This week I have been abit unwell. My nephew picked up a stomach bug from somewhere and in the spirit of sharing decided to share it with me. When he got sick over the weekend we kept trying to make him eat. But he refused. He even refused cake. He knew that whatever he ate he would puke. So after a couple of trial and error he just refused to eat.
I started feeling unwell on Tuesday the day of the inauguration. Thank God it was a public holiday so I didn’t have to go to work. Unfortunately I had a party to attend at the Ihub. So I did the neem thing, Neem tea (muarubaini) is very good for food poisoning or stomach bugs. I drank a couple of cups of it when I wasn’t throwing up. I had to keep the eating to the minimum at the party and not drink a lot. I think the next day things really climaxed and I kept throwing up. At some point I gave up eating because I couldn’t do the trial and error.
This throwing up business reminded me of those people who eat and purge. It’s a condition called Bulimia nervosa. According to the University of Maryland Medical Center Bulimia is an eating disorder in which a person binges and purges. The person may eat a lot of food at once and then try to get rid of the food by vomiting, using laxatives, or sometimes over-exercising. People with bulimia are preoccupied with their weight and body image.
When I was sick I kinda saw the silver lining in the sickness. I was like at least because I can’t eat I will lose weight. Then it hit me when did I become so preoccupied with losing weight that being sick had a silver lining? And I realised that it’s not just me. How many times have I heard friends saying at least when I was sick I lost some weight?
I started thinking about the people with Bulimia. They probably were starting throwing up as a fade to lose abit of weight. Some of their friends probably told them it works. So they tried it and then they got addicted. Sadly we now live in a society where thin is the new sexy. Women all over the world read magazines with thin women being described as sexy and then they watch shows and stuff where women who are thin are being praised and they want to be like that. So women do whatever it takes to attain a dream weight. Some go to the gym, others don’t eat or they eat rabbit food (raw vegs only), others do crazy diets, some take some medicines that have side effects that make one experience diarrhea so as to “clean the system’, some take diet pills or use cigarettes as way to curb appetite, some go under a surgeon’s knife and some well they purge.
In Africa it used to be that big was beautiful. It meant that you were well feed, you could work long hours, and there was something for a man to hold as they said. That is changing. Nowadays if you’re big you’re obese and you need to lose weight. I am not advocating for obesity but scientists don’t necessarily agree that body mass index is the right way to measure the scale of obesity. It doesn’t put into account muscle and also bone density.
I am what people would consider to be a big chick. I like being big. I have inherited the hips, bone density and fat genes of my ancestors. I don’t mind being big. I love my hips and thighs. What I don’t like is having a pot belly. That has been my bone of contention with my body. Losing the stomach fat. As they say a minute on the lips, a lifetime of the hips. That is the story of me, and my love for junk food. So I am constantly trying to say goodbye to the “pot” but it loves me too much and keeps coming back. I am at the stage where it has moved in permanently into my house (body) and refused to leave.
The thing is the number of people going to extremes to get that ideal shape is growing .there are now so many creams and medicines being advertised that can make you lose weight in 1 week or 2 weeks. The question is what damages these creams and medicines do to your body. People, some anyway know the dangers of purging. The stories are all over but still people are doing it, and it is catching on here. But do we talk about it. Do we talk about what these other creams or medicines or procedures do to our bodies? We need to bring these issues out in the open and discuss them.
The thing is how far will one go? So many are “dying to be beautiful!”
