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If fat tax can prevent obesity in kids, I am all for it

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Kavita Devgan
Kavita DevganJul 27, 2016 | 10:02

If fat tax can prevent obesity in kids, I am all for it

There is this big fat debate going on about the fat tax that Kerala has imposed on junk food.

And as usual the government hasn't explained/justified it well enough, leading to big doubts about its intention. This makes it difficult to ascertain whether the decision is purely financial, a whimsical one or well thought out, or worse, one that is politically motivated. And thanks to this confusion, the naysayers seem to be winning the battle. They argue:

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How can it work? It hasn't worked anywhere else (Denmark being a case in point).

Why not tax the samosa and jalebi instead of the pizza and the burger? How can you tell people what to eat and what not to? Why should it bother you if what others are eating is bad for their health?

Why not focus more on increasing fitness options, instead of taxing food?

Restaurant owners are crying foul and I don't blame them. But so are a lot of others, who probably haven't even read beyond the headline.

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Obesity is an epidemic in our country now. 

But then today we live in times in which one must have an opinion about everything.

People have been asking me too about what my position on the matter is.

Well, if you are really interested, here's what I think.

I see obesity from close quarters every day, in my clinical practice, the reading and writing I do. My book is on that topic too.

Obesity, therefore, is not just one of the many issues that bothers, irks, and scares me. It simply terrorises me. Yes, I am petrified of how fast it seems to be spiralling out of control.

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The fact is that obesity is an epidemic in our country now, especially in the metros and tier-two cities.

And our children are the most affected. You don't have to be a practitioner of weight management like me to notice this - it is way too apparent. If even a decade or so earlier there were two or three children in every class who were considered fat and thus ridiculed and bullied for their weight, today at least half the children in most schools are overweight.

Early morning when you drive past bus stops with children standing, waiting for their school buses, it is clear that majority of them are out of shape.

And take it from me - for most of them the cause is a lack of physical activity, and their unhealthy eating patterns; very few are fat because of a genetic or hormonal problem.

We are clearly raising a generation which seems to have lost control over their weight (obese children are more likely to become obese adults).

These children don't know what they are getting into - heart attacks in late 20s and early 30s, osteoporosis in their 30s, early onset of diabetes, asthma. But we adults do.

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So it is our responsibility to pay heed to what the research is clearly showing: that being overweight during tween and teen years is a major cause for not just obesity but almost all lifestyle diseases later in life. There's a clear connect with mind disorders, low self-esteem, anxiety, depression and failure in professional life too. What kind of a life are we laying out for our children?

I feel the stakes are too high. It's not just our own children we need to think about, but the entire next generation. And yes, "we" have to do this thinking, as obviously the children can't.

So if this involves taking stringent measures, so be it. Now I am not a policymaker, so I don't know if the fat tax will work at all, but we need to try it out and many other better ideas too.

Here are some ideas I have:

1. Advertising ban on junk foods.

2. Making access to junk foods difficult - stopping home delivery or making it super-expensive.

3. Control/clear definition of portion sizes and its rigid application.

4. Making healthier food more accessible and tastier.

An awareness drive in which right information about right foods is given to children should be started early, as early as class second.

I remember talking to school children from classes first to tenth during their morning prayer meet about the importance of breakfast and I found the younger lot far more receptive to my ideas.

On that day, I must have convinced a lot of those second and third graders about the importance of eating their breakfast, how good milk and egg was for them and how bad soda was, and the satisfaction I got after that talk was unparalleled.

Children are very receptive in their formative years; it's up to us to make sure they not just eat healthy and but also learn how to do it too.

Finally, I feel if nothing else, at least the debate that the fat tax has unleashed has put the spotlight on this serious problem (obesity in children) that unfortunately is not taken seriously. At least it has begun a dialogue. Now it is up to us to make something come out of it.

Last updated: July 27, 2016 | 10:02
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