Food For Thought

Ok, it may not be an appropriate post considering it is the first day of Ramadan but today I’m going to talk about food.

I’ve been following The Biggest Loser since Ramadan last year, sitting down for my break fast in front of the TV. And while I’m amazed at the determination and dedication of (most of) the contestants, I can’t help thinking of the irony of the situation. Here we are trying to fight our own battle with the bulge when it’s our bad food choices and decisions that led us to that battle in the first place. And another thing that I found ironic is the welcome those contestants who fall below the yellow line receive when they go home. I’m not denying that they do deserve a lot of credit for having lost weight, for having the mental and physical strength to persevere, and for giving their best to regain their health but it’s their carelessness, don’t-care-attitude, insecurities, ignorance, laziness and general disregard to their health that led to the weight problems in the first place. So shouldn’t that be addressed as well? Had we not have all these image issues, insecurities, attitude problems, bad food decisions and greed, we wouldn’t have put weight on in the first place, right.

And having a heavy weight is not only unhealthy but is also expensive and can lead to abuse. I’m talking about the health- related medical bills. And in some instances, these bills are not just borne by the patient but also by the state (or the taxable public). Why should one pay more tax just so that someone else can stuff himself silly with some toxic food which leads to him needing dialysis later on? It doesn’t seem fair. So I don’t like it if someone gets defensive about his eating habits because it’s his body and he has the right to eat whatever he likes or it’s his money and he can buy whatever food he fancies. Because it’s not fair either to the taxpayers for having to subsidise the medical/health bills incurred by the state or the insuring public for having to pay a higher medical insurance premium because of the higher diabetes/cancer risks faced by the population due to the unhealthy cravings of some.

We all have different diets but whichever diet we’re on, we should eat food moderately

And yet, despite The Biggest Loser programme and the ever-soaring health-related medical bills, food is never far from our thoughts. We have a lot of food-related shows (some programmes throw in travelling too) and even a dedicated food channel. There’s even that Bizarre Foods show (it’s not enough to eat edible food, we should also try other strange food?) and The Fear Factor which usually includes eating stunts. Heck, even our country thinks itself as a food paradise and we have all these crazy things cooked up just to be placed in world records books (oh and let’s not forget those large-scale ‘open houses’). Some countries have eating contests too. Well, no wonder we have all these eating problems when we’re constantly bombarded with images of food, food-related contests, enticing food advertisements, irresistible meal offers... (except for Ramadan break fast which can go beyond RM100 a head!).

Maybe we’re just obsessed with food. I know I have an addiction to unhealthy food (junk food and chocolates) but at least I’ve cut down on processed food and fast food. Ultimately, we are what we eat. Eat toxic food and we’ll get a toxic body in the long-run.

Now this ‘fast food’ is actually healthy