More and more people are concerned against obesity. To trim and slim people have become multi billion-dollar-industry, actually. I can’t seem to look at scenes in TV where a steel tube is inserted in and out of some fat person. The whole process is ridiculous in the first place. I can’t imagine. The situation could have been avoided.
Obesity is not limited to the rich of society. The poor, particularly that in urban areas, among the malnourished have their cases of obesity, too. In urban areas, as the fangs of poverty keep closing in at the poor, poor are retreating to basics, will abandon all but foods.
Filipinos are rice eater. Rice as we know is starch or carbohydrates [sugar], high in energy but low in protein. High protein content in rice is in the bran [13%] but then rice bran is fit for animal feeds.
Obesity is rare in Philippine countryside. Getting meat or rice is not as simple as taking a little walk or taking a ride to and from market. There, people plow, they weed, they harvest, they haul, and they pound to cook and to eat; to do it all over again. It is not as simple as going to the ref to see what’s for grub. They also walk a lot to socialize.
People have always talked about obesity as a matter pertaining to physical activity, artificial exercise, and food intake. Some have gone to pointing to chemical toxins by advanced civilization as one of the causes. As we know toxins affect liver and nervous systems. Liver and nerve diseases as causes of obesity? That one is new. Yet, others believe that illnesses and diseases are rooted in the mind. Directly and indirectly, I think, they are.
I think some obesity is linked to very little mental activity in people. There are people who think much while others think very little.
People do not just say things out of nowhere. Let’s take the word “lousy”. There are people that are, literally, lousy. That’s right, there are people that you can put lice in their heads and the next day lice will be gone. No anti lice shampoo needed. That’s a fact. Probably lice migrated to heads they found environment-friendly. Maybe some heads are literally hotter than others, I really don’t know except for the fact.
No, I’m not saying that most active minds are automatically geniuses because they are not always the case. I think degree of mental activity is something that developed naturally and became involuntary so that there seems nothing one can do about it when one is in or out. We have words like workaholic associated to that.
Mental activity requires energy greater than many people think, and in my personal observation most active minds are also more often naturally active and lean bodies. Have you been in a situation when your mind race and you tried to keep your body slow or arrested? Hold those fingers and your feet from wriggling! they are energy seeking to be released. Mind and body must naturally go together. Anyway, energy [food] intake must be about equal to total energy spent; rarely gaining surplus that we know will be stored as body fat, for one to stay lean.
For an obese person to be also an active mind and body, one must be extremely a voracious eater – one negative connotation of the word Obese, meaning glutton.
Some people eat small yet they grow fat. That’s a fact. That proves suggests that obesity may also be genetic: Efficiency of body to synthesize energy from raw material and efficiency in utilizing that energy. [Like comparing old fashioned home appliance that uses high energy when the work it produces can be matched by energy saving, more efficient, model.]
Advances in technology must have contributed to the rising cases of obesity. What I am saying is that maybe modern man is less active thinker today than yesterday in addition to already lesser physical activity [changed lifestyles], and richer food intake of the modern day.
I guess everything is a two way street. But for most obese it is more of a one way street. Over supply when there is now little actual demand will be storing or fattening. Obese condition did not develop overnight.
Science has theorized that it was improved diet that had accelerated evolution of Homo erectus to Homo sapiens and finally to modern man. As man was gaining intelligence his nourishment went less hard to easy. Vice versa, that improving energy intakes supported evolution of size of brain, or supported bigger brains, for more intelligence. He was getting energy more than needed for physical activity. Man developed bigger brains and becoming more intelligent to where he is today.
Anyway, as a young boy I was always obsessed for foods. I remember being always subject of ridicule at the table. I usually ate as that of my father and any of my siblings put together. I had always wanted to be like some of the burly or fat bullies I saw around. One time, father had whispered to mother that maybe I needed some de-worming as I never grew big, and I never grew fat. I have always been lean.
As a construction worker I never had problem with overweight. My worry has always been about not to lose weight. My struggle is against being underweight. When on the go I have learned to eat heavy at breakfast. I must also take snack at break times, morning and afternoon. Sweets [candies] which are cheaper, practical, and most effective as they are readily liquefied and carried into the blood stream, would be fine. That’s some trick I have learned when I was in the army. Or else, I might be burning body proteins down to my bones in every march and in every swing of a hammer. Today, as semi retired and when out of work, I usually eat only twice a day with just coffee for breakfast and at times of day. It’s called APPETITE, folks.
Appetite is the body regulating itself. I think everybody is just a slave to this thing called appetite. But some people must have their regulator out of order. And when appetite dictates ‘grab’ when it should be dictating ‘not in the mood’ or ‘not hungry’, then I guess that person needs handcuffs and shackles to keep him off foods. Teasing some people gluttons does not work. Something stronger than that is dictating. Some obese have simply grown callousness when it comes to that. 
For those with overweight problem, next time you have your hands on some video disc why not try the hard copy version if available, instead? I think reading is more energetic. Reading requires more imaginations compared to seeing fast actions. Or, when not pushing or heaving any of those, I should say, silly gymnast thing, or instead of seating, or lying awake doing nothing , maybe you should have your hands on computer games – the one that requires quicker responses. Spend, spend, and spend all those surplus, folks.
Gymnastics is good only for keeping flexed. Uh uh, ok, its good for both.
Meantime how about that lice test, folks? We Filipinos are known for cheating but since one can keep the result to oneself, please, no cheat! And don’t forget the count. There is mild, moderate, and high, you know.
Filed under: Health & Safety, Science | Tagged: Health and Safety, Obesity, Science, Social
