I see fat people. They're everywhere. They are fat and they don't even know it.
Jokes apart, we were a thin people once. We had rounded women, and a few bellied men, but we were generally lean. I remember we had one or two "motus" in each class, when in school.They were a butt of pranks but generally respected as "fat" was mistaken for strength. You kept a motu close at hand if you were a patloo but had a knack of getting in trouble.
But Motus have taken over. I see small kids with little pot bellies with their parents with even bigger bellies in most middle class neighbourhoods. I see them wolfing down fried samosas at Haldirams and slurping away on ice creams. I see them not playing any sport, not on their bicycles burning off those sugary drinks, and mithais which their mums have so lovingly poisoned them with. They are panting on the way to school and back not even carrying those immense schoolbags which hold the promise of burning of that lard.
The main problem, I see, is a large caloric mismatch. The diets have become richer than they were a few decades ago, with increasing concentrations of high GI carbohydrates and fats and caloric output in terms of exercise for a large number of "fat aunts and uncles" and now the school "motus" is negligible. The "fat epidemic" was waiting to happen. Every other patient I see in my clinic with sore knees, back or some other anatomy are big, not just big sometimes humungous. I do ask most of them, how could they let this happen to them, and I get the classic riposte - "Doctor, I never eat", "Doctor, even water makes me fat", "Doctor, I do all my housework". Really? I have never seen a starving kid from Africa, or Orissa, fat, there were no fat people in the Nazi concentration camps, and I can pretty much bet my last dime that hardly anyone gets fat without eating.
But we live in times where people are not blamed for the misfortunes that happens to them. We look at societal, governmental and parental negligence. I think in case of the the obesity epidemic, we probably wouldn't be too wrong if we did blame the society, the government or the parents a bit. In India specially the understanding of nutrition, our culture of - "force feed," "look I can afford to feed you," "we serve the best in our parties," "lets eat all we can at a party," "only samosa is a snack" has as much to contribute to the epidemic as is governmental negligence.
Being fat is dangerous, it kills. Its the cause of most modern illnesses crowding the hospitals of urban India. The future is even more bleak as the children being raised today on a dense calorie diet and low exercise, hence low muscle mass are ideal candidates for sustaining this major epidemic in the future as well.
I intend to explore obesity in my next few blogs focussing on science behind nutrition, exercise, and required public health initiatives. The focus will be in the South Asian context but conceptually transferrable to any population.
Jokes apart, we were a thin people once. We had rounded women, and a few bellied men, but we were generally lean. I remember we had one or two "motus" in each class, when in school.They were a butt of pranks but generally respected as "fat" was mistaken for strength. You kept a motu close at hand if you were a patloo but had a knack of getting in trouble.
But Motus have taken over. I see small kids with little pot bellies with their parents with even bigger bellies in most middle class neighbourhoods. I see them wolfing down fried samosas at Haldirams and slurping away on ice creams. I see them not playing any sport, not on their bicycles burning off those sugary drinks, and mithais which their mums have so lovingly poisoned them with. They are panting on the way to school and back not even carrying those immense schoolbags which hold the promise of burning of that lard.
The main problem, I see, is a large caloric mismatch. The diets have become richer than they were a few decades ago, with increasing concentrations of high GI carbohydrates and fats and caloric output in terms of exercise for a large number of "fat aunts and uncles" and now the school "motus" is negligible. The "fat epidemic" was waiting to happen. Every other patient I see in my clinic with sore knees, back or some other anatomy are big, not just big sometimes humungous. I do ask most of them, how could they let this happen to them, and I get the classic riposte - "Doctor, I never eat", "Doctor, even water makes me fat", "Doctor, I do all my housework". Really? I have never seen a starving kid from Africa, or Orissa, fat, there were no fat people in the Nazi concentration camps, and I can pretty much bet my last dime that hardly anyone gets fat without eating.
But we live in times where people are not blamed for the misfortunes that happens to them. We look at societal, governmental and parental negligence. I think in case of the the obesity epidemic, we probably wouldn't be too wrong if we did blame the society, the government or the parents a bit. In India specially the understanding of nutrition, our culture of - "force feed," "look I can afford to feed you," "we serve the best in our parties," "lets eat all we can at a party," "only samosa is a snack" has as much to contribute to the epidemic as is governmental negligence.
Being fat is dangerous, it kills. Its the cause of most modern illnesses crowding the hospitals of urban India. The future is even more bleak as the children being raised today on a dense calorie diet and low exercise, hence low muscle mass are ideal candidates for sustaining this major epidemic in the future as well.
I intend to explore obesity in my next few blogs focussing on science behind nutrition, exercise, and required public health initiatives. The focus will be in the South Asian context but conceptually transferrable to any population.
Err, can't somebody be genetically fat? One could be fat, yet fit! And one could be thin, and unfit. No? ;) Where's the next post?! Come on, start writing!!!!
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