Data from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention reveals a concerning trend. Currently, around 19% of Chinese children and adolescents aged 6 to 17 are overweight or obese. If this trend isn’t curbed effectively, that rate is projected to surge to 31.8% by 2030. Moreover, the physical and psychological issues stemming from obesity are drawing more and more attention.
Reporters from the Beijing Youth Daily visited several schools and hospitals and discovered a significant number of overweight children. In response, many schools are stepping in to help students lose weight. They’re paying special attention to students’ diets and organizing “fat loss classes” after school. Meanwhile, specialized children’s hospitals like Beijing Children’s Hospital and the Capital Institute of Pediatrics are pooling their professional resources. They’ve set up multi – disciplinary weight management clinics to offer scientific weight management plans for overweight children. However, weight management is a long – term process, not something that can be achieved quickly.
A Troubling Case: Extreme Weight Gain in Just Three Years
In late March, Xiaolin (a pseudonym), who lives in Xicheng District, came to the Capital Institute of Pediatrics with his mother. They sought help from Cao Bingyan, the director of the Endocrinology Department. Fourteen – year – old Xiaolin stands 1.7 meters tall but weighs a staggering 280 pounds. It turns out that due to his excessive eating and lack of exercise, Xiaolin’s weight has skyrocketed by 140 pounds over the past three or four years. Now, he even has trouble walking. After a thorough examination, Cao Bingyan found that Xiaolin had high blood pressure, and losing weight became an urgent matter. Given Xiaolin’s large weight base, previous lifestyle changes like exercise and diet regulation hadn’t worked well.
Considering his physical condition, the doctors decided to use medication, along with dietary and lifestyle adjustments, hoping to help him shed the pounds.
School – Led Dietary Interventions
Schools are taking the lead in addressing the issue from the dietary aspect. Take the Xiaoyueyuan Branch of Beijing No. 10 High School as an example. The school cafeteria has revamped its stalls. It now has special stalls offering nutritious meals designed to meet different needs. The “low – fat and weight – loss set meal” stall serves low – calorie, high – fiber food, such as chicken breast set meals and mixed grain rice. The “Balanced Nutrition Set Meal” stall keeps the calorie count between 500 and 600 calories per meal. Each set meal includes a serving of staple food (a mix of coarse and fine grains), a serving of high – quality protein, and two servings of vegetables.
To help students make informed choices, the school labels each dish with calorie and nutritional information, like the content of protein, fat, and carbohydrates. For instance, 150 grams of steamed fish has about 180 calories, 25 grams of protein, and 6 grams of fat. Two hundred grams of stir – fried shrimp with broccoli contains around 150 calories, 15 grams of protein, and 3 grams of dietary fiber.
This way, students can choose healthier combinations and avoid overeating high – calorie foods, explained Xi Jing, the school’s system department manager and a public nutritionist.
Xi Jing also shared that the school regularly holds nutrition knowledge lectures and healthy diet theme activities to foster students’ health awareness. There’s the “My Healthy Plate” activity, which teaches students how to balance the nutrients in their meals. And the “Food Safety Mini – Class” invites nutritionists to explain how to manage weight scientifically through diet and exercise while ensuring food safety.
Innovative Exercise Programs for Overweight Students
Besides focusing on diet, the Xiaoyueyuan Branch of Beijing No. 10 High School offers a scientific exercise system for overweight students. Building on traditional PE courses, the school has introduced an innovative PE project called the “Full Score Smart Physical Fitness Class,” developed by the Sports Technology and Health Big Data Laboratory of Peking University. This system monitors students’ exercise in real – time. It precisely analyzes the weak areas of overweight students in the five key physical qualities: speed, strength, endurance, agility, and flexibility. Using an AI diagnosis and training model, it generates professional evaluation reports and personalized “exercise prescriptions” for each student.
To make exercise more appealing, the school uses various incentives.
These include interacting with smart devices, playing online fitness games, having competitive sports events, and using personalized ID data. This makes PE classes fun and engaging. When it comes to weight monitoring, the intelligent management system of the “Full Score Smart Physical Fitness Class” continuously tracks students’ exercise data. It combines this with regular BMI index checks to comprehensively assess the effectiveness of the exercise interventions.
Related topics
