If you have trouble reaching your toes, when your strongest relationship is with your refrigerator, if you find solace in eating when you’re happy, depressed or agitated, congratulations! You are on your way to be tagged as “fat”. Or to be polite, overweight. Almost two-thirds of America is overweight, out of which about 36% are obese. India seems to be catching up with this global trend, with about half of its urban population suffering from obesity. We might find excuses for our compulsive eating habits to help us sleep well at night. But all the scrutiny and fat jokes apart, being fat/overweight is not as big a crime as it has been made out to be!
Always having been on the voluptuous side myself, pictures of skinny, rather anorexic fashion icons have been the cause of my despair ever since I can remember. In such a scenario, a foodie like me is faced with a constant dilemma- “should I be eating this?” After all, there are over two hundred varieties of breakfast cereal alone! How do we choose between what’s healthy and yet keep that balance from tipping? Some blame their metabolism-“I have fat genes!” some convince themselves with false reassurances- “I’ll start dieting tomorrow!” while still others blame their busy lives-“I’m too busy to work out!” Personally, I’ve done all three! :D
A lot has been said about how treatment of obesity and the diseases related to it uses up a major chunk of a country’s fund. But we seldom realise that fat people are perhaps a hidden blessing for a lot of retail companies. Who do you think buys a majority of those 200 varieties of breakfast cereal? Who practically lives on packets of chips and munches on innumerable crackers for no reason at all? You must have guessed- the fat guy! If it weren’t for us, these industries would perhaps collapse. And we wouldn’t want that, would we? On that note, I think I’ll eat something to celebrate the growing economy! :D
