In response to the article titled “weighty woes burden children – Worry over students as they pack on the pounds” which was published in the Gleaner May 5, 09 is no surprise to me. This created problem has been festering for years and is about to burst. The writing was plain on the wall for all to see. I am not a bit surprised with the outcome of many Jamaicans new practices.

Knowing what I know now is that you cannot have your cake and eat it too. In days gone by and even now fry foods such as chicken, dumplings, flitters and fry over night food was very common and inexpensive. While we were eating and enjoying all this fry food we did not have the problem of overweight because we did a lot of exercise, we walked to school sometimes 3-5 miles without a problem. We were accustom to spend a lot of time outside playing hop scotch, dandy shandy, netball, football, and  racing to name a few, so we were very active and because of so much activity we burn lots of calories and prevent fat.
We never had computers, video games of television with multiple channels to sit and watch. We did not have all this processed food that poison our bodies. No box cereal that we can take from off refrigerator top and pour. No if we want cereal our parent would have to cook porridge whether it is oatmeal, rice, cornmeal, banana or plantain rarely we would get harmony corn because in those days not many were privileged to have a pressure cooker.
I know that there are a few Jamaicans who are obese because of genetic problem and some may be due to thyroid problem but as I say a few. For many  you reap whatever you sow and this can amount to a lot of medical problems such as high blood pressure, Diabetes, Heart disease, increase cholesterol, and low self esteem.
This is another Jamaica problem that we need to confront head on and start put in place ways and means that we can conquer this problem before it get way out of hand.

Filed under: Food and Drink • Health

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