Slimming with Chinese Characteristics

By INESA PLESKACHEUSKAYA

Over-weight children receive training from their coach at a Weight Reducing Summer Camp.

AS recently as twenty years ago there was nil likelihood of seeing an overweight person on any Chinese street. Ample and hard physical labor and limited rations were among the main reasons. Today, one in five Beijingers is obese. Why? Specialists blame modernization and resultant changes in life style.

With this information in mind, I visited the famous Aimin Weight Reduction Hospital in Tianjin to witness their impressive achievements for myself and find out how they do it. The hospital won an entry in the 2000 Guinness Book of World Records when it helped Meng Qingang from Harbin lose 80 kilograms in 100 days -- the fastest and largest weight loss ever. Meng went on to lose 160 kg during one year of treatment. 

Upon arriving at the Aimin hospital, my first impression was of a preponderance of young patients. My guide to the secrets of slimming, Doctor Su Zhusin, confirmed that Aimin patients are generally 12-25 years old, and that obesity in China is mostly among young people. According to statistics, almost one third of children under 15 years old in China are obese.  Experts cite the family planning policy, based on a demographic ratio of 6 adults to one child, as one cause, and the changing Chinese life style as the other.

Aimin Hospital treats several thousand patients a year. Some, like Yao Wen, come back. Yao Wen is from Jilin Province. He is 20 years old and a student of law. Says Yao, “The first time I came here I lost 100 kg in one year. But when I went home I resumed my usual life: eating a lot and virtually not moving. My weight quickly returned. Now I am determined to make a change, because my girlfriend says she would like me to lose some weight.”

Aimin weight reduction doesn’t come cheap: the first month of treatment costs 6,000 RMB and those following 5,000 RMB. But high prices do not stem its flow patients because its methods are proven effective.

The daily schedule for Aimin patients is: Wake up at 6 am, do 20-30 minutes of morning exercise, then go to be weighed. Doctor Su says that this is the most exciting moment of the whole day. Young people queuing for scales animatedly discuss each other’s progress and compare notes. Then it is time for breakfast, after which comes the acupuncture session.   

Meng Qinggang wearing the pants he wore before his weight reducing treatment.

Acupuncture is a method of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) effectively used for treatment of various diseases, from insomnia to tobacco addiction. Its basic function still holds many mysteries for modern medical scientists. Chinese practitioners explain it this way: needles applied to fixed points of meridians along which vital qi energy circulates either block or stimulate its flow. In Aimin Hospital acupuncture applied to special points in the external ear is used to blunt the patient’s appetite. In cases where patients are extremely overweight, however, acupuncture to the auricle is not enough, and in order to stimulate internal organs, improve digestion and allow calories to be burnt faster needles are applied to points over the whole body.

After acupuncture comes ninety minutes of physical exercise: aerobics and dance, jogging, volleyball, basketball, badminton and swimming. Doctor Su says that any physical activity is good, but warns against overdoing it as over-reaching one’s strength harms the heart.

After physical exercise it is time for lunch, which was the time when I arrived at the hospital. I expected to see tasteless porridge, over-cooked vegetables and not a morsel of meat. Imagine my astonishment when I was served an enormous portion of rice (porridge, but not as expected), slightly stewed vegetables and – surprise, surprise! – stewed beef with potatoes (very tasty). All the dieters I could see were eating their fill, and there appeared to be no limits on the amount they ate. Some even asked for second helpings.

Seeing my surprise, Doctor Su explained: patients eat this way just once a day. Breakfast and dinner consist of fruits only. It is not recommended to bring food or carbonated drinks into rooms, but neither is it officially prohibited.

After lunch is an hour of rest. Patients can do whatever they like –sleep, read or do chores like laundry. As people stay in the hospital for months at a time there are many routine tasks to perform.

After rest there is more physical exercise, dinner and exercises again to end the day. Patients go to bed at 10 pm. Doctor Su believes that a healthy person needs 6, maximum 7, hours of sleep a day. 

Added to this well-defined and observed day regimen is a course of tablets developed by Aimin doctors according to traditional Chinese medicine prescriptions. Each patient goes on an individual course of tablets, depending on his\her organism’s specificity.

A Japanese friend comes to China to join the weight reducing team.

Doctor Su Zhusin explained, “When I first meet a patient I ask him\her a lot of questions about illnesses he\she contracted as a child, his\her usual daily routine, what kind of food he\she likes, what he\she likes to do in their spare time, and the body weight of his\her parents and grandparents. It is important to have information from women about their menstruation because it has strong influence on the slimming process. I spend a couple of hours on these questions as the smallest details can make all the difference to the treatment.”

I talked to a young man named Zhou Jizhou from Datong City in Shanxi Province. His 196 cm height easily qualifies him to be a top basketball player, but Zhou has never played any sports, having always preferred to indulge himself in food. As a result, at the age of 19 he weighs 171 kg. This is 10 kilos less than when he first arrived, two weeks ago. Zhou’s aim is to lose 60 kg in three months. It was his mother who sent him to the hospital and who is footing the bill.  

Doctor Su says that Zhou Jizhou’s goal is reachable, “To lose weight in our hospital is not that difficult and our system works perfectly. The hardest thing is staying away from here. Many of our patients leave us slim but then resume their bad habits and indolent life style upon getting home.”

What must you do to stay slender and not be a patient at Aimin Hospital? Says Doctor Su, “My advice is very simple, little more than common sense. Do more exercise and stop bad habits like eating fatty foods. Instead opt for high-protein, low-heat foods. Regularity is also very important. Breakfast should be between 6 am and 8 am, lunch between noon and 1 pm, and dinner between 5 pm and 7 pm.

Aimin Hospital methods have proved very effective. There are now 22 such hospitals in China and they are opening in other parts of Asia and even Europe.

INESA PLESKACHEUSKAYA is the Beijing bureau chief of the Belorussian national newspaper Belarus Today and the National TV channel ONT.