Inside myself I don't feel so fat ( 2003-10-30 08:54) (China Daily)
Most teenage boys and girls are busy preparing
lessons for the coming mid-term exams as the autumn school semester has entered
its eighth week.
But Pu Xiaobo, a Shanghai teenager, spends his days receiving acupuncture
treatment and doing exercises in Tianjin at the Aimin Weight Reduction Hospital.
Pu, 14, is not alone.
All of his 57 pals in the live-in treatment programme are either teens or in
their 20s.
Kato Dai was obviously the biggest one in the group and attracts the most
attention.
He weighed 294 kilograms when he came to the hospital from Japan in early
August.
Early on, he was quiet and weird, but after losing more than 50 kilograms, he
became friendly and closer to his Chinese friends. Though he still barely speaks
Chinese, he grins splendidly to whoever talks to him.
Talk of foods most Chinese crave in the autumn - when most people are
savoring food to make up calories lost in summer - is normal. But as obesity
becomes a social and medical problem everywhere in China, especially in
Northeast and North China, according to Shi Lidong, director of the hospital,
people are encouraged to refrain from "making up for" what they may have lost in
the heat of summer.
Shi and his colleagues definitely have not seen the number of outpatient
visitors dwindle as this autumn arrived. The number remains around 400 every
day.
Slaves to obesity
For 11 years since the hospital's establishment, Shi and his colleagues have
maintained and improved the treatment programme combining traditional Chinese
medicine and acupuncture with exercise.
They believe the excessive appetite, lack of exercise and undue absorption of
nutrients into the body are culprits that contribute to obesity.
"Teenagers are spending more and more time watching television or playing at
their computers and they seldom go out to play. Meanwhile, the space in the
cities for children's exercise activities is growing smaller and smaller," Shi
said.
Statistics from the Chinese Ministry of Education show that the number of
primary and middle school students suffering from obesity increases by about 10
per cent every year.
And 80 per cent of the patients signing up for the in-house weight loss
programme have been students under 22.
"This fact can well reflect the worrying obesity situation in young people,"
Shi said.
As a result, every member in the live-in programme has a similar story to
share.
Now able to walk at a fast and brisk pace, Pu, who has lost 22 kilograms in
14 weeks from an original 94 kilos, recalled that just before he came to
Tianjin, he seldom walked.
"It was really tiring for me to move," Pu said.
At the age of six, he felt that he was becoming bigger and bigger. Playing
computer games, watching television, and eating snacks were the pastime joys he
could recollect. At least two times a week, he would visit KFC and MacDonald's.
Unlike his fellow classmates, he had to call a taxi to go to school. However,
with his increasingly bigger body, climbing stairs to his classroom became more
and more of an impossible mission for him. What made him feel even worse was
that students around him frequently jeered at him.
A year ago, Pu suspended his learning at school and finally made up his mind
to lose weight.
Cheng Jian, 20, from Beijing, was full of valour and vigour, running like a
small tank on the basketball court. Having lost 30 kilos of weight, his
122-kilo-heavy body looks much more slim.
He had been very much pampered by his parents and grandparents at home.
"I was fed all kinds of nutriment in my childhood, because they hoped that I
could grow into a healthy and strong young man," he recalled.
However, from the age of seven, 10 kilos of weight were added to his body
steadily each year, while his appetite grew larger and larger.
"After walking for only a few steps, I would gasp for breath," Cheng
remembered. Later it became increasingly difficult for him to take care of
himself. "I could barely bend from my waist to pick up the things on the
ground," Cheng said.
Treatment offered
Traditional Chinese medicine preaches that matching the right medication can
cure the right ailments.
Eight o'clock every morning, these big young live-in patients come to the
outpatient department at the hospital to receive a regular acupuncture treatment
for half an hour, which plays a big part in the programme.
Twenty needles are inserted in various points of the belly and legs, for the
purpose of curbing the appetite and absorbing functions of stomach and
intestines as well as making the fat metabolize, dissolve and get discharged
from the body, according to Li Wenjuan, chief doctor in the outpatient
department.
Small white tissue patches on various points on the earlobes could be seen on
most of the outpatients coming out of the hospital. A kind of traditional
Chinese medicine is buried under the patches and is thought to reduce the
patients' appetite.
The patients also take some supplementary traditional Chinese medicines, but
it does not carry the effect of weight loss. "It is only for the purpose of
clearing the stomach and regulating the flow of vital energy," said Shi Lidong.
"Obese people generally have other combined diseases, and these traditional
Chinese medicines have a nursing effect on them," he added.
Besides following a strict dietary programme, Pu and his pals also arranged
to do regular exercises every day following directions from three coaches.
Those exercises include basketball, badminton, swimming, calisthenics,
walking, jogging and dancing.
A shuttle bus takes them to a middle school, where they exercise at the
school's gymnasium.
On the badminton court, Kato Dai looked like a small hill standing on the
half-court. Seldom moving his feet, he could always hit back the balls.
Frequently, he would make a few drops, which could be barely rescued by his
opponent. At that time, broad grins again appeared on his big, dark face.
A few months ago, he could hardly walk and could only sit on the bench
watching, but now he has become a skillful badminton player, said Li Ying.
On the second floor above the court, two boys and a girl walked around in
circles.
"There are some problems with their lungs, so they cannot take part in the
strenuous exercise," said coach Wang Xihong.
For the outpatients in the hospital, the doctors also made a particular
dieting and exercise plan for them according to their different conditions,
assisting in their battles against obesity.
The outpatients come to the hospital two or three times a week for
acupuncture treatment. The course of treatment lasts for three months.
And the 90 days of hard work have produced good results.
"I am becoming much slimmer now, especially at my waistline... about 18
centimetres smaller," Cheng said proudly, placing his hands on his big belly.
A most obvious difference from months ago is that he can walk really fast and
running is not just a wish anymore.
Though still looking a bit bigger than "normal" boys, he feels really
comfortable with his present physical condition, he said.
After experiencing the hardship of weight reduction, Pu said that he will
exercise more when he returns home.
"I believe I've got the willpower to control my behaviour," he said. "I never
want to come back here again."