Fat is Pride, Skinny is Shame

Why are we getting fatter?

Information Overload, Health Apathy

There is such a deluge of information online about healthy eating. There are influencers, nutritionists and doctors dispensing knowledge about diet on various platforms and apps, that one would think Indians are on the right track now and obesity is declining. Diabetes, heart attacks, degenerative arthritis, all these lifestyle illnesses would seem to have become a thing of the past. But in reality, things are rather disheartening. Obesity is on the rise and along with it, diabetes is also marching ahead. And people don’t bother, even the intelligent and intellectual ones.

We are drowning in information and yet starving for change.

The Culturally “Perfect” Plate

Our conditioning is such that a plate filled to the brim with 2–3 types of vegetables and curries made with abundant use of so-called heart-friendly oil, 2–4 rotis, pickles, high-calorie chutney, papad, a big mound of rice, thin watery dal and sweets is considered to be an ideal and perfect meal. Stomach isn’t considered full until a person burps, rather belches, like an erupting volcano. Only then the lady of the house is satisfied with her culinary skills or the host is satisfied that the guests have had a great meal.

Satiety is not measured in nutrition, but in how violently the stomach protests.

Festivals, Fasting and Feasting

Then there are so many festivals, where sweets are mandatory, puris are compulsory and one ice-cream for the road is somehow essential.

Fasting has been elevated to an art form, with kilograms of carbs fried in litres of oil in endless permutations and combinations, prepared and consumed. Actually, we consume more calories when we fast than when we don’t. And then comes the breaking of the fast, which again is an elaborate meal with all the bells and whistles and some more. “Poor guy was fasting the whole day,” the women of the house sympathise and top up the rapidly emptying plates.

Our idea of sacrifice is simply more overeating.

Snacking as a Way of Life

In between meals, snacking on sweets, vadas/bhajji, shankarpalis, chakli, biscuits, farsan, so-called nutritious laddoos, is considered normal. A house is considered impoverished if its kitchen cabinets are not stocked up with the above-mentioned items. Biscuits have become a mandatory item on the monthly kirana list for the last half-century.

Hunger is rare, but the habit of chewing never takes a break.

Children, Biscuits and “Healthy” Myths

If a child doesn’t eat vegetables, making stuffed parathas with dollops of ghee is the solution. Cheese is added to any and everything to make food palatable to the fussy and pampered child. Roti and sauce is a complete meal for children in so many households. Likewise, milk and biscuits. When questioned about biscuits, parents will proudly say that they buy only British Marie or some nutritional brand of fibre rich biscuits. Some will proclaim that their children only eat biscuits that have added nuts like cashew and almonds.

We are raising palates that crave comfort, not health.

Bellies in Public, Denial in Private

If one goes for a walk in the town square any evening in any European or for that matter South East Asian country, one will see slim and healthy people around, with no one sporting a huge belly. A walk on Laxmi Road, Deccan, or Camp dazzles us with enormously protruding non pregnant abdomens, audaciously peeping out through the gaps between the stretched shirt buttons.

And if a doctor unfortunately decides to discuss the weight of any patient, pat comes the reply, “I’m not obese, just a bit ‘healthy’.” “My parents were hefty like me and they had no problems.”

Obesity has become a family heirloom, passed down with pride instead of concern.

The Mirror We Avoid

Why people don’t understand that they are obese is because they never check their weight. With the absence of a full-size mirror in most lower middle-class households, the person takes a bath, checks their face in a tiny mirror that shows nothing below the neck, and walks out convinced they’re perfectly fine.

A full-sized mirror should be made compulsory by law in every bathroom. Only then will people witness the innumerable folds and tyres (née love-handles) up close and personal.

The problem is not the body alone, but the refusal to look at it honestly.

©️ Shashikant Dudhgaonkar