Fight Obesity 101

Passion versus frustration

2008-12-01T19:44:00.000-08:00

these were my second proposal, very different from the first one, though still young. But these also need to be improved, they are still very static, no movement and lacks expression. So I'm still exploring different illustration techniques. The next approach will be comic strips for the teaser, so I have to watch a lot of funny and witty movies so I was thinking that I should watch Kung Fu Panda to get some inspiration! I have 17 days to get my ads approved. So as they say, this is crunch time! Again..

I wish all my thesis mates and batchmates good luck!

concepts concepts concepts!!!

2008-12-01T19:25:00.000-08:00

these are my first concepts for my Kids on the Move campaign. I wanted to show the negative effects that childhood obesity has. They were rejected, oh well! Off to the next concept! :D

Wish me luck!

A or B, you decide

2008-07-27T18:18:00.000-07:00

who do you think is suffering from malnourishment?

Dalawang Mukha ng Malnutrisyon

2008-07-27T09:29:00.000-07:00

I was surprised when I saw a commercial yesterday about a documentary about double burden of malnutrition here in the Philippines. So I just finished watching the documentary, and it was funny how I felt happy and frustrated at the same time. Well, I'm a bit selfish, and quite a perfectionist, and I wanted to make a big impact on my thesis. To discuss something that isn't being tackled as much here in our country. We all know about the growing problem of obesity in adults but obesity amongst children is still new. But now that there's a documentary about my topic, I'm worried that my future jury might think that I just got the idea from the docu. So that's the selfish part talking, hehe, but I'm still very happy that finally someone is talking about the problem. As I've mentioned in my earlier posts, childhood obesity is a growing epidemic here in the Philippines.

The documentary Ang Dalawang Mukha ng Malnutrisyon, shown last July 27,2008 by ABS-CBN, delivered the message loud and clear. It tackled on the problem of double burden, on how frail and thin children are not only the victims of malnutrition. Chubby, fat, plump or whatever we prefer to overweight children are also suffering from malnutrition. The problem with malnutrition among overweight or obese children is that, normally parents do not know if their child are suffering from malnutrition. Some may even say that their child is cute and cuddly, not realizing that their might already be consequences from their children's lifestyle. Obviously, proper education among parents regarding this matter is lacking. With majority of malnourished cases being in frail thin children, the Department of Health (DOH) has focused more on this matter. The problem is, although childhood obesity is only 10% of the population, it is again, as I've mentioned before, a growing epidemic.

Problems regarding poor diet and lack of physical activities were mentioned in the documentary. They also mentioned cases wherein the child could no longer play with other children because he was always made fun of. Lack of parent's time with their children were also seen as a problem.

I found videos of the documentary in 4 parts, thank you Pinoy Channel TV, great job! :D

eight months

2008-07-22T06:50:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I posted anything here, since I am in a relaxed state, why not?

As soon as Sir Gil passed my thesis proposal, I knew that this thesis would become more than just a way to pass my final year at college. I once wrote that I'm still battling being overweight. And since I started doing my thesis, and learned all about eating right and exercising is the best way to loose all the pounds, I have again gained 10 lbs. As sad as I am about the weight gain, I have now realized that this reflected my work, I was loosing focus in my thesis and my health.

And I've confronted him about my problem and said that he'd help me get back into shape, to prepare for the following:

September - birthday (a girl has to look good for her birthday)

December - meet the parents (dundun! DUNDUN!)

February/March - defense (DUN!DUN! DUNDUN!!!)

April - anniv and Pagudpud, so excited!

and finally..the grad pic, although the schedule still remains a mystery, haha.

I know I can do it because I've done it before, and I know I have to do this because of the following:

1. myself

2. my health

3. him

4. my thesis --would you believe my proposal if I am overweight??

that's it for now, ciao!

Childhood Obesity

2008-05-18T15:58:00.000-07:00

Obesity is now a global issue and in most parts of the world, it has reached epidemic proportions in the last decade. The attendant problems with being overweight and obese had increased across developed and developing countries, in both genders and in all age groups. Technological advancement and lifestyle and cultural modernization, initially regarded as the way to enrich lives are now under reconsideration. In order to cope with the demands of this fast-paced world we inhabit, convenience has become key.

But, at what price?

But first we should identify what obesity is. As defined by the book Human Nutrition, (Geissler and Powers 11^th edition, 2005);

“Obesity is not a single entity, but it is most commonly classified by a single measure, the body mass index (BMI), a ratio of weight and height. The term overweight refers to a BMI greater or equal to 25, but is frequently adapted to refer to BMI 25-29.9, differentiating the pre-obese from the obese categories.”(p.380)

We all know that obesity in adults is steadily growing around the world. Blaming it from genetics up to their busy lives and also caring for others, it seems that adults just don't have enough time for their health. And the consequences are slowly showing worldwide. But most importantly, about 10% of children here in the Philippines are now considered obese (that is from age 12 years and below). From a country where malnutrition in children is a major problem, now childhood obesity is slowly becoming a huge threat to the communities.

The efforts to change this epidemic (among adults) are becoming more apparent. With more people becoming aware of their health, from joining the gym and buying more products that are considered to be healthy, it seems that if the "trend" of staying fit doesn't go away, then maybe we can influence the younger generation to do the same. BUT,

what is the proper way to do this?

how can we teach our children to eat healthy?

how can we pull away the external factors that influence our children to lead unhealthy lives without making them feel deprived?

These are the questions that I have to answer for my thesis, but most importantly, these are only some of the questions that our community have to answer in order for us to fight childhood obesity.

write to you later,
ains :)

Why it's personal

2008-05-10T08:38:00.000-07:00

I'm not really a writer so please bare with me. It was four years ago, I was browsing through my files looking at old photos. At that time I still liked looking at old photographs as it reminded me of the good times I've had when I was in high school. I was one of the, let's put it in good terms, the "chubby girl". We were almost 50 in our class and there were 3 of us who were on the heavy side, but it didn't bother me at all because I knew that as long as I felt good about myself and how I looked, then everything was going to be alright. As I was looking through the pictures, I saw one picture that I will always remember. It was a picture of our classmate wearing a costume and it looked like she was going to burst out of it! I felt sorry for her, how she must have felt having to wear a ridiculous costume. And as I looked closer at the picture, I was surprised to see that the person whom I felt sorry for was not my classmate but regrettably, myself. And at that moment on, I realized that I was no longer happy with how I looked and felt about myself.

And 4 years later, I am now an incoming fourth year at the University of Santo Tomas, and gladly doing a thesis, an advocacy campaign against childhood obesity. I created this blog to share with others what I have learned, based from research and my personal experience.

(4 years ago)

BEFORE

(i've always wanted to do this!)

AFTER

(by the way, im the one on the left, the other one's my bestfriend, reg :)

(the one in the middle)

Four years had gone by, 50 lbs off, a hundred books and articles read about losing weight, thousands of calories burned, and countless questions on how I can be better has changed my thesis to once an academic requirement to a personal quest. (Thank you Sir Velez for approving my proposal, yey!)

I am now re-learning and re-tracing my steps to how I lost all the weight. Hopefully, this blog will serve useful to others as others had been to me.

Write to you soon,

ains