Dietician, Mr Wise Chukwudi Letsa
‘One pack’, as many choose to call it, is not rare to find nowadays; perhaps, it wouldn’t be too far from right to say you will find one potbellied man in every ten you meet.
Whereas it was relatively uncommon in the past, even the ‘young men’ today have potbellies; slim and fat alike.
What we probably didn’t know is the fact that every pot-bellied person is classified as ‘obese’ and this has been confirmed by a dietician at the Trust Hospital, Wise Chukwudi Letsa.
Mr. Letsa explained to Ghanaweb in an exclusive interview, that potbellied persons fall under the classification of obesity known as the central obesity.
"Having a pot belly is also a type of obesity known as the central obesity, potbelly has become common among persons under forty because they fall under the active working force, moreso their lifestyle are not helping because they eat late at night and consume a lot of energy dense beverages; soft drinks; among others.
Rather than seeking an ‘easy way out’ he said, it is important that individuals first be mindful of what they eat, and the time they eat.
“People shouldn’t be okay with the fact that they have developed potbellies because obesity is not an event that happens once and you cure it, it’s a continuous thing that usually takes a long time to manifest, people need to be personally responsible for their weight therefore I'm advising Ghanaians to stop seeking for concoctions for weight loss. also, they should rather engage in activities that will make them sweat and pant for more air like walking, jogging, swimming, etc.
Aside that, exercising is the most ideal way to lose belly fat particularly, he further added.
On obesity in children, he noted that, “it is also a problematic issue because the likelihood of childhood obesity persisting into adulthood is very high and as the child ages he or she becomes exposed to diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure and other health factors”.
Meanwhile, Mr Letsa urged parents to pay attention to how they feed their kids and also called on the government to employ more dieticians in Ghana’s district hospitals and run a national campaign for at least 50years. “I believe if the government takes this initiative the issue of obesity would reduce drastically in Ghana. He admonished.
