Obese children worried over body size

Some obese schoolchildren say they wish they were slim in order to take part in most activities at school like their peers.

While some of the children who are as young as nine, said they engaged in regular exercises in order to lose weight, others said they skipped.

“My friends used to call me ‘Obolo’ because of my size which I hate so much. Anytime they called me by that name I felt sad and tried to stay away from them. 

At a point, when I could no longer take it, I started to skip my regular meals just to have a perfect body like my friends. Unfortunately, I fell sick and nearly developed stomach ulcer. That was when my father advised me to stop that habit and live my normal life,” 11-year-old Naomi in Accra said.

Naomi said she was teased at home and in school because of her big frame but at home, when anybody did that, she normally reported the person to her father.

Nine-year-old Joe from Pig Farm, Accra, said he jogged every day to help him reduce.

“I wish I was not as big as this. I don’t like being fat. I see other children on television and elsewhere who have a normal body size, and I want to be like them,” he lamented.

According to him, he was not teased at school, rather it was at home that his brother teased him often, calling him a fat boy.

“Whenever he does that, even though I report him to my parents,  I feel sad being described in such negative terms,” he confessed.

For Vera who is 11 years old, her desire to reduce her weight was inspired by the people she always saw on television.

“Anytime I watch television and I see regular sized children performing various dance routines, I wish I were like them. That is why I want to reduce.’’

Vera said she was the only one among her siblings who was fat and it hurts her so much because she was unable to live a normal life like other children.

In an interview with Mr Wise Chukwudi Letsa, a Dietician at the Trust Hospital, Accra, he advised children not to skip meals to lose weight.

“You don’t diet arbitrarily. You need to be guided by a nutritionist to choose what you need to add to your meals or take out to achieve your aim. Everybody must eat a well-balanced diet and children are no exception. If you eat wrongly regardless of your body size you can hurt your health,” he warned.

 He advised that in order to avoid becoming obese, children should abstain from taking soft drinks, fruit juices and sugar- sweetened drinks to school. 

“Too much sugar can make you gain weight. Children need sugar but it should not be too much and it should not be derived from drinks and toffees. 

It is better children are given cereals and complete meals such as boiled plantain and yam, etc. We should avoid a lot of fried foods such as fried potatoes, chips, etc.

Mr Letsa mentioned some effects of obesity in children to include depression which can affect their performance in school.

“It can reduce the strength of the immune system so the children can fall sick easily. 

It makes children to be prone to non-communicable diseases such as childhood diabetes, hypertension, etc. and it also causes children to have psychological problems,” he added.