Obesity
There is a huge issue about obesity currently. With scary figures of how many of us are obese. Sad to say that I too fall into this category.
Most people fall into this category due to lack of exercise. As mammals we were made to roam the earth and? hunt. Yet with the progress of society and the increase in technology, we have become a lazy race (by race I mean race of animal). We eat food without any effort to hunt or even search for it. We are sometimes too lazy to even get up and go to the fridge. Our exercise comes in the form of monotonous machinery, which means we do not even try to do any except in January as a new year resolution. We eat more food than we require. And it all adds up!
The scariest bit is that children are falling into the category of obese. As I grew up I only knew 2 people who we could call fat. One today I realise was just big boned – really! The other had a medical condition which was the cause of her being fat. As kids we never realised this either. She was sadly the butt of our insults. We called her all sorts of names. Despite our being best friends, even I succumbed to calling her names. Today I am embarrassed about it and hopefully she forgives me. But the truth is in today’s world, she would not have been out of place at all. These children who are obese are causing themselves so much harm, that for the first time in decades we will have a drop in our life expectancy age.
There recently was a case of a teenager wearing size 18 clothes and weighing 14 stone. She was almost taken into care. I doubt that being taken into care would make a difference. But what would make a difference is :-
- stop her pocket money and make her do chores for it (housework is a good form of exercise)
- make her go out to play (again fun exercise)
- walk to school
- leave only healthy food in the house eg fruit and veg
- do things together like go for a picnic (combined with a walk) or even go swimming
- guide her with a plan of how to live healthy – a? family size bar of choc daily is a no-no… a block of chocolate is acceptable but sometimes it is easier to just not have any.
As for myself, as I know you are saying, how dare she talk when she is fat too! I used to dance for 4 hours a day till I started putting on weight. I could not understand it. Over the years I kept increasing in weight regardless of how much I dieted. Dieting seemed to do the opposite. I was fraught. I even spoke to a doctor who unkindly just told me to diet. Thankfully I moved and with the move changed doctors. This doctor was more considerate and diagnosed a problem or two. I had a thyroid deficiency and PCOS. With my doctors help and following a diet specific to my problems I have already lost a lot of weight. I still have more to go but I am doing something about it. And if I can do something about it – anyone can.
So if you have really followed a diet and not lost any weight – do speak to a doctor. Despite being Fat – I do not think it is acceptable to be fat unless you want to die young and be majorly unfit! Obesity is a problem. Fight it.
(PS On the other hand do not aim for a size 0 – you do not want to be Nothing! Nor do you want to be on the other scale and be skin and bones or even worse anorexic!)
