Obesity in Malaysia

I have long been aware of the increasing number of people who are overweight in Malaysia. Just by observing ordinary people in the streets, one is able to tell quite easily. However, I was a bit surprised to read that about 30 per cent of Malaysians are overweight, and 30 per cent obese. [Bernama]

I did not realise that the situation is that bad in Malaysia. Some years ago, I had the opportunity to visit my mom in Vancouver, Canada. Back then, I had the impression that Canada must have been the fattest country in the world. If one were to throw a stone randomly, he is bound to hit an obese person. Then recently, when I was watching The Biggest Loser, it was said that the fattest country in the world is the USA!

I think it's quite obvious that the obesity problem has a lot to do with the richness of the country. I don't think Malaysia is "rich", but 60 per cent of its people is at least overweight. Imagine that—60 per cent!

Almost all of my siblings are fat—even obese. And of course when one is fat, it's just a matter of time before some of the common illnesses would develop. In my family, for example, my dad, my step mother, my sister Bridget, and my brother, Dennis have type two diabetes. My sister Grace is, I think, about 5'3", but she's over 100kg. So I think it's just a matter of time before she, too, becomes a diabetic. Dad has been relying on the insulin tablets for some years, but recently even those couldn't help him. He now requires daily jabs.

I don't know if obesity has very much to do with the so-called fat genes. For sometimes I feel I could gain weight by just looking at food. It takes a lot of discipline to balance a healthy diet and a healthy lifestyle, e.g. regular exercises. But discipline is a very tricky word—one that most of my family members have no clue as to its meaning. And as we all know, the vast majority of the human race almost always try to do something only when it's already too late—way too late.

My brother, Dennis, has 2 sons, Mohd Aqil and Mohd Arif. The latter, who's the younger one of the two, is fat, and I foresee would soon be qualified to fall into the category of obese. If I'm not mistaken, he's about 9 years old now, but his shirts are the size of teenagers'. If my grandmother is still alive today, she would be very happy to see this kid eat. And he can really eat—he can eat so much, and so fast, that he could be a good specimen for anyone wanting to learn more about the theory of the black hole. Well, it's not exactly the same thing, of course, but the similarity is there, if you know what I mean.

The good news is that recently the kid actually realised the downside of being fat. So he decided to control his food intake for a bit. I didn't think he had it in him to control his appetite, but the mere fact that he's trying to is already good news, you see. After all, his father, Dennis, has been trying to lose weight for something like 10 to 15 years, at least, and was never successful until he became a diabetic about 2 years ago.

Well, anyway, I thought it was quite amazing that Mohd Arif was able to control himself by refraining from eating his favourite noodles for a good 12 hours or so. And about 7 to 8 of those hours were spent sleeping at night. Still, 12 hours without food is a big deal for this boy. If only you've seen him eat, you would know what I mean.

I did, on several occasions, jokingly tell the boy to try harder to cut down on his food and do more exercises, perhaps play more games. But I try not to overdo it, because Dennis is not one who would readily welcome advice from people with good intentions for his sons. That is quite natural—we all tend to think that we know what's best for our kids. And perhaps I am also guilty of this same tendency!

Thankfully, they don't eat pork, I suppose a blessing being Muslims. After all, pork can kill you—especially dangerous for stupid people. [The Malay Mail] However, pork or no pork, Dennis is still not immune from the problem of high cholesterol and triglycerides. I just hope Dennis realises soon enough that Mohd Arif is not "cute" being fat. It's too late for him to do anything about being a diabetic—there is no cure for it—but he could do a lot to prevent his son from getting it too.

But then again, to solve this problem, discipline is required. How many people actually have it?