer 1

Answer: The cultural food practices and other components that may be relevant to Muslims are such as in the case of this community, people consider to have more protein. As their diet contains fish, meat or chicken, this covers the protein requirements.

Indian Muslims as well as all the Muslims in the world used to fast for one month. This also enhances their digestive system. They mostlr have healthy diet which includes lots of proteins along with the other nutrients such as wheat bread or rice. Their culture is different from the others as they practice five times of prayers. This also encourages the flexibility, it is also a kind of exercise they performed. Hence they indulge themselves in physical activities by offering prayers. The one of the best part is that most of the Muslims community doesn't consume alcohol as it is forbidden. Hence they are at lower risk of disease development such as liver cirrhosis.

They have different culture but worldwide they all follow same prayers and fasting periods. The one of the question that may be conderned is the intake of excessive non veg items may lead to increase in the obesity or cardiovascular disease.

Some of the strategies that could help such as :

• Asking relevant question regarding their diet intake.
• Encouraging them to indulge themselves more nutrients food intake.
• Intervening about their life style such as exercising or physical activities etc.