Cheung Hun from young has always been nicknamed “fatty” or “fei chai” by his peers and constantly being bullied during his primary school days. Bullies loved to pick on him because he was the shortest and the fattest in class. At the age of seven Cheung Hun weighed about 60 kg, making him the heaviest in class.
As he grew older he believed that his size was the cause of him being bullied and he started searching for ways to lose his weight. Everywhere that he went, he saw images or advertisements of gyms portraying men or women with the ideal healthy body which led him to perceive that only people who have muscular or slim bodies have a place in this world
Cheung Hun lacked the money to go to the gym, so he decided to take matters into his own hands by having breakfast thinking it was the most important meal and that will sustain him for the whole day. Furthermore he skipped lunch, dinner and doing vigorous jogging. He continued this lifestyle for a month and that made him lose tremendous weight.
Not realizing that it came with a price, he was always sick due to malnutrition and being underweight. Cheung Hun only realizes his mistake when he ends up in a hospital. In today’s world, the media portray that the only way to look good and have a healthy lifestyle is to be slim and fit. Many young people today revert to dieting in order to have that kind of image but most of them do it without professional help or guidance from medical professionals like dieticians and nutritionists.
Dieting basically means to reduce body weight by restricting the intake of specific foods, or food in general and of late it has been a common trend among youths. Some people believe that it is one of the easiest and effective ways to lose weight to gain popularity or acceptance among certain social circles for example those working in the fashion industry. Excessive dieting also leads to other health problems like anorexia, depression and stomach ailments.
Not all dieting has negative impact, if done properly dieting can be a good method of staying healthy and enjoying life to the fullest. For example having a small or simple meal like salads and sandwiches as well having the three main meals, which are breakfast, lunch and dinner. Some people, usually the older generation uses dieting as a healthy lifestyle in order to live longer and sometimes helps them in their relationship. Other than that, by having healthy diets it helps to relax the mind and built up discipline too.
In the end is dieting a healthy lifestyle? It all depends on the individual and his motivation or his objective to go on diet. Dieting can be a healthy lifestyle if the individual follows the proper guidelines or listening to dietitians and it can also make an individual fall tremendously ill if not done properly for example people might become anorexic if diet are overuse.