Almost 60 per cent deaths in India are due to ‘lifestyle’ diseases. We have above 100 million people with cardiovascular ailments, which is 60 per cent of the world’s heart patients. The age group affected by lifestyle diseases is getting increasingly premature due to poor lifestyle. I’ve even had 42-year-old patients with menopause. In women, I see growing cases of Polycystic Ovarian Disease (PCOD) syndrome and fibroids. On the rise in men is oral cancer, heart disease, hypertension, high cholesterol, central obesity, Type 2 diabetes and pulmonary diseases.
Obesity is no longer a disorder, but a disease and more and more men above 35, now have pot bellies and thin legs. This means you are not digesting and burning nutrients properly. The World Health Organisation (WHO) says that the waist size for Asian men must not exceed 35 and women, not more than 32, though for the rest of the world it is 40 for men and 35 for women. If you exceed these measurements, then you have visceral fat in the abdominal cavity that causes inflammation, a root cause of most lifestyle diseases that predisposes you to heart disease and diabetes. While body Mass Index above 23 is considered overweight, and above 28 is obese, about 50 per cent of Indians are overweight, that is one in every two people. The only good thing now is that people have become more aware of what is right or wrong to consume thanks to awareness campaigns by the media and health groups. That having said, people still find it attractive to eat wrong. It is ‘cool’ to be a foodie, drink alcohol, and smoke. And they prefer being cool than correct. Though lifestyle diseases are preventable, people don’t want to invest time, energy and money in lifestyle-correction. Until the person is affected cosmetically.
I’ve seen women, switching to a diet of high-fibre and less carbs overnight, only when they start to get acne, baldness and gain weight from PCOD. Vanity has become a trend, where you care about a good skin and body, more than correcting the disease.
Sitting has become the new smoking. Physical inactivity makes the body insulin-resistant and prone to clotting, and so it is important you brisk walk for five minutes after every hour of sitting at the computer. That’s why the concept of clocking 10,000 steps a day came into being. Eat only when you experience hunger, and let your body feel the burn.
People are also forgetting to drink adequate water, which is causing constipation, change in skin colour, ache, blackheads, dark circles, etc. Water hydrates, reduces unnecessary hunger, and improves metabolism. While ‘superfoods’ quinoa and kale are becoming ‘fashionable’ to eat for their high mineral and iodine content, these won’t bail you out from a lifestyle disease if you’re already overweight, eating other unhealthy foods and continue smoking or excessively drinking. So watch what you indulge in 2018. What must get popular is the focus on long-term lifestyle management, not temporary answers.
Anjali Mukerjee is a nutritionist, researcher, columnist, author, and founder director of Health Total.
