Essays

Recently the world was shocked to learn that millions of people were starving to death in some parts of Africa. It was a tragedy indeed. In response many people contributed what they could do to alleviate the situation. Donations of food and money came from all parts of the world. A group of popular singers got together and raised a big sum of money to help these unfortunate populace.

Yet, there are people dying of starvation in some parts of the world. It is an evil, there is no doubt about that, but there is not much an ordinary person can do about it except hope that countries involved and the other developed countries do something positive to stop it. A lot of the 'powers that be' are too involved in their power struggle and bickerings to care about what happens to their starving citizens.

Just take a look at a group of people anywhere. We are bound to notice a lot of overweight ones. With bellies leading the way, they strut around the supermarket and any place where people gather. Their shirts and trousers are too tight and the excess fat bobs up and down as they walk.

Besides the unsightly bodies, an overweight person has many other more serious problems. Firstly, he has to lugg the excess weight around everywhere he goes. So it is a common sight to see a fat person huffing and puffing his way up to a restaurant where he gorges yet another meal. It what we see on the outside is bad the inside story of an overweight person is worse. While he huffs and puffs his way around, his poor heart has to work extra hard to cope with the strain put on it, Furthermore, clogged coronary arteries do not help the situation. So it is common to find that an overweight person also has high blood pressure and a latent heart problem, if he has one already. Coupled with this high blood pressure is the ominous threat of diabetes. Then other complications like kidney problems can emerge. So an overweight person attracts all these potentially dangerous things onto himself. Still many of them continue to over-eat.

Just why some people overeat is subject to discussion by psychologists and doctors. The fact remains that they do. Knowingly or unknowingly they abuse their bodies by allowing themselves to grow beyond safe proportions. This is indeed an evil, performed onto themselves. There are some who realize their folly and set about the task of reducing their weight to normal levels. Overeating is out of question. With a careful diet and suitable exercises, an overweight person can reduce and attain normal body weight. There are cases of people who are overweight because of glandular problems. For these people, medical help is needed. However, for the majority of fat people, diet and exercise certainly do help. It is so much better and livelier to be able to move about without feeling the strain of having excess weight.

Dieting must not be carried to extremes though. I know of one case where a slim girl goes on a diet of mainly sweet potatoes. She grows thinner and thinner yet she thinks she is fat. She looks as though she is already a case of anorexia nervosa.

So there we have it; two extremes of eating—overeating and starving. Both are not good. To live as normal healthy human beings, we need to eat in moderate quantities. We should not overeat. We do not have to starve either.