‘I am beautiful no matter what they say!’

“Throughout history, many cultures have viewed obesity as t he result of a character flaw. The fat character in Greek comedy was a glutton and figure of mockery. During Christian times food was viewed as a gateway to the sins of sloth and lust. In modern Western culture, excess weight is often regarded as unattractive, and obesity is commonly associated with various negative stereotypes.” – an excerpt from the article of BusinessMirror entitled “Obese Filipinos now ballooning” This statement remains to be true especially in our society now.

Many Filipinos especially those who are categorized as obese and/or overweight are so obsessed with trimming down their body just so they can escape the ridicule of being one. Some try the conventional way of doing it; but others are so desperate, wanting to hasten the process that they even try any slimming product which are not scientific-based and/or activities that sometimes put their lives at stake. Well, who can really blame them? Filipinos are so die- hard followers of the Western trend which stereotyped “beauty” as being” skinny” or “slim”. Obesity is defined by MedicalNewsToday as “a condition where a person has accumulated so much body fat that it might have a negative effect on their health.” Moreover, “If a person’s bodyweight is at least 20 percent higher than it should be, he or she is considered obese. If your Body Mass Index (BMI) is between 25 and 29.9 you are considered overweight. If your BMI is 30 or over you are considered obese.

Also, Philippines has a 5.1% prevalence of obesity and 23.6 percent of overweight which is relatively lower than other ASEAN countries as reported in “Tackling obesity in ASEAN: Prevalence, impact and guidance on interventions”. Now, what does this tell us? Well, Philippines is still fortunate to have the least percentage of such prevalence but we should not be complacent about it. Obesity and/or overweight still stands as a relating factor for Non- Communicable Diseases which includes Diabetes, Cancer, Stroke and CardioVascular diseases which are listed as topkillers in the world. It is indeed important for Filipinos to avoid being obese or overweight but not really for aesthetic value but more on optimal health.

Here are two important tips by Pritikin on how to effectively and healthily reduce weight: 1) Exercise! and 2) Increase the amount of satiety you get out of your calories. As Pritikin included, “A key strategy for achieving permanent weight loss is regular exercise.” As for satiety, it is a measure of how long it takes for you to become hungry after you’ve eaten a meal. These two key tips only tells us that overexercising each day so as abstaining from food for a long period of time in a day are not healthy. If you want to be fit and maintain your health, have a changed lifestyle rather than just a 7- day fasting or one- month exercise program. Fitness so as optimal health is a by- product of discipline and willingness to change for the better. So, start living healthy now and be forever in the ideal body weight border! ( Paid article)