Time to evade obesity

The escalating consumption of junk food, carbonated beverages and other sugary drinks is resulting in the rise of obesity. Though the statistics suggest that the rate of obesity  in Bangladesh is growing at a slower pace than that of its neighbours, but still we need to have adequate precautions to have a grip over this silent disease.

The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) research data suggests that in the year 2013 the rate of adult obese in Bangladesh was 17 per cent and children obese was 4.5 per cent. Now the discussion has to be prevalent beyond these statistics. While I grew up, I have never seen so many commercials of carbonated beverage and other sweetened drinks. There were very few fast food shops even 5/10 years back. But now we see playgrounds are being squeezed, rivers and canals are being filled up to accommodate housing and shopping malls. These are having a long term chain impact on our society. As government is facing snag in dealing with the population expansion, such areas as playgrounds, parks, ponds and lakes are being filled and it is resulting in the squeeze of our entertainment sources. Hence there you see the rise of fast food shops and mounting rate of plumpness or what we call in common, obesity.

Have we ever thought of this? Have we ever considered the overall outcome? The outcome will be awful if we cannot put a brake. Our youths are being exposed to indoor games, junk foods, sugary drinks and other drinks in the form of energy drinks which are not free from controversies. The youth cluster of Bangladesh is an asset for the country as they will lead after 10/15 years. If we do not look after their health and welfare now then the future is at stake.

Obesity is often associated with hypertension, coronary artery disease (heart attack), stroke, diabetes, osteoarthritis, gall stones, colorectal cancers, hormone dependent cancer like breast cancer and polycystic ovary syndrome.

We cannot blame the government entirely for this. We must become watchful from individual level. Consumption of healthy balanced diet and doing physical exercise regularly will keep us fit. I am not asking to abruptly change the routine or work out extreme from now. Lack of physical exercise and too much time spending on television or online activities are also reasons for obesity. But what we can do is, we can improvise our routine by adding an hour of walk or cycling or running every day. There are debates on when to do these. But walking/ jogging/ cycling for an hour daily will help you bust your fat, refresh the blood circulation and help you to get a sound sleep and concentration to work. Regarding a balanced diet, consumption of oats, vegetables, and seasonal fruits is a must. Milk and eggs should be consumed on regular basis as these are the best sources of proteins. It is wise to have healthy and wholesome breakfast every morning, light lunch in the afternoon and even lighter dinner in the evening. In between you can have fruits, cucumber or biscuits to dodge hunger. Taking ample glasses of drinking water is more than an obligation, eight glasses of water is advisable.

It is easier to write on what can be done to duck obesity and even easier to read. But the ultimate challenge lies when it comes to applying the routine. It requires tremendous will power and sacrifice but at the end of the day, the reward is greater. A healthy youth is an asset. They can be engaged in high productive tasks, emergency rescue operations or even battle fields. We believe the government will do their duties by recuperating the fields, playgrounds and plan to create entertainment sources, launch massive anti formalin and carbide campaign and the rest will be fixed on its own. I wish for an obese-free healthy Bangladesh with healthy people.

The writer is an intern at Combined Military Hospital (CMH), Dhaka