New Delhi: Making a strong pitch for fighting obesity, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday urged people to use less oil in food and also pass on the challenge of reducing oil intake by 10 percent to 10 others.
In his monthly Mann Ki Baat radio broadcast, Modi said using less oil in food and dealing with obesity is not just a personal choice but also our responsibility towards our family.
Modi also played out messages from double Olympic medallist javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra and boxing champion Nikhat Zareen who urged people to adopt healthy lifestyles.
During the opening of the National Games in Dehradun, I raised a very important topic, which has started a new discussion in the country – this topic is #39; obesity and #39;. To become a fit and healthy nation, we will certainly have to deal with the problem of obesity, and quot; Modi said.
In his message played out during the broadcast, Chopra said, and quot;I somehow relate to this thing because when I started going to the ground, I was also quite overweight and when I started training and eating well, my health improved a lot and after that when I became a professional athlete, I got a lot of help in that too.
He also urged people to avoid fried food.
Recently our prime minister said the oil used in food should be reduced by up to 10% because many times we eat a lot of fried food items which have a huge impact on obesity. So I would like to tell everyone to avoid these things and take care of their health, Chopra said.
In her message, Zareen said, I am a two-time world boxing champion. As our Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji has mentioned about obesity in and Mann Ki Baat and I think it and a national concern, we should be serious about our health because obesity is spreading so fast in our India, we should stop it and we should try to follow a healthy lifestyle as much as possible.
During the broadcast, cardiac surgeon Dr Devi Shetty and #39;s message was also shared in which he said obesity today is not a cosmetic problem but a very serious medical problem.
The majority of youngsters in India today are obese. The main cause of obesity today is poor quality of food intake especially excess intake of carbohydrates that is rice, chapati, and sugar and of course large consumption of oil, he said.
Modi said excessive use of oil in food can cause many diseases like heart disease, diabetes, and hypertension.
By making small changes in our food habits, we can make our future stronger, fitter, and disease-free, he said.
Therefore, without delay, we must increase our efforts in this direction and implement it in our lives. We can all do this together in a very playful and effective way. For example, today after this episode of Mann Ki Baat. I will request and challenge 10 people if they can reduce oil in their food by 10%. And I will also urge them to pass on the same challenge to 10 new people. I am sure this will help a lot in fighting obesity, the prime minister said.
