Yesterday was World Obesity Day. I hate to be the guy who complains, but the numbers are scary.

Here are some stats from the recent Economic Survey:

23-24% of Indians are already overweight or obese (in 2019); this number was ~10% twenty years back. I am guessing it must have gotten a lot worse in the last 6 years.

3.3 crore children were obese in 2020 → projected 8.3 crore by 2035. Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are one of the leading causes. Their sales went from 0.9 (₹7,500 crore) to $ 38 (₹316,000 crore) between 2006 and 2019. Obesity nearly doubled in the same period.

UPF sales grew over 150% just between 2009 and 2023. The acceleration is getting faster, not slower.

Even children under 5 aren’t spared. Excess weight prevalence jumped from 2.1% to 3.4% in just 5 years (2015-2021).

I don’t know what else to say apart from restating the obvious:

Try to eat homemade food and get quality ingredients. The more meals you eat outside, the more garbage that goes into your body.

Question the source of food, be it your milk, pulses, or anything else. The quality matters.

If nothing else, at least walk 30 minutes every day. Build a fitness habit first, then start with strength training and so on.

Sleep 7-8 hours. Bad sleep makes you hungrier and lazier the next day.

Keep your kids away from packaged snacks as much as possible. Habits formed at 8 will follow them at 40.

Less screen time, more movement. Touch some grass, stare at the sky, and move!

On a different note, I just read that major Indian pharma companies are preparing to launch GLP-1 drugs in India after the patent expires this month. These are the same drugs behind the Ozempic craze globally. I’m wondering about what the first and second-order effects will be.

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