When and why did the kids get fat?

Another significant cause of obesity among the youngsters, is stress eating. Although an average Bangladeshi might frown and laugh it up if they hear about people eating due to being “stressed out”, this is a very real disorder

Before I started writing this piece, I thought to myself as a slightly overweight young adult, is it really my role to comment on the kids of today? Do I really have the right to write about something that I myself is a symptom of?  Then suddenly it dawned on me! I was ever the definition of a scrawny kid and the few extra pounds I gained were over the last couple of years, more specifically since I started working after my graduation. Even then I am working out quite hard to get rid of that bit of excess weight. So yes, from this personal experience, I think I am in a pretty good position to be writing about the chubby teens of today!
Once a famous example of a country of malnourished children worldwide (most of Bangladesh still struggles with undernourishment), when exactly did the Bangladeshi urban youth start getting overweight? A typical one line explanation would be, it started ever since fast food joints started popping up like mushrooms in different parts of Dhaka and Chittagong, the two major metropolises of the country. Although it is the prime reason behind the recent surge in obesity rates, it would be an oversimplification to blame only one factor behind it and we need to delve deeper to truly understand the causes behind this situation.
I did not have to go too far to interview people who are overweight. Meet my cousin, Sarafat Ahmed, an A-Level student from Mastermind School, who from an early age had a tremendous fascination for food, but was never chubby till he got to the 9th grade. In his words, gaining weight was due to a total lack of time devoted to going out and play any sports. A massive cricket and football fan and player himself, ever since Sarafat got into the 9th grade, his academic workload doubled, as he had to go to as many as four tutors a day besides his regular classes. This meant, the time for playing diminished steadily until it became nil. His days usually consisted of mostly sitting idly in class and then going out to eat. So what happened was usual- he kept eating the same portions without burning off anything, which resulted in him gaining around additional 30 kgs in the space of three years! What is more alarming is the fact that as he got out of touch with sports, even when he had a vacation of two plus months after his O-Level exams, he still barely went out to play and kept saying, “What’s really the point? I’ll be back in this same situation a couple of months from now!” 
Now that sort of pessimistic attitude is cause for real concern. In most cases, there remains a distinct lack of encouragement to exercise from both teachers and parents, which essentially, is the root cause of the entire problem. Studying and achieving higher grades became the one and only priority in their lives; we don't really have a culture that promotes games and sports to stay healthy. This example perfectly illustrates how even the most active teenagers can turn in to slackers, due to externalities that are not fully in their control.
In some cases, the parents are just as much to blame or more when it comes to the uncontrolled weight gain of their children. There are parents who routinely feed their children burgers, fries, pizzas, pastries and sodas; basically all types of greasy food and sugary drinks, from the sentiment that these will make their children appear healthy. A common misconception amongst Bangladeshi parents are that they typically associate “healthy” with fat or overweight. Even when they are advised by nutritionists or doctors, they fail to grasp the fact that chubby children are not necessarily healthy children. Most such parents are completely indifferent about the longer term effects that obesity can have on their children. As the overweight children grow up, it is very likely that they will develop a negative body-image, which can in turn lead to lower self-esteem. Many of them will be touted by their classmates/ relatives etc., get depressed and will then become permanently self-conscious about their weight, which might ultimately have an impact on their behavior as an adult.
Another significant cause of obesity among the youngsters, is stress eating. Although an average Bangladeshi might frown and laugh it up if they hear about people eating due to being “stressed out”, this is a very real disorder. Antara Islam, a friend and a postgraduate student of North South University, explains how stress-eating works. “Usually, I gain a lot of weight during final (exam) weeks. It means that whenever I get stressed, or whenever I'm under a tight deadline, I eat and it is never fruits and vegetables or anything healthy! What’s worse is when I get into this habit of over-eating, it is a grueling task for me to get back to my normal eating habits, where I'm quite conscious about my daily calorie intake,” she says. This is the kind of difficulty I have personally faced. 
According to a few other people I have interviewed in the 15 to 25 age bracket, why the majority of the young folks of Dhaka have indulged themselves in the “fast food” culture is due to a lack of recreational facilities. For most people, even some of the grownups who are on a budget, the idea of a group hangout is where one would be able to find the most affordable yet tasty food. Americanized food, such as, fried chicken with French fries and cola, double patty beef burgers combos, all you can eat in pizza offers etc.,  provided by the restaurants targeting teenagers – obviously doesn't make following a proper, healthy diet any easier.
And then there is good old social media, typically doing more harm than good! The problem posed by social media and electronic gadgets is twofold. Firstly, when someone checks into an exciting new restaurant and posts about that on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and the like, their friends feel compelled to follow them, having almost a Pied Piper like following behind him or her! As most of this generation, live inside this social media bubble, not going to the newest coffee shops and not posting about it will apparently make them sort of social outcasts. As the majority of our food joints targets the teen and young adults, a prerequisite is to keep their costs and prices competitive. This automatically means serving highly processed food, containing an awful amount of LDL (bad cholesterol), triglycerides and sugar.   The other significant effect of spending too much time on social media and electronic devices, such as game consoles, tablet computers etc. is the fact that they only contribute to the sedentary lifestyle of our urban youth. Although it is true that our metropolises, especially Dhaka, lack adequate sporting grounds, gyms and facilities, it is not fair to say that youngsters who want to work out aren't absolutely able to do so. Simply blaming the system is quite unjustified when you are spending all your free time being a couch potato, checking out your Facebook news feed for the status updates of your 2000 “friends”! 
According to Dr. Monowar Ahmed Tarafdar, a professor of community medicine at Sikder Women’s Medical College and a prominent researcher in the field of public health, “The weight gain of a child is due to the imbalance between calorie intake and the calories utilised (for physical and mental growth and development, metabolism, and physical activities). In other words, the sedentary lifestyle of the urban youth of Bangladesh is the prime reason behind weight gain.” “With obesity comes a list of life-threatening and lifelong ailments: hypertension, Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, cancer, respiratory problems, bone conditions and several other problems. Moreover, if you are severely overweight or obese at 16, there's an 80 percent chance that you will be obese as an adult. ”, he quipped. 
As this is an article which focuses on the reasons behind the obesity issue, I believe the solutions are pretty much self-explanatory. Even then I feel that without providing a few pointers to tackle the problem, it remains incomplete. Given the space constraints in cities such as Dhaka where business and revenues, almost always take precedence over the quality of life for its citizens, meaning every inch of greenery being transformed into apartments, commercial buildings or shopping malls, throwing tantrums over such issues never really made much of a difference. Instead, what we need is an overall change in mindsets of our urban citizens. Treating obesity merely as a medical problem is obviously not going to bring desired results and simply telling kids to not eat unhealthy foods will not work either. Rather the parents and guardians need to start a healthier lifestyle at home. One thing we need to understand is that young minds are impressionable and that they need to be led by example. When they will see their parents being careful and conscious about their food intake, when they will witness them making veggies and fruits as part of their daily diet, avoid the greasy food, get exercise on a daily basis, even if it is only half an hour walk a day, they are bound to follow suit. 
As adults, parents need to take responsibility for the overall wellbeing of their children so that the future generations have a better chance of not contracting diseases like diabetes and heart conditions. Speaking from personal experience, no classes or campaigns can be more effective than the learning which takes place at home.

The writer is a free lancer

When and why did the kids get fat?

Another significant cause of obesity among the youngsters, is stress eating. Although an average Bangladeshi might frown and laugh it up if they hear about people eating due to being “stressed out”, this is a very real disorder

Before I started writing this piece, I thought to myself as a slightly overweight young adult, is it really my role to comment on the kids of today? Do I really have the right to write about something that I myself is a symptom of? Then suddenly it dawned on me! I was ever the definition of a scrawny kid and the few extra pounds I gained were over the last couple of years, more specifically since I started working after my graduation. Even then I am working out quite hard to get rid of that bit of excess weight. So yes, from this personal experience, I think I am in a pretty good position to be writing about the chubby teens of today! Once a famous example of a country of malnourished children worldwide (most of Bangladesh still struggles with undernourishment), when exactly did the Bangladeshi urban youth start getting overweight? A typical one line explanation would be, it started ever since fast food joints started popping up like mushrooms in different parts of Dhaka and Chittagong, the two major metropolises of the country. Although it is the prime reason behind the recent surge in obesity rates, it would be an oversimplification to blame only one factor behind it and we need to delve deeper to truly understand the causes behind this situation. I did not have to go too far to interview people who are overweight. Meet my cousin, Sarafat Ahmed, an A-Level student from Mastermind School, who from an early age had a tremendous fascination for food, but was never chubby till he got to the 9th grade. In his words, gaining weight was due to a total lack of time devoted to going out and play any sports. A massive cricket and football fan and player himself, ever since Sarafat got into the 9th grade, his academic workload doubled, as he had to go to as many as four tutors a day besides his regular classes. This meant, the time for playing diminished steadily until it became nil. His days usually consisted of mostly sitting idly in class and then going out to eat. So what happened was usual- he kept eating the same portions without burning off anything, which resulted in him gaining around additional 30 kgs in the space of three years! What is more alarming is the fact that as he got out of touch with sports, even when he had a vacation of two plus months after his O-Level exams, he still barely went out to play and kept saying, Whats really the point? Ill be back in this same situation a couple of months from now! Now that sort of pessimistic attitude is cause for real concern. In most cases, there remains a distinct lack of encouragement to exercise from both teachers and parents, which essentially, is the root cause of the entire problem. Studying and achieving higher grades became the one and only priority in their lives; we dont really have a culture that promotes games and sports to stay healthy. This example perfectly illustrates how even the most active teenagers can turn in to slackers, due to externalities that are not fully in their control. In some cases, the parents are just as much to blame or more when it comes to the uncontrolled weight gain of their children. There are parents who routinely feed their children burgers, fries, pizzas, pastries and sodas; basically all types of greasy food and sugary drinks, from the sentiment that these will make their children appear healthy. A common misconception amongst Bangladeshi parents are that they typically associate healthy with fat or overweight. Even when they are advised by nutritionists or doctors, they fail to grasp the fact that chubby children are not necessarily healthy children. Most such parents are completely indifferent about the longer term effects that obesity can have on their children. As the overweight children grow up, it is very likely that they will develop a negative body-image, which can in turn lead to lower self-esteem. Many of them will be touted by their classmates/ relatives etc., get depressed and will then become permanently self-conscious about their weight, which might ultimately have an impact on their behavior as an adult. Another significant cause of obesity among the youngsters, is stress eating. Although an average Bangladeshi might frown and laugh it up if they hear about people eating due to being stressed out, this is a very real disorder. Antara Islam, a friend and a postgraduate student of North South University, explains how stress-eating works. Usually, I gain a lot of weight during final (exam) weeks. It means that whenever I get stressed, or whenever Im under a tight deadline, I eat and it is never fruits and vegetables or anything healthy! Whats worse is when I get into this habit of over-eating, it is a grueling task for me to get back to my normal eating habits, where Im quite conscious about my daily calorie intake, she says. This is the kind of difficulty I have personally faced. According to a few other people I have interviewed in the 15 to 25 age bracket, why the majority of the young folks of Dhaka have indulged themselves in the fast food culture is due to a lack of recreational facilities. For most people, even some of the grownups who are on a budget, the idea of a group hangout is where one would be able to find the most affordable yet tasty food. Americanized food, such as, fried chicken with French fries and cola, double patty beef burgers combos, all you can eat in pizza offers etc., provided by the restaurants targeting teenagers obviously doesnt make following a proper, healthy diet any easier. And then there is good old social media, typically doing more harm than good! The problem posed by social media and electronic gadgets is twofold. Firstly, when someone checks into an exciting new restaurant and posts about that on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and the like, their friends feel compelled to follow them, having almost a Pied Piper like following behind him or her! As most of this generation, live inside this social media bubble, not going to the newest coffee shops and not posting about it will apparently make them sort of social outcasts. As the majority of our food joints targets the teen and young adults, a prerequisite is to keep their costs and prices competitive. This automatically means serving highly processed food, containing an awful amount of LDL (bad cholesterol), triglycerides and sugar. The other significant effect of spending too much time on social media and electronic devices, such as game consoles, tablet computers etc. is the fact that they only contribute to the sedentary lifestyle of our urban youth. Although it is true that our metropolises, especially Dhaka, lack adequate sporting grounds, gyms and facilities, it is not fair to say that youngsters who want to work out arent absolutely able to do so. Simply blaming the system is quite unjustified when you are spending all your free time being a couch potato, checking out your Facebook news feed for the status updates of your 2000 friends! According to Dr. Monowar Ahmed Tarafdar, a professor of community medicine at Sikder Womens Medical College and a prominent researcher in the field of public health, The weight gain of a child is due to the imbalance between calorie intake and the calories utilised (for physical and mental growth and development, metabolism, and physical activities). In other words, the sedentary lifestyle of the urban youth of Bangladesh is the prime reason behind weight gain. With obesity comes a list of life-threatening and lifelong ailments: hypertension, Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, cancer, respiratory problems, bone conditions and several other problems. Moreover, if you are severely overweight or obese at 16, theres an 80 percent chance that you will be obese as an adult. , he quipped. As this is an article which focuses on the reasons behind the obesity issue, I believe the solutions are pretty much self-explanatory. Even then I feel that without providing a few pointers to tackle the problem, it remains incomplete. Given the space constraints in cities such as Dhaka where business and revenues, almost always take precedence over the quality of life for its citizens, meaning every inch of greenery being transformed into apartments, commercial buildings or shopping malls, throwing tantrums over such issues never really made much of a difference. Instead, what we need is an overall change in mindsets of our urban citizens. Treating obesity merely as a medical problem is obviously not going to bring desired results and simply telling kids to not eat unhealthy foods will not work either. Rather the parents and guardians need to start a healthier lifestyle at home. One thing we need to understand is that young minds are impressionable and that they need to be led by example. When they will see their parents being careful and conscious about their food intake, when they will witness them making veggies and fruits as part of their daily diet, avoid the greasy food, get exercise on a daily basis, even if it is only half an hour walk a day, they are bound to follow suit. As adults, parents need to take responsibility for the overall wellbeing of their children so that the future generations have a better chance of not contracting diseases like diabetes and heart conditions. Speaking from personal experience, no classes or campaigns can be more effective than the learning which takes place at home. The writer is a free lancer