Obesity and Self-Esteem

An attractive or a beautiful person experiences life in a different way than an ugly or obese person does. It’s the same as the divide between life experiences and the personalities of the rich man and poor man. Ugly as it may sound, it is one of the truths of our society.

Obese people usually have low self esteem. I know it’s not a very nice thing to say but I like to tell it like it is. I don’t like looking for euphemisms to externalize negative deductions as circumlocution only shifts one's focus from coherent communication to sounding politically correct. My theory is that a chap’s face and physical personality speak of his self-esteem and opinion about himself.

I’ve seen our reporters do 4-5 stories on obesity in the last couple of weeks and this has got me thinking on obesity rampant in contemporary society.

If your kid is fat, chances are that he’ll be told in brutal language by other kids that he is fat. Kids don’t beat about the bushes. They come straight to the point; no use of euphemisms and absolutely no regard paid to the political correctness of statements.

Shaping of personality is not an overnight occurrence. It’s an ongoing process and starts right from the formative years of our lives. Issues like self-esteem and personality development not only depend on one’s upbringing, financial position and social status of parents but also a lot on the face and body one’s born with. An attractive or a beautiful person experiences life in a different way than an ugly or average-looking person does. It’s the same as the divide between life experiences and the personality of a rich man and poor man.

Society tells you every single day - “This is what you are” - and you get treated just like that. Alright, may be not in as many words but society has got ways of pigeonholing you in pre-determined slots: “you are rich” or “you are poor”, “you are fat and HE is not”, “HE is good-looking and YOU are not (you are ugly, in fact)”, “he deserves this and no, YOU don’t deserve this”, and so on…

And society guards its conventions and beliefs fiercely, mind you. Try cursing Jesus Christ in a mall full of people. They’ll lynch ya!

Kids are green. Kids are clean slates. All that abuse suffered in the formative years will stay in place even when your kid grows up. If he’s still fat, people won’t need to use words now. Stares will suffice.

The point I’m trying to drive home is - be strict with your kid. You need to be. If he’s not having mud cake, he’s bloody well not having that mud cake. Or burgers or pizza or whatever that puts fat on him.

We’re talking about not only his physical health here but mental health as well. You look after the physical personality of your kid for the same reason you provide well and give him love and affection – to make him a wholesome successful individual with healthy mind.

I leave you with this news story we carried a few days ago in our 'Health and Medical portal' - themedguru.com. It might help if you’re having trouble with your obese child: http://www.themedguru.com/articles/books_can_foster_weight_loss_in_obese_kids-86113050.html

By Harpreet Bhagrath

The writer is the Chief Editor at themoneytimes.com and can be contacted at editor@trustsquare.net Or harpreet10jan@hotmail.com