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OBESITY: IS IT A FASHION?

 BY DR.ELIAS KWICH,MD.

As one walks around Juba town, notably at government and NGO offices in particular, the fast changing morphology of our people become conspicuously evident. The beautiful slender figures that lined the streets of Juba before the war has now been replaced by slim arms protruding from puffy chests that blends with big bellies that are commonly known as “Eklimis” the word, which in Juba Arabic was conned to refer to the government officials whose acquisition of the big bellies, was associated with affordability of cost of living believed to have come from swindling the government funds. The term does not spare the business tycoons whose bellies aggressively compete with the government employees.

Indeed the higher one climbs the financial ladder, the bigger the size of the wealth display on the belly. What more, they also get from point A in the city to B sitting on their backsides in the cool four wheel drives.

One is, therefor, forced to ask those walking around with fat bellies, is it a sign of wealth or health?

To consider if this is a sign of health, let us look at the general structure of the poor and the rich people in the impoverished countries. It is those with enough money in poor or developing countries that have access to refined, none holistic foods such as white corn meal, wheat, white sugar, and daily red meat consumption often washed down by liquor, juices and soda. They can afford and eat at least three meals in a day or 24 hours. Such food consumption can take the daily calories intake of an individual to anything from 2000 to 3000 calories per a day as opposed to the 1200 required for our daily function. With consumption of such excessively large quantities of calories, the body only burns what it needs for daily functioning and the rest is stored for what the body believes is a rainy day to come in form of the big bellies we see rolling around.

So then, is it sign of wealth?  Again looking at the developed countries in comparison with the developing countries, the rich are conscious of the impact of refined food and the resultant obesity on their health. They watch what they eat; spending fortune on holistic, natural and organic foods, the kinds that grow in our villages, without fertilizers or being genetically modified. They run away from the artificial foods as well as much of the sodas and juices. They do exercise religiously and spend money in the Gym and other fitness products in order preserve their health for once health breaks down, all the money in the world may fail to put it back and others will claim your fortune once your are no more.

Those with money in the developed countries in general do not have the big bellies seen in their counterparts in developing countries.

It is mainly the poor in these developed countries who either lack the knowledge about holistic healthy eating and the dangers of refined unnatural sugar laden foods or they are pushed to consume them due to affordability. These food commodities are usually cheaper and readily available. Thus it is they the poor in the developed countries who tend to grow fat and carry the big bellies we see in our rich people here in town.

Our well to do in South Sudan have the bodies of the poor people in the developed countries and vice versa. Thus obesity wise, making our poor people rich in health while our rich becomes poor in health!

In order to comprehend this, let us understand what the body requires on a daily basis for it to function. If Jubans think having an Eklimi is a sign of being well fed, I gladly wish to draw their attention to the fact that studies have shown that we need just 1200 or less calories per a day to function. This can be divided into two meals per day. The body will only use what it requires to function. The rest of the food is either stored up in the body in a form of fat or discarded as waste.

So the big belly is your body's way of telling you that you are eating more than required. Over eating, which is the sin of this age is thus committed by the rich of the nation.

In fact you should skip a meal and give it to your less fortune relatives!

An indulgence in foods is associated with or can result in a condition known as the metabolic syndrome, also known as Insulin resistance syndrome. To understand this syndrome lest us look at its components:

1) Abdominal obesity: Defined as a waist circumference measured at the umbilical cord area of >102 cm for men and >88cm for women.

2) Triglyceride: This type of cholesterol, also known as the bad fat in excess of: >175mg/dl - 1.7mmmo/L.

3) Serum HDL (cholesterol also known as the good fat) <40 mg/dl (1mmo/L) in male and <50mg/dl (1.3mmo/L) in female.

4) Blood pressure >130/85 mmHg or being on blood pressure medications

5) Fasting blood sugar >100mg/dl (5.6 mmo/L).

It takes only 3 out of the 5 criteria above for you to have a metabolic syndrome.

What are the health implications of this? Just like a pregnant lady's big belly heralds that a baby will be born, a man's big belly simply means obesity is here and this conception is destined to give birth to the following: high cholesterol, high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes. Any of these babies can mature into stroke, heart attack and in fact directly contribute to cancers.

So eklimi is not a sign of health but rather that of its lost and bad health.

Unless you change your ways of eating and go back to your roots and eat things that are unrefined, organically grown in the gardens, your belly will defy all odd and remains big, thus threatening loudly and visibly to give birth to any of the above named diseases. All it would mean is that you have eaten yourself to sickness and that only your mouth now must save you from them!

My fellow countrymen, the catalogue of conditions brought on by obesity will only worsened with time in our new nation, given the scarce health care providers and poor health resources our country surfers. This will then become a national security issues where our educated and well to do population will suffer one by one from these diseases creating a drag on the economy as a result of reduced work force and brain power! It is only a matter of time before the explosion of diabetes, high blood pressures and strokes in particular in our nacient country; these health woes must therefore be tackle heads on by the authorities and by all of us before it gets out of hands. While our poor are threatened by underfeeding, the able are threatened by overeating and both have deadly end point, which must dually be emphasized.

In conclusion, big belly enter through the mouth. So are most diseases, specially the ones mentioned above. Whoever controls the mouth controls all and is blessed to live long enough to witness the growth of his children and children's children by sticking to some regular exercises while eating unrefined foods watered down with the holy natural water more importantly skipping a meal and donating it to the needy may be your preferred option. Given the shortage of healthcare resources, your best bet of staying healthy is eating natural as our people have done centuries, shading off the Eklimi and remembering, prevention is better than cure.

Dr. Elias Kwich, MD.

USA

 

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