Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Why should we eat healthily?

Nowadays, healthy eating become a great topic to discuss which is due to escalating trend of diseases closely related to improper food intakes along with sedentary lifestyle.
According to The National Health Morbidity Survey data revealed that in adults, 20.7% were overweight & 5.8% obese, the prevalence of obesity was clearly greater in women than in men. In this survey also concluded that, obesity rates were higher in Indian & Malay women than in Chinese women. While, surprisingly the Chinese men recorded highest obesity prevalence followed by Malay & Indians. Hence, current nutrition & health surveys reveal that Malaysians are already affected by western health problems. Moreover, the escalation of obesity, once thought to be an urban phenomenon, has now spread to rural population at an alarming rate.

Sounds freaky isn't it? but not as freaky as what happened in US population which 2/3 of its population were overweight & obese. As Malaysia proceeds toward greater economic development, we also move to 'greater' sizes of clothes sold in market.. no way!
so back to the topic? why the concern? Obesity is just the tip of an iceberg.. the underlying problems or the complications of this problem are the things that need to take into account..
Obesity will cause physical & psychologic complications like heart disease, type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, Hypertension, stroke, certain types of cancer(endometrial, breast,prostate & colon), dyslipidemia, reduced fertility, osteoarthritis, emotional distress, discrimination, social stigmatization & the list will go on....fiuuuh!
haha...so are we gonna choose one of the disease above??? like we can...
The health problems will definitely cause greater healthcare cost.. the more sick people the more beds needed in hospital.. can i say? the more job vacancies...hehe! The doctor will be super-rich.. as well as the food manufacturers... but at the end we can have problem like poor workforce or productivity~~~~ slower economic growth... huh! so complicated!!
Thus, whether we like it or not.. we have to eat healthily..no matter how hard it takes..

Eat healthily is not just for prevention of the diseases but also in preventing complications & slowing the progression of the diseases in people who already have it...


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