Going on a diet only tomorrow?

By Park Moo-jong

At the end of 2002, the entire 9,200 citizens of Wellington, a South Australian town, excluding children, launched an ambitious project to slash 3 tons or 3,000 kilograms from their total weight, 3 kilos per person at least, over the next three months.

For the success of the so-called "Welling-tonne" Project, the city council installed a huge scale on the council building roof showing the progress of the joint odyssey. At that time, 26 percent of the citizens, or 2,386 of them, showed symptoms of obesity due to their traditional dietary habit of enjoying junk food, according to wire reports then.

I have no idea whether they won the desperate war against fat 15 years ago, but would like to believe they did because they were not alone in their fight to lose weight.

Such obesity is more of our business now in South Korea, but not in North Korea where people are still suffering from a shortage of food.

A report about the "People's health and nutrition in 2016," released Monday by the Ministry of Health and Welfare shows that Korean men are getting obese, particularly those in their 30s and 40s. Yet, women are maintaining the level of 1998 at 26.4 percent.

The report found that 34.8 percent of men and 26.4 percent of women aged 19 and over were obese. These rates rival that of North America where a third of all men and women are overweight.

The government report warns that the number of obese or overweight people, which is on the rise in almost every country, as the Global Nutrition Report 2017 reports, is something we should be concerned with. Two billion of the world's 7 billion people are overweight or obese, and we have already joined them.

Being overweight or obese is the undisputed reward of gluttony. It is no wonder at all that Pope Gregory the Great in the late 6th century put gluttony on the top of the list of the Seven Deadly Sins: gluttony, lust, greed, anger, sadness, sloth and pride (also known as vanity) in that order.

To be frank, Koreans are second to none in the world in enjoying food thanks to the fabulous economic development they achieved over the past half century, producing global admiration after rising from the ashes of the devastating 1950-53 Korean War.

Many TV channels are competitively devoting themselves to making diverse food and dietary programs, dubbed in Korean "meok-bang" or "eating broadcasts," if translated literally, mobilizing actors, actresses, singers, comedians and particularly members of girl and boy bands, called "idol groups" in a horrible pursuit.

Day and night, TV stations show programs filmed in "famous" restaurants and markets both at home and abroad, only to stimulate the people's appetites, thus contributing to fattening them.

Our traditional drinking culture, notably at the workplace, is one of the main factors causing men to become obese, according to the government report. Indeed, many salaried workers have to attend get-together dinners, whether they want to or not, and "enjoy" "soju" and "samgyeopsal (pork belly)," for instance, that those on a diet should keep at arm's length.

Fortunately, however, the rate of obesity among Korean women maintains the level of 20 years ago, largely owing much to their "desperate" efforts to become slim in a society where fat women are apt to be treated poorly, frankly speaking.

Adding insult to injury is the rise of childhood obesity, mainly caused by a growing preference for fast foods such as hamburgers and pizza, among others. The obesity rate of middle and high school students is steadily rising from 8.2 percent in 2005 to 12.8 percent last year.

A WHO report also shows that childhood obesity is soaring across the world, increasing more than tenfold over the past four decades, putting millions at risk of poor health and early death.

Data from Imperial College London, published in the Lancet medical journal, shows that in 1975 there were five million obese girls, but by last year there were 50 million, while obese boys has risen six million to 74 million in the same period.

Besides junk food and soft drinks, also contributing to the rapid rise of juvenile obesity is the increase in time spent fingering smartphones, surfing the Internet in front of computers rather than playing outdoors.

A U.S. study also shows that children who watch TV for five or more hours a day are five times as likely to be overweight as those who sit before the tube for less than two hours.

Fortunately, everybody knows how to lose weight and to get slim and puts the fight on the list of what to do in his or her New Year's Resolution. But unfortunately, it is not easy for us to convert this knowledge into action. And the fight is lonely.

We know how difficult it is for us to work out every morning. Many people, thus, tend to rely on fasting only instead, declaring, "I am on a diet." Statistics show 95 percent of Americans who attempt to get in shape by dieting alone fail. We are no different in Korea.

A widely-known joke at many dinner meetings of friends comes from a fat pal, who is reluctant to join others in their eating and drinking spree. "Why don't you eat?" He answers: "Ah! You know, I am on a diet." And the others scold him, "Hey, don't you know that your diet should start from tomorrow." Then, he gave up, saying, "OK, I"ll join in." And they have peace.

Whether it was a New Year’s resolution or not, many people are still sweating to lose weight and are struggling to kill their appetite. I have to confess I am one of them.

One undisputed conclusion is: “No workout, no weight loss.” This November, the weather is good for a daily walk or a run. Better late than never.

Park Moo-jong (moojong@ktimes.com or emjei29@gmail.com) is a standing adviser of The Korea Times. He served as the president-publisher of the nation's first English newspaper founded in1951 from 2004 to 2014 after working as a reporter for the daily since 1974.