The kids were sweet but oversize! The boy bulged in various places and had moved from being healthy to simply being plain fat! The girl who was younger to him, looked destined to follow her brother’s footsteps. She was pudgy and the puppy fat showed signs of permanence that should not have been there, so early in life. Seeing these growing kids set me thinking. In 2007, I remember reading that there were 97 million obese people in India. God knows what the figure is today. It’s worth thinking about particularly since today, October 26, is World Obesity Day.
I was not surprised to see another report which said 30 % of urban children in India are obese. This is a sad figure. They weren’t born obese. They become obese, for the large part due to several factors which include lack of parental supervision and control. This enables them to eat alarming quantities of junk food every day. Hassled parents busy with their own deadlines often buy peace by allowing the kids to eat what they want, when they want as long as they keep out of their hair!
A lack of exercise makes them more lazy by the day. Why walk when you can go by car? Why climb stairs when you have a bank of elevators? Many kids don’t have facilities to play games. That’s sad. What’s worse are those who have access to these facilities but don’t use them. A combination of wealth and laziness is propelling a large number of kids to be on the brink of becoming permanently obese, if they don’t do anything about it- now!
Do spend a few minutes looking at cause of obesity and what you can do for your kids. They may curse you for being after them to go out and run now. Later in life, hopefully they will thank you when they see how they escaped being caught in the obesity trap!
People at Work & Play 