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Road Blocks for Fat Check of Overweight Malaysians
By Mihar Dias
(C) Copyright January 2022
Very soon we shall have to install roadblocks to check for Body Mass Index. This is a new drive to reduce obesity among Malaysians now regarded as “fat cats” of Asia.
According to a study by the British medical journal, The Lancet, Malaysia is the most obese country in Asia with almost 50% of its population considered overweight. Obesity is on the rise and may result in chronic diseases like diabetes. Besides diabetes, medical authorities often associate obesity with leading causes of death worldwide, including heart disease, stroke, and some types of cancer.
Recently, nutritionists recommended using Body Mass Index (BMI) measurements as a way to help check obesity amongst children. It is a convenient and inexpensive method to help reduce childhood obesity. They suggested that BMI be implemented in schools as a step to arrest the growing menace. However, professionals advised that conducting BMI checks ought to be conducted discreetly to avoid shaming an overweight student by fellow schoolmates.
This is a step in the right direction for school children who must be advised early on the dangers of obesity and how to avoid related diseases. But the involvement of parents in this process is not only advisable but mandatory because they too ought to be aware of proper nutrition for the family to keep diseases at bay. Proper nutrition at home is the responsibility of every parent. Schools may advise but implementation is mostly through responsible parenting.
I have watched with despair what parents make their children eat and drink at stalls and restaurants. Once I sat next to a family of five. The mother fed her three boys with large glasses of sugar solution or water filled with red coloured syrup. When I politely recommended that she ought not to offer them the sugar drinks she agreed pointing to her obese husband whom she said was already a diabetic. She knew yet she persisted in feeding her children massive amounts of sugary drinks. A measurement of their BMI would no doubt confirm that they were already overweight.
However, parents who never knew their BMI and what it meant would never wake up to the silent threats of obesity for themselves and their families. Thus the need to mount occasional BMI checks at roadblocks. It is an unorthodox method and probably an invasion of individual privacy but if we declared obesity as a pandemic that is killing people by the thousands every year, such blocks would indeed be educational and a wake-up call for all.
Once they receive a summon to visit a clinic they would certainly appreciate the advice given to take remedial steps before it becomes too late to help nip obesity in the bud for themselves and their family.
This might be useful for the police force too that is visibly obese. But most of all we have to start serving similar summonses for the influencers like politicians who are mostly obese. A more slim lean cabinet would project a better image of a dynamic nation. Currently, it is overweight and sluggish.
A BMI check for all cabinet ministers might help wake up sleepy heads to change their lifestyle for the better. Mounted at the entrance to Parliament MPs too might just realise that they were overweight and needed to eat less at functions.
A BMI roadblock is all we need to keep obesity in check. Next time you get stopped at a BMI roadblock thank your lucky stars because it will be a wake-up call that we, all Malaysians need to live longer and healthier lives.
Mihar Dias is a content writer under Headliner by Newswav, a programme where content creators get to tell their unique stories through articles and at the same time monetize their content within the Newswav app.
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