FEATURE STORY 3

(Written on 11 March 2004)

What fear you most about your wife when she reaches 50?

That question made me think actively and my imagination running so wild. Well, it was actually one of the questions asked in the Perfect Match slot aired everyday on the Mix.fm at about 8 am. The options given after the questions were; a – wife gains excessive weight, b – wife becomes saggy and wrinkled, and c – wife becomes cranky and moody because of menopause. The intriguing respond given by the contestant that morning was if his wife gained excessive weight. Wow! I guessed all men think alike, huh? Because when I asked my husband the same question after that, he uttered the same exact thing.

What is it about men and their wives getting fat? I believe this must be in every married man’s mind. According to an informal survey done by a slimming salon, Malay women have the highest rate of being obese and lead a sedentary lifestyle. What do you think of that? In my opinion, it is the fact that most Malay women devote extra attention to their children and husband that they forget the most important person to look after – themselves! So, when they suddenly realize about the way they look, it might already be too late. Maybe because they are getting too old. Or maybe because they just couldn’t figure out where to start. Or maybe because they really don’t care. Or maybe even because by the time they noticed, the husband has already opened up a new “branch”.

I still remembered my conversation with the two closest men in my life – my dad and my husband. My dad specifically mentioned about how concerned he has always been on my mom’s physical outlook. Even now at 54, my mom still goes on occasional diets to maintain her weight. I grew up in an environment where my dad always played the major part in informing us “what’s good and what’s bad” for our body and health especially after he undergone the bypass surgery somewhere in the year 1996. Likewise, my hubby shared the same opinion about weight gain and women.

Somehow, I believe it is more to health than looking stunning. A doctor cousin of mine did mention when we met for the Hari Raya gathering last December. She said that women should take extra care of her food intake the moment she turns 30. We have to revise here and there about what goes into our tummies. We ought to be extra careful because the consequence is much greater if we don’t.

A Malaysian survey finding on TV1 earlier this year showed that the no.1 killer among Malaysian women is heart disease. And I think all of us are aware that one of the main factors contributing to heart diseases is being overweight. What more if you lead a passive lifestyle. When you think of it, it shivers you down your spine. So, what’s the solution? Many people of today claimed that there is just not enough time to exercise especially for women who are mothers and wives. Too much to catch up with the moment you get home from work. There’s cooking, washing, cleaning, mending, bla bla bla bla… and the list goes on and on. Where’s the time to exercise? Where’s the time for you?

Today, 11 March 2004, I read in The Star that the no.1 cause of death in the US now is O-B-E-S-I-T-Y. Simply because, obese or overweight people are more prone to capturing unwanted and fatal diseases like diabetes, high blood pressure, gout, heart disease, and even cancer. Should we wait much longer, ladies? Can we take this as a starting point to alter our lifestyles? Forget about looking stunning in body wrapping outfits, let’s be more real and start reflecting ourselves for the sake of our health. We have children or may I add young children, who need us not only for now, but for many, many more years to come.

Let’s enroll into kick-boxing classes or aikido or aerobic or let’s start swimming again, play tennis or even just jog around the block.