Veronika Stepanova: “In the subway or the airport, I am always shocked – how many young people around with obvious signs of obesity” – Skiing

Olympic champion in skiing Veronika Stepanova attended to the problem of obesity in Russia.

“We, skiers, live much of the time in our little world. Either on our own “in the forest”, or at the training camp we cross paths with other athletes – with athletes in Kislovodsk, with hockey players in Raubichi, etc.

From this, a feeling is born that everyone is like us – with elastic muscles and a sporty gait. False feeling! Every time I find myself in the Moscow or St. Petersburg metro or even at the airport, I have a culture shock – how many young people around with obvious signs of obesity!

It looks like I’m not the only one. “The Ministry of Health has calculated that over the past twenty years in Russia there have been six times more obese teenagers. If at the beginning of the 2000s there were 150 overweight people per 100 thousand children, then in recent years – all 900 … every year the average body mass index in adolescents adds 1-2 percent.

I think that I will not be mistaken if I say that among my peers (I am 22) things are even worse. When we become adults, when we leave our parents, what do we do first? That’s right – what mom tried to ban.

Now a ten-year-old teenager (my sister, for example) knows perfectly well that the main cause of obesity is malnutrition. All those extra calories from white bread, buns, burgers, sausage, candy, soda, chips…

But in addition to calories, there are such “wonderful ingredients” as food colors, flavors, preservatives, stabilizers, thickeners, emulsifiers, antioxidants … Also trans fats and carcinogens. Didn’t forget anything?

And yet we continue to eat it. And get fat. It’s just that some people then drive it with training, while others do not.

It turns out, by the way, not for everyone, ”wrote Stepanova.