The beginning of a new year is always a popular occasion to begin diets. For many celebrants of the Lunar New Year however, the resolution to lose weight comes not at the beginning of the new year but after the long spring holidays, marked by family get-togethers and lots of tempting food.
Chu Nain-feng (祝年豐) of Tri-Service General Hospital, who specializes in cardiology and obesity-related disorders, said a wave of patients hits his office after people realize they have gained kilos over the holidays.
The extent of the feasting is evident in the nation's bloodstream.
During the Lunar New Year period, the Taipei Blood Center estimated that 13 percent of the blood donated had to be discarded for being too fatty, an increase from the normal rates of 9 percent and an extra strain on the nation's precarious blood supplies during the Lunar New Year holidays, usually accompanied by a lull in donations.
"Normally, blood plasma is a clear, yellowish liquid," said Lin Su-guan (
More could be at stake than a wasted bag of blood, however.
"We are concerned about the health of our donors. Blood clouded with fat could be a warning sign of inefficient metabolism or simply too much fat consumption," she said.
Like New Year resolutions all over the world, impatience and lack of staying power are frequent sources of failure.
"I have people coming into my clinic wanting to lose 10kg or even 20kg in a month," Chu said. "But losing weight at that rate could result in dangerously elevated levels of uric acid, electrolyte imbalance and ketoacidosis."
"Others tell me they really want to lose the weight, but then balk at making return appointments," he added.
Although many come into his weight-loss clinics for the sake of vanity, to Chu, the greater issue at hand is the correlation between obesity and metabolic diseases such as diabetes.
"There's no one single factor, but obesity in this country, including childhood obesity, has grown tremendously in the past two decades," Chu said.
And for those seeking the stick-thin look?
"Sometime women with a body mass index of 20 or 19 still come to me seeking to lose weight," he said. "I tell them to go straight home."
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