The Great Balancing Act

A GREAT BALANCING ACT

Isn’t it strange that one third of the six billion strong population of the world is in a panic mode shedding off those extra pounds while more than half of the population is starving? Actually, both groups are suffering; one from obesity with its legion of related diseases the other from severe malnutrition which is equally fatal.

Your attitude towards both problems depends on which side of the fence you are standing on. If you are from the developed world, you think of the most ingenious ways to help you lose weight. You can even design a method on how to get ripped in 90 days or even less. There is a deluge of information and advices telling one and all how to lose weigh even while living the dolce vita. On the other hand, the perennially starving multitude who live on the other side of the have-have not divide are so emaciated and weakened to even consider if they would be able to survive for another day.

This problem has been staring at us at the face for decades. A lot of proposals to bridge the gap have been offered but it seems nothing significant is taking place. The number of obese in the developed countries is increasing just as the number of deaths due to starvation in the developing countries keeps on rising.

A great imbalance indeed is the big culprit. Yet the plain fact is that one group is dying of over nourishment while the other is wasting way with extreme undernourishment. There has got to be a balance somewhere. Lifestyles must be changed. Unless this happens no amount of superficial solution is going to work for us.

Maybe we can ship that extra poundage of food from the storage bins of the extremely overfed population to the empty tables of the severely malnourished. And instead of throwing tons of unconsumed food to the garbage boxes why not share them to the millions of hungry children the world over.

I have nothing against those who are sweating it out to lose that extra weight. It is just that perhaps a deeper motive is needed why you undergo a dieting or even a fasting regimen. Diet for a cause just might be more effective for losing weight than just plain staying fit. Global lifestyle changes might just be the answer to this knotty problem.