Surge in obesity of Thailand’s monks a concern

Religious offerings of sugary drinks and fatty foods might bring good luck to Buddhist devotees in Thailand, but they’ve created a major health crisis for the monks consuming them. Nearly half of the country’s 300,000 holy men are believed to be obese and suffering from chronic diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes and high cholesterol, a study has found. Now the revered monastic order is being urged to diet and exercise to shed those excess pounds.
"Obesity in our monks is a ticking time bomb," Dr. Jongjit Angkatavanich, a nutrition and diet expert at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, told the Bangkok Post.

Thai monks eating at a house blessing

Monks typically receive donations of juice, tea and coffee, and dishes laden with fat and sugar from Buddhist faithful hoping for good karma in this life and the next. But these offerings are having unintended consequences for monks, who literally can't refuse them. Academics and religious and heath officials and academics have now launched a new campaign to promote leaner clerical living by weaning monks off unhealthy food, teach them how to prepare nutritional balanced meals and encouraging them to exercise. The aim is to help the monks lead longer healthier lives and also to reduce medical fees as the the government covers such costs for members of the clergy. The university’s Faculty of Allied Heath Sciences university has teamed up with religious organisations to launch a national programme to combat monk obesity. The emphasis was on preparing meals with added protein, fibre and calcium and encouraging monks to increase their physical activity. The results were immediate. Among 82 monks with obesity problems who were attending religious programmes at the college, the clerics lost 2.2 pounds (1kg) on average and reduced their waistlines by more than half an inch during the eight-week programme. One monk said that he shed as much as 22 pounds (10 kgs). Chulalongkorn Medical Hospital has also provided monks with a specially-designed girdle to wear so that they feel the squeeze if they over-eat and gain weight.