Free consultancy for the obese held in Chengdu

Li Kai,left, a doctor with the No. 3 People's Hospital of Chengdu in Sichuan province, offers free consultancy to an overweight man on Monday morning. Monday is the World Day to Combat Obesity. [Photo/Chinadaily.com.cn]

Huang Yanbo stands at 150 cm but weighs 80 kg.

"I was 65 kg two years ago. But I have gained 15 kg since. My husband says I am snoring at night," said the worried 42-year-old to Li Kai, a doctor with the department of respiration medicine in the No. 3 People’s Hospital of Chengdu in Sichuan province.

While telling her to eat less and exercise more, Li asked her to have a check-up to see if something is wrong with her endocrine glands. He also suggested she wear a respirator which could prevent snoring.

This was the scene in a spacious hall in the prestigious Sichuan hospital on Monday morning experts from its department of respiratory medicine, endocrinology, cardiology, nutrition, obstetrics and gynecology and metabolic surgery sat together to offer free consultancy to overweight and obese people.

Monday, May 11, is the World Day to Combat Obesity. According to the International Diabetes Federation, nearly one-third of the world population is overweight or obese. In China, 43.6 percent of the population, or 600 million people, are overweight or obese.

Many people suffer from being overweight and obesity because they have unhealthy eating habits. Accompanied by her husband, Cao Yuqun, a 65-year-old overweight pensioner, sought the advice of Yu Wanping, an expert with the hospital’s department of nutrition.

Asking for the medical history of the retired worker, Yu prescribed a menu for her three meals. “I suggest she have millet congee, corn, low-fat milk, one egg and some cold vegetables for breakfast, coarse cereals, fish and bean curd for lunch and coarse cereals, steamed eggplant and seaweed soup for dinner,” she said.

Li Jia, a 30-year-old former cabby, stands at 167 cm but weighs 160 kg.

"He is too fat to work now. We will have an operation on him and turn his gastric pouch into a small one in the shape of a banana. The normal gastric pouch is in the shape of a water bag," said Liu Yanjun, an expert in the field of metabolic surgery.

"With a smaller gastric pouch, he will not have as big an appetite," Liu said.