Obesity: A rising
epidemic in the World.
Obesity is a serious world-wide health epidemic affecting one
in four. It is a serious disease characterized by excessive body fat also
considered to be a "Killer lifestyle" disease which is an important
cause of preventable death worldwide. According to the World Health
Organization (WHO), 1.2 billion people worldwide are officially classified as
overweight. If we only consider one country, India, the present scenario,
even with so much of growing awareness about health and fitness, more than
three percent (approx. three crores) of the Indian population is obese. A
country where 270 million people live below the 'poverty line', obesity seems
to be a distant issue, meant for the rich kids of first world. But India is
under siege: junk food, alcohol and sedentary lifestyle are leading us to
silent self-destruction, making one in every five Indian men and women either
obese or overweight.
This is the plight of just one country. What about the rest
of the world. The researches have estimated that the current adult human population
weighs about 287 million tonnes, 15 million of which is due to needless flab
and 3.5 million due to outright obesity and the figure for future predictions
are even more alarming that by 2050 there could be 2.3 billion more people on
the planet. There is an urgent
need to put in more efforts to create public awareness about the repercussions
of obesity and the need to curb it. People who are medically obese are usually
affected by behavioural, genetic and environmental factors that are difficult
to control even with dieting. This problem is expected to get worse as obesity
is increasing and no national success stories of controlling it has been reported
in the past 33 years. According to Christopher Murray, director of the
Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) that conducted the analysis
for the study, "In the last three decades, not one country has achieved
success in reducing obesity rates, and we expect obesity to rise steadily as
incomes rise in low- and middle income countries in particular.
What is obesity and why
is it caused?
This
is a much bigger question which has to be understood and acted upon. The irony
of the situation is that we all are well aware of it , but still are not
determined to act accordingly. Obesity among children and adolescents is rising rapidly because the intake of calories is more than burning it over, which are stored as
fats leading to energy imbalance and the main contributors to it are behaviour,
environment and genetics. Behaviour, in the case of obesity, relates to food
choices, amount of physical activity and the effort put to maintain our health.
Based on food choices, many people love and enjoy eating less nutritive
calorie-rich food which directly relates to the increase in meal quantity
either at home or when dining out.
The entrance of modern
technology and Internet has made people lazy and immobile." Children are
increasingly becoming less active in this digital age where with rising
incomes, cheap fast food and unattended access to video games has resulted in a
marked shift from cereals, fruit and vegetables to packed preserved food and
junk food etc. Outdoor activities have come to an end as children love to sit
indoors and surfing and chatting on internet, playing computer or mobile games
etc. Sitting in an air-conditioned atmosphere restricts them to physically use
their body and burn the calorie intake. Moreover, previously there was a thrust
upon home cooked food which was nutritive and harmless, but today a large
number of the population has started relying on processed foods that contains a
huge percentage of trans-fat, sugars, and other unhealthy and artificial
ingredients. Previously where people faced the problem of under nutrition,
today, they are exposed to the "over nutrition of the modern world through
globalisation".
The major roots of
obesity lie in lack of physical activity, environmental attitude, family
heredity, dietary patterns and socioeconomic status etc. Since childhood obesity
is not just a cosmetic problem but with lifestyle disorders, even children and
younger people are developing joint disorders, knee pain etc. with the risk of
developing osteoarthritis. Obesity is the core of many diseases too such as
high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular ailments etc. Yet, we
seem to do nothing to counter the menace, allowing ourselves to be controlled
by a "pandemic", happily shrugging off the dangers with unpardonable
nonchalance.
Side effects of
obesity:
a) Social Acceptance: Social acceptance and weight control
are inter-related today the teenagers as well as adults are battling with
weight problems, emotional problems or a combination of both for people who are
suffering from eating disorders face severe problems that can sometimes lead to
fatal consequences also. A person’s outward appearance promotes other
individuals to “judge” and “accept” them based in the society on weight factors
alone. Obesity does make you feel lethargic that affects your body language too
resulting in people believing that overweight individuals are lazy or have no
self-control, and these negative stereotypes just help reinforce the view that
obesity is the fault of the overweight person.
b) Discrimination: Discrimination against people who
are overweight transpires frequently and many times we may not even realize
that we are being discriminatory. Corporate firms, business houses and even
small firms etc. prefer thin, smart and good looking personalities to project
the high standards of the company.
c) Need for a
satisfactory love life: Acceptance in the group is not adequate. Each man and woman yearns to be
all-important to just one individual. Each man craves a place in the heart of
one woman that no other man can take. Each woman wants to be indispensable to
one man. Every person wants to reign supreme in the heart of one individual,
but your inner inhibitions hold you back from moving forward.
d) Feeling of
insecurity: An
overweight (obese) person feels insecure and unhappy as they are well aware of
their physique which deepens this feeling that sometimes touches its dangerous
levels of desperation in the effort to match up with a societal ideal.
e) Lack of confidence: The confidence of most people is
tied directly into their body and self-image. Fat people are generally more
self-conscious and feel terrible about their weight problem. We all have a
mental picture of who we are, how we look, what we are good at and what our
weaknesses might be. How we feel about ourselves can influence the way we live
our lives. Everyone wants to feel valued, loved and accepted.
f) Unhealthy lifestyle: Overweight people lack the
discipline and character to make solid long term moves that shall keep them
healthy. He never enjoys being active and doing things, instead prefers to
enjoy staying at home, doing other non-physical activities like watching
television, gossiping with other members of the house etc. His sluggishness and
increasing appetite, his periodic breathlessness, occasional dizzy spells and
pain in the knees confine him permanently to the house and this leads them to
depression with an anonymous feeling of not being liked by anyone etc.
REJECTION:
Where acceptance is friendly, there rejection is an evil
twin. We are deeply hurt and this very feeling bubbles up when we are excluded
from lunch with co-workers, fail to land the job you interviewed for or are
dumped by a romantic partner. Being rejected is bad for health then we feel
isolated, lonely and excluded. We are also prone to have poor physical health,
tend to lose sleep and more over often lose the zeal to live even if surrounded
by those who care about them.
Rejection not only makes us feel lousy but also reduces or
efficiency during performance on difficult intellectual tasks which further
contributes to aggression as well as poor impulse control. Social rejection
aches like that physical pain which cannot be treated thus increases anger,
anxiety, depression, jealousy and sadness in an individual. Being excluded is
directly associated with poor mental health leading to unhappiness and
depression. A feeling of exclusion can also contribute to suicide.
A greater need for
awareness with strong determination:
Human beings have two psychological cravings where the first
is for love, affection, warmth and caring, there the second is for approval,
recognition or affirmation.
All elders, children, young or old need to peep into the bottom
of their hearts and take a pledge that whatever be, they shall help each other
from this major disease. We all should stop each other from cheating on food
where parents should be very particular towards their child’s outdoor physical
activities. Restrictions should be put on outside junk food and a silent check
on the activities of their children is of utmost importance. Counselling and
life-coaching can help in promoting self-perceptions to have an impact on
self-esteem. Our body is a fine-tuned machine that requires maintenance and
work for optimal performance.
We should be focused and should not hesitate to seek
treatment if unable to control obesity ourselves. In addition to seeking
treatment, it is also important to eat a healthy and nutrient dense diet, so
that our body benefits from all the vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients.
Eliminate foods that are processed, high in calories while being low in
nutrients, high in fat, sugar, and salt and eat several smaller meals a day,
incorporating an acceptable exercise program based on our ability and it is
only then, when we will definitely see and feel a difference. Once our health
will improve significantly, then our clothes will fit better giving a big boost
to our overall personality and self-esteem making us look confident and smart.
Obesity: a growing
concern?
In this century, people have become used to the fast paced
life. This lifestyle change is, not only causing negative effects on their
health, body and mind but also, becoming a cause of many chronic and
cardiovascular diseases. Overweight and obesity were first considered a problem
of rich countries only, but now they have become a concern in many countries.
India is not an exception to them and there are rising numbers of people in
middle-class that are obese.
Most of the countries are following rising trends in obesity.
With the industrialization, the countries are becoming richer and the citizens
are becoming obese and seeking medical help. People do not want to walk and
prefer to drive to work. Statistics show that these countries are on the urge
of becoming a nation with more than half of its population being obese or
suffering weight related illnesses and diseases.
People are attracted towards processed foods. A lot of them
have started relying on processed food which contains a huge percentage of
Trans fat, sugars, and other unhealthy and artificial ingredients. Such fats
build up in a person’s body may causes them to suffer from chronic diseases and
severe illnesses. A few years ago operations and surgeries were not needed
because people were active and did not rely on processed food. These days’
plastic surgeons and doctors are in high demand to perform surgeries to make a
person look slimmer and prevent their bodies against diseases.
People, today have no time to exercise due to their busy
schedule. Many who want to exercise don’t have time to due to the commitments
they have made. People need to start managing their time accordingly so they
have some time of their busy life devoted for exercising. They need to make an
agenda for the day and find some time which they can use to exercise. Another
reason why obesity is a concern is due to alcohol and drugs and its side.
The government of such countries should start implementing
their concerns for obesity in schools as children these days are not aware of
the diseases obesity can cause. We need to increase child awareness and start
helping the ones who have chosen path to come back on track.
There are lots of ways to reduce obesity. One of them is that
one should eat a fruit salad instead of eating sweets and high calorie diets. More
thrust on green vegetables and foods that have low levels of fat should be
given. Everyone should eat healthy food, exercise daily and try your best to always
be relaxed and stress free.
Eat healthy, stay fit,
energetic and feel fresh!
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Apart from the basic needs of food shelter and clothing,
there are certain fundamental needs which everyone has in common and with the
help of these we can live our life comfortably. Difficulties due to these
missing fundamental needs tend to
develop stress along with loneliness and
it is then when the problem arises - be it anxiety, depression, addiction,
isolation etc. It is therefore very essential to know what our own garden of
life needs in order to keep it manicured, healthy and bustling, so that the
moment something starts withering, we can take an immediate action to put a
check on to it and also apply the necessary remedy to keep it prospering..jpg)
Learning something new, expanding horizons, improving on
existing skills all provide a sensation of progress and achievement. Without
this, we can feel worthless, so we should be elf –motivated to accept and
take-up new challenges in life and meet them with sagaciously with our
innovative skills.
If you are feeling lost and fatigued as the some part of the
journey through life has gone a bit awry, besides you are feeling depressed and
are close to tears much of the time with irrational thoughts, then just don’t
sit back and moan, instead just understand that you’re continuously ignoring
our mind and body's needs and are facing its severe consequences. Just get up and start afresh. Go for a fresh morning walk,
eat a healthy breakfast and go out to meet your friends. Do not look back into
the past, think of something new to start with whatever resources you have.
After some time you shall find yourself completely transformed.
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