Recently the world was shocked to learn that millions of people were starving to death in some parts of Africa it was a tragedy indeed. In response, many people contribute what they could to alleviate the situation. Donations of food and money came from all parts of the world. A group of popular singers got together and raised a big sum of money to help these unfortunate victims.
Yet today there are still people dying of starvation in some areas of the world. It is an evil, there is no doubt about that but there is not much an ordinary person can do about it except hope that the countries involved do something positive stop it A lot of the “powers that be’ are too involved in their power struggle and bickering to care about what happens to their starving citizens.
Our county is a fortunate one. We ere- blessed with abundant rain and freedom from most natural disasters. Politically and economically we are comparatively well-off, Our citizens do not starve.
Except for a few who purposely starve themselves so that they can maintain a trim figure, most of us have more than enough to eat. In fact many of. us overeat.
Just take a look at a group of people anywhere. We are bound to notice a lot of overweight ones. With bellies leading the way they strut around the “Pasar malams”, the supermarkets and any place where people gather. Their shirts and trousers-are too tight and the excess fat bob up and down as they walkabout.
Besides having an unsightly body, an overweight person has many other mort serious problems. Firstly he has to lugged the excess weight around everywhere he .;.4oes. So it is a common sight to see a fat person huffing and puffing his way up to a restaurant where he gorges yet another meal. If what we see on the outside is bad, the inside story of an overweight person is worse. While he huffs and puffs his way around, his poor heart has to work extra hard to cope with the strain put in it Furthermore clogged coronary arteries do not help the situation. So it is common to find that an overweight person high blood pressure and a latent heart problem if he does not have one already. Coupled with this high blood pressure is the ominous threat of diabetes. Then other complications like kidney problems can emerge. So an overweight person attracts all these potentially dangerous things onto himself. Still, many people continue to overeat.
Just why some people overeat is subject to discussion by psychologists and doctors. The fact remains that they do. Knowingly or unknowingly they abuse their bodies by allowing them to grow beyond safe proportions. This is indeed an evil, performed. onto themselves.
There are some who realize their folly and set about the task of reducing their weight to normal levels. Overeating is out of the question. With a careful diet and suitable exercises, an overweight person can reduce and attain normalcy. There are cases of people who are overweight because of glandular problems. For these people, medical help is needed. However, for the majority of fat people, diet and exercise certainly do help. It is so much better and livelier to be able to move about without feeling the strain of having excess weight.
Dieting must not be carried out to extremes though. know of one case where a slim girl goes on a diet of mainly sweet potatoes. She grows thinner and thinner yet she still thinks she is fat. She looks as though. she is already a case of “anorexia nervosa’. only hope that she does not end up like Karen Carpenter.
So there- we have it; two extremes of eating overeating and stowing. Both are riot good. To live as normal healthy human beings we need to eat in moderate quantities. We do not overeat. We do not have to starve either.