Tuesday, January 21, 2014

On being healthy

There was a time when I used to be chubby, but from when I can remember I am skinny and petite. Once I gained some weight after eating junk food and couldn't fit into my jeans. The very fact that I could have gained weight never occurred to me and I was wondering why I am feeling so uncomfortable today! Later I found out what the cause is...anyway, the thing I am trying to say is I had never been anywhere near fat in my entire life.

I see being overweight is a serious problem nowadays. People from around the world may not be obese as people from here, but there are still many unhealthy overweight people all over and many of them are quite young. What I can't understand is people don't gain 50 lbs overnight, then why don't they stop themselves or check their lifestyle when they start to see the scale tipping over 5 or 10 lbs? I read in magazines and of course all over the Internet "tricks" to lose weight. I wonder if you can really find a "trick" when what you need is discipline and sheer hard work! 

There is another side of it too. I saw a meme on Facebook where it shows a cute little girl eating ice cream and it says - "Eat whatever you want and if someone tries to lecture you about your weight, eat them too!" I don't really find it funny. I had another discussion with a friend who posted an article on "fat girls" which was trying to say - "if you are fat, don't worry about your looks. It's fine to stay fat." Seriously? Well, I am not saying if you are overweight or underweight you should feel bad or have a negative body image which ruins your self confidence. No, but you still need to be aware of what's wrong. And the first thing is how you look. We have to admit it. If you are excessively over or under weight, you can't look good. Instead of feeling negative, that should be taken as a cue to fix the problem. Another thing is, if you don't neglect the fact that your pants are getting tighter, you might be able to restrict your weight gain which in the long run might save you from heart disease. I mean we all know how serious obesity can be. Instead of thinking happiness is more important than being fit and gorging on junk food, people should remember that when the diseases set in, you won't stay much happy. 

On the other hand, if you are healthy but just a little chubby, there is NO reason to fast yourself to death. All those anorexic models don't look good at all. Those rickety models walking on the ramp look sickly. A healthy body will automatically have a glowing skin and silky hair. Our skins and hair don't dwell OUTSIDE our bodies. People genetically have a structure that can't really be altered. Like for me, however much I eat, I won't ever get fat. I'll gain a few pounds, but very slowly. So there is no reason why anyone would want to reverse the natural tendency. 

I did think that sleeping for 10 more minutes was more important than having breakfast. Yes, I did, for a while. But now I know it is not. I am not sleeping less, I am just going to bed a little early and then waking up at a time when I can still have a normal breakfast. I am not saying that I am the model of good exercising habits, I still find it hard to go to the gym after a full day of work (especially when it gets dark early in fall-winter), I plan to go to yoga class but haven't finally made it yet. There are many more things that I need to do, but that doesn't mean I will close my eyes at the problems and keep on living an unhealthy life just because it gives me a short term comfort.

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