Dear Aunt Silvia,
I am a young lady and a university student. I have been overweight all my life and have failed totally to reduce my weight. My weight has made me suffer from depression and I always keep to myself.

At my age I have never dated, and feel very sad when I see my peers in happy relationships. What do I do to loose my weight and regain my self confidence?
Diane

Dear Diane,
You are suffering from obesity which is causing your depression. Obesity is a very bad disease and unfortunately most children your age today are obese due to poor lifestyle.

Many parents today are not aware that they poorly feed their children, thinking that eating French fries and chicken, or red meat every day is healthy, when truly speaking its not.

You alone can now take charge of your health; you are risking suffering from diabetes type 2, heart disease or chronic asthma due to your being obese. All these diseases can be avoided early.

Start by doing some little walk when going to college in the morning or you can also go for swimming on the weekends. I have seen teenagers trying to loose weight by using all the wrong methods out here which can be life threatening.

Do not try to deny yourself food at any given time that you feel your body needs; instead you can be eating in small portions. Also do not try to burn your intestines by drinking too much of concentrated lime juice as some people do.

You also need to change your food habits, try to eat healthily by starting out your day with brown bread and black sugar less tea if you can.

For lunch if you were a meaty person, try out on fresh vegetables, salads, with little rice and juices for a while. If you feel the meat cannot be 100% avoided, eat white meat like fish and chicken instead of red meats like the beef and goat meet.

For supper you can try out on whole wheat bread and some soup and sleep on that.

All said, before you start going on diet, you need to see your doctor so that he recommends the type of regimen that suits your weight and health, and also be helped with the depression.

A journey of a thousand miles starts with a step. It is your life so you need to take charge of it yourself. As you embark on this beautiful journey of staying healthy, I wish you the best and hopefully after your studies, you get to meet the man of your dreams, it’s never too late.

Ends