All our lives, we have been told that we could be beautiful if only we were skinnier or fairer. Thus, many of us resort to quick fixes like beauty pills and even starve ourselves just to fit into society’s standard. We are bombarded everyday with images of what beauty should look like and humanly, we try to attain this standard.
Sadly, these ideas and images plague our daily lives throughout social media. The idea that there is only one ideal body type is unrealistic. Beauty is in every body type, in whatever shapes and sizes. Though we always say, every body type is beautiful, that does not mean that it is okay to be obese. While nobody should ever be “fat shamed”, it’s important to make a distinction between health awareness and inhumanity.
Eating Habits & Lifestyle Changes During MCO
The nature of the recent lockdowns has had its impact on human health, one of which is weight gain due to a more inactive lifestyle as a result of restricted movement. Many of us have suffered from physical and emotional exhaustion. It is no surprise that people have turned to food for comfort, often choosing unhealthy snacks and takeaways because they are too exhausted to cook and the convenience is just there.
According to the National Health & Morbidity Survey conducted in 2019, overall prevalence of Non- Communicable Diseases (NCD) among Malaysians stand at 18.3% with diabetes, 30% with hypertension and 38.1% with hypercholesterolemia.
Also, according to Malaysiakini (March 2021), an obese individual has an 81% higher risk of heart disease and 64% for stroke. Weight reduction is one great strategy for overweight and obese patients to improve blood sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol control.
Mental health and obesity are intertwined. The tendency to turn to food when experiencing stress, low mood or mental health problems is often overlooked. Often, people who are overweight or obese want to lose the weight but they have not gotten access to any necessary psychological support. So, food is used as a coping mechanism. The lockdown lifestyle has been reported to lead to boredom, causing overeating, especially “comfort foods” rich in sugar and fat.
Losing weight through exercise appears to be more difficult for obese people, research says. The only way to solve the problem of obesity is through the adoption of a healthy lifestyle. Kitakurang is keen to help as many people as possible through a non-surgical procedure with the Allurion Elipse Swallowable Balloon. This medical procedure is becoming increasingly popular as it does not require surgery, anaesthesia or invasive endoscopy.
Relying only on the balloon is not enough to sustain weight loss. That’s Why Kitakurang has a panel of experts that will work with the patients within the 12 months programme, helping to maintain weight loss even after the balloon has passed. Patients will have ongoing support from Kitakurang for the duration of the programme and they will also get a the Allurion Connected Scale, Allurion Health Tracker, and Allurion Mobile App which connects them with their dietician to track all the progress.
Your health is in your own hands. Improve it today.