Anjali Mukherjee

Each and every one of us is contributing to global warming and we need to do something about it starting right now.

For those of you who are unclear on what is global warming-simply speaking-the global temperature is rising and consequently the earth’s climate is changing. This can have serious consequences world wide. - And we humans are causing it. Can we avoid this disaster by changing the way we live? Frankly we don’t have a choice. Each and every one of us has got to do our bit. It will take a world wide effort. But we need to do it starting now.

How are we making the earth warmer than it is meant to be?

The protective blanket surrounding the earth allows enough of the sun’s energy to warm our planet and retains enough of that heat to make it liveable. Without this protective blanket our earth would be 30C colder than it normally is. This natural heat holding effect of the earths blanket is called the greenhouse effect. But lately we humans have changed the make up of this protective blanket by our activities which emit more carbon dioxide than ever before. Carbon dioxide (greenhouse gas) traps heat (as do other greenhouse gases like methane, nitrous oxide, water vapour). So higher concentrations of greenhouse gases (out of which carbon dioxide has the maximum implications) means a warmer earth. Burning coal creates more carbon dioxide (CO₂)   than burning any other fossil fuel (oil and natural gas). When we use energy for producing electricity we generate more CO₂. Carbon dioxide levels have now reached a peak not seen for the last 900,000 years.

Our world runs on electricity and burning coal provides 40 percent of world’s electrical energy. Coal also emits approximately twice the CO₂ as that from natural gas. When we use any form of energy, we produce CO₂ emissions.

So how can we help!

Lowering CO₂ emissions to help reduce global warming is possible. Walking short distances instead of driving, carpooling, unplugging idle electronics, driving fuel efficient cars, switching off light bulbs when not required, using less hot water, using less electricity, growing more plants in your house, turning primarily vegetarian are some of the steps that may seem very small but when each of us begin to implement them, these small measures will help make a big difference especially if we all choose to do it. It needs a world wide effort.

There is an interesting observation that I have made and today I want to share that with you…

In my 23yrs of watching overweight people become slim I have realized that women in general above the age of 35 do not lose weight easily. They toil in the gyms, they are seen taking brisk walks in parks, they starve themselves through the day hoping to eat ‘well’ at night along with their family but seldom lose weight at the pace at which they would want to. When it comes to losing weight, women stand at a disadvantage compared to men, thanks to their higher body fat percentage and lower muscle mass. They tend to accumulate fat faster than men and lose it far more slowly. Unfair to the fair sex isn’t it? The same is observed in the animal kingdom. As if to endorse my observations I came across this study reported in the TOI which said ‘Two out of three women in urban India, and one in three in rural India above the age of 35 are overweight’; which means two thirds of women above 35 years of age in urban India and one third’s in rural India are overweight. The study also revealed that half of the urban women (above age of 35) and slightly less than half of rural India lead an inactive life.

Almost 85% of woman in urban Calcutta were found to be obese specially around the waist and that diabetes was second highest in Calcutta (13% in woman above 35 yrs of age) presided by 26% in Kochi. These findings are alarming.

As we all know that being overweight makes one prone to diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure etc. It is important to understand that the health benefits of being trim and healthy are far greater than eating unwisely.

I am distinctly worried about the overfed and undernourished state of women population both in urban and rural India. Almost 96% urban women & 75% rural women were found to have at least one risk factor to heart disease in this study conducted by a few doctors from AIIMS.

So what should women do? Obviously handle it as they handle so many other more complicated issues in their lives. All that she needs to do is to consider herself important enough to ‘want’ to be healthy… to focus on herself for a change…to cook some healthful meals which ‘she’ wants to eat rather than eat leftovers from the fancy meals cooked for the family

So here’s a token solution for all those who want to lose weight.

SOME EFFECTIVE AND PRATICAL TIPS FOR LOSING WEIGHT:

• Begin eating at least one meal in the day - raw.
• Limit your oil intake to 2-3 tsp a day.
• Finish your dinner by 7.00pm and make sure it is light.
• Increase fiber in your diet to about 30-35 grams in a day
• Begin talking a brisk walk for 30-40 minutes everyday.