He used to complain about chest pains and discomfort most of the time. He did not survive a heart attack when he reached 42. Jean Marie, my 13-year-old neighbour, was many a time teased by his classmates for his huge appetite and round frame. But no one could ever guess that his frequent complaints of headaches were not mere tantrums but the first symptoms of high blood pressure.

Obesity has been tagged as a global epidemic. But few people realise that it does not start and end at being overweight. In reality, obesity af­fects each and every organ and function of the body. Right from cholesterol depo­sits, hormonal imbalances to intestinal problems, obesity interferes with the smooth running of your body and affects your life in general.

America has been battling obesity for the last 25 years. Mauritius, till now considered to be a healthy nation, is gradually sinking into the gutters of bad food habits with changes in lifestyle. “Aliments like diabetes and hypertension are striking children due to obesity”, remarked Rani Balloo, president of Diabetes Parent Support Group. It has been noticed that there is a sharp increase in the incidence of obesity in children.

According to nutritionist Anju Poorun, the problem originated as the need to satiate the taste buds by creating more and more processed foods which through the process of refining, lost out on all the vital nourishing components good for the body. The good portion of the food was thus thrown away and only the highly refined products hit the shelves in the supermarkets.

A closer look at the daily eating habits of most people, says Poorun, reveals that products such as bread, fizzy drinks, snacks including biscuits, pizza, pasta, macaroni and French fries are consumed in large quantities compared to green vegetables, fresh fruits and juices. Such consumption pattern, she adds, is severely deficient in vitamins and minerals, and has a very high glycemic count that upsets the insulin balance in the body.

Metabolic syndrome
She underlines that may people still consume large quantities of rice, potatoes, pulses which are not sufficient to supply all the essential nutrients to the body. These foods collectively lead to metabolic syndrome responsible for obesity and other health problems. However, according to Poorun, both can be corrected by right diet and lifestyle.

It goes without saying that a big-sized person is fat, but what is important to know is that the real danger lies not in the gross size but in the actual amount of fat in the body versus the muscle mass. The bad news here, says Poorun, is that most Mauritians, especially of Asian origin have a very low muscle mass vis-à-vis their fat content which makes them very prone to obesity in relation to other ethnic groups.

“Obesity is the symptom of an imbalance in the body, a large-sized person is not necessarily obese if a large part of that size is muscle,” says Henry, fitness trainer at Asenko Gym in Moka. Besides being afflicted by diabetes, joint problems, sleep disorders, cardiovascular illness, skin and breathing problems and gynaecological aliments, a bulky man will face problems in going through treatments.

Contrary to the popular notion, dieting does not help rectify obesity in a person. Diets always fail in the long-term because the very nature of diets is aimed at a short-term deprivation plan. “It is crucial for the person to realise that there is something wrong about his food choices, and that he has to be open to fresh ideas and new food options,” says Henry.

He explains that an obese person should change his eating pattern completely. He should try and eat foods found in the healthy part of the spectrum which includes whole grains, nuts, fresh vegetables, salads and fruits.

“It is hard to give up old food habits, you can cheat and treat yourself to your favourite snack once a week without any problem,” Henry says. According to him, exercises should never be too heavy if the person is overweight; rather one should begin with a walk and slowly build the stamina to do exercise like running and aerobics.

Meanwhile, Poorun explains that it is important to keep dinner as light as possible. Metabolism being at its lowest at night time, there is a tendency for the body to convert heavy meals into fat deposits.

First and foremost, Poorun explains that genes play an important part in the way our body is shaped and the health problems that we face. “All of us know that heavy hips or heavy arms are courtesy of our family lineage, so the tendency to put on weight is primarily genetic,” she says. However she cautions that how much we let this vulnerability affect us depends entirely on us.

On the other hand, she says that a sedentary lifestyle lays a heavy toll on health. “With all the comforts brought about by industrialisation, it has made us more and more sedentary and led to minimal body movement in resulting in lowering of the metabolism,” she says.

Most of the foods we consume today are at the lower end of the health spectrum and we are not even aware of their real contents.