One cardiologist advises his patients to do physical exercises to reduce their weight. But Dr. Kamal Dhakal (name changed) is fat himself and has a bulging belly. His heavy weight makes it very hard for him to climb stairs. He eats only spicy, oily foods and eats lots of meat products. He is an example in how very easy it is to give advice to others but difficult to apply the same in one’s own life.

In our country, some people have malnutrition because of a heavy physical work and a lack of nutritious foods. But in the city areas, people eat too much of junk food and they have a lack of physical exercise.

Health workers, businessmen or computer engineers with huge bellies are not a welcome sight. When they advise others how to reduce weight, there will be few takers. Especially the health workers need to take their own advice seriously.

Nowadays, in the big cities, people have many diseases like high blood pressure, cholesterol, heart problems, and diabetes. The influx of patients in the hospital shows heavy weight affects most of these patients. And some research has shown that not only in the big cities but in some villages as well people have been suffering from high blood pressure and diabetes popularly known as chini ko rog in Nepal.

Current worldwide estimates suggest that one billion people are overweight or obese, and the World Health Organization (WHO) predicts that the number will increase 1.5-fold by 2015. As early as 1997, an expert committee convened by the WHO signalled that the rising trend of overweight and obesity represented an imminent global threat and a rapidly growing public health problem.

The first nationally representative study of both genders was conducted in 2007  in Nepal.

The Nepal Non-Communicable Diseases Risk Factor Survey, which included 15 of 75 districts and represented all five administrative regions and three ecological regions, estimated the prevalence of overweight at about 7% and the prevalence of obesity at around 1.7 % in Nepal.  Based on the WHO-STEPS manual, this WHO-funded NCD risk factor survey began in 2003 as a pilot study in Kathmandu. It was extended to three other districts in 2005 and became a national survey in 2007.

I knew one engineer Mr. Ramesh Sharma (name changed) who liked cheese, potatoes, meat products and ate heavy food every day. He used to do less physical work. His weight increased day by day and he looked like a ball. Fifteen years ago he was advised to control his diet and to focus on exercise. He replied that instead of dying without eating it was better to die by eating. After five years he was found to be suffering from high blood pressure and he also had a minor heart attack needing hospitalization for about two months when he underwent an operation for his heart elements. After some time it was found that he also had diabetes.

Nowadays he cannot eat junk food, tasty food or spicy food. Being a diabetic patient, he regularly takes medicine. He was lucky that he survived heart problems and is now under medication, but how many people are so lucky? Many people, without knowing that they might be victim of blood pressure and diabetes, continue to eat a lot of rice, and junk food and their bellies and waists rise until, at the end, they are knocking on the doors of hospitals and some times the doctors cannot do any thing for them. Why do people not stop eating unhealthy food products? If they focus on physical exercise and stop eating junk foods, instead of eating medicine, they don’t have to suffer a lot.

We usually drink cold drinks in which preservatives are added. In a bottle of 300ml of cold drinks, 10 spoons of sugar are added. The diabetic patients drink tea without sugar but continue to drink cold drinks.

During fasting many men and women with heavy weights overeat. They eat lots of potatoes, sweets, fats, and milk.In the long run if they continue to do this they will suffer from different diseases. People with heavy weight have regular backache, knee pain, swelling legs and hands etc.
Regular exercise, healthy diet will cure their pains and they don’t have to take doctor’s medicines. One has to promise to himself that he won’t go for tongue’s taste, he will do physical exercise even if he has less weight, we won’t eat more during fasting etc.

Unhealthy or non-nutritious food contains little or zero nutritious value to the diet, too much unnecessary calories and fat which are useless and harmful to human health. They could easily destroy your health and fitness. So finding ways to keep yourself healthy and active is very important. The lack of activity is one reason why people get obese. Others are consuming too many calories, heavy or poor nutrition etc.

There is a woman that I know called Bimala Bhatta. Because of her heavy weight, she even cannot climb up the stairs to go to the kitchen to have a cup of tea. When she is advised to climb up the stairs, she complains of having knee pains. She says that she cannot eat less and is hard for her to do exercise. She has high blood pressure; she takes medicines but cannot work. No one can give advice to the people like this.

May be If people like Ram Dev comes to Nepal and gives a long lecture to her she might realize how she is spoiling her own life.