Special Story: In a world obsessed with glamour and slim figures, there’s a country where the exact opposite is true. Here, if a girl isn’t overweight, her chances of marriage decrease significantly. Starting at the age of 13, girls are fed high-calorie diets to ensure they gain weight quickly, preparing them for marriage.
The Global Obsession with Slimness:
While people around the world are constantly striving to look slim and fit, adopting strict diets, and even resorting to medications, this country stands in stark contrast. Modern beauty standards celebrate slimness, but in this place, the heavier a girl is, the more beautiful and desirable she is considered for marriage.
The Tradition of “Leblouh”:
Special Story: This unique practice of fattening up girls before marriage is known as the Leblouh tradition. It is followed in Mauritania, a country in West Africa. When a girl reaches a marriageable age, preparations to increase her weight begin. Initially, high-calorie foods are introduced at home. However, if the girl doesn’t gain sufficient weight, her parents send her to special “fat camps” to speed up the process.
The Fattening Process Begins at 13:
Reports suggest that as soon as girls turn 13 or 14, they are fed calorie-dense foods like meat, fatty meals, and milk. Every effort is made to ensure they gain weight. The belief is that a girl isn’t considered beautiful until her body shows stretch marks. For the locals, a woman’s fat is a sign of beauty and fertility.
Forced Overfeeding and Health Risks:
In Mauritania, it is believed that a girl’s face should look full and plump. To achieve this, girls are often force-fed. Unfortunately, this practice sometimes leads to health complications. Reports indicate that girls in this country consume around 16,000 calories a day before marriage, even though the World Health Organization recommends women consume no more than 2,000 calories per day.
This tradition, though ancient, highlights a stark difference in beauty standards and the lengths to which people go in the pursuit of societal norms.
