City Weekend discovers that blaming our growing waistlines on beef chow mein is only part of the battle of the bulge

The scolding from our mothers still reverberates as we sit down to each meal, "Eat your vegetables, don't you know there are children starving in China?" Today though, reports Barry Popkin, nutrition professor at the University of North Carolina, there are more obese people in the world than starving and China is at the helm of this dramatic shift.

Obesity is often attributed to an unhealthy diet of rich fats and sedentary lifestyles – working in offices, watching TV, or ¥8 DVDs, and riding in cars. Sounds like China all right. So as the Middle Kingdom faces an obesity epidemic with about 18 million people obese and 137 million overweight, we have to ask, Is China also making us fat?

"It is a complex issue, but it is generally accepted that Western women gain weight when they come to China," says Anne-Laure Autier, a weight management program manager at Beijing's International SOS, whose clients are mostly women. Ex-pat wives, who move to China for their husbands' career, typically have a decent amount of spare time that is filled with tea parties, ladies brunches and charity dinners. "A great part of their life, compared to the active ones they had led in their own country, suddenly becomes boring and focused on 'eating events,'" explains Autier. Western men struggle with the ready abundance of cheap alcohol and the Chinese "ganbei" banquet culture, says Autier, but are less likely than women to pack on the pounds due to excessively busy work schedules.

And here's the kicker ladies, women are biologically destined to gain weight more easily than men. Usually it takes more for a man to gain weight because of their muscle mass. "Muscles, even at ease, are consuming energy, thus burning calories," says Autier. "Women have naturally less muscular mass, so while a man will burn a lot of calories even in his sleep, a woman might only burn a third of that. It's so unfair!" Furthermore, due to what Autier calls "nature's purpose," a woman's body will store extra calories more easily in preparation for a future pregnancy.

Anna Froehlich, a teacher at Harrow International School in Beijing, agrees that foreigners in China generally lead less healthy lives than they would at home. She attributes this to eating out often, excessive alcohol intake, poor exercise habits and a general sense of transience. With everything from dining out to alcohol costing a fraction of what it does back home in London, Froehlich asks, "What the hell, why not treat yourself?" She also finds that the culture of eating in China, and the ease of eating out or ordering in, has contributed to her weight gain. "In the West you have one plate of food and then you are done," says Froehlich, "but with Chinese food there are lots of plates and you just keep picking. Plus beer is weaker so it is easy to drink a lot more."

In our home countries, Autier points out, we don't eat out everyday because restaurant food is more expensive than food prepared at home. Restaurant food is also richer, and specifically in China, restaurant dishes contain a lot of peanut oil (much less healthy than olive oil). "In Beijing the food is oily," says Autier, "so even though we eat the same amount of food that we ate in our own countries, we are eating more bad oils and that causes weight gain."

Western women also tend to be more self-conscious when arriving in China because there is a tendency to compare themselves with the sea of petite Asian women. When Western women gain a bit of weight, their curves are accentuated, making the difference between Asian women all the more apparent.

"They just don't understand our curves," says Froehlich, remembering a frustrating experience having a ball gown made. "Hips, waist that dips in and chest. Guys don't have this problem."

Richard Baimbridge, a yoga instructor in Shanghai, says he lost weight after arriving in China, but sees that it is easy for foreigners to gain weight here. "Shanghai is a very indoor culture and people tend to eat a lot, entertain a lot, drink a lot and work a lot. That doesn't leave much time for exercise." Baimbridge attributes his fit frame to his devotion to yoga and vegetarian leanings. Chinese food, he says, isn't unhealthy and shouldn't be blamed for our growing waistlines. Traditional Chinese food focuses more on vegetables and grains (see the sidebar for a West vs. East calorie comparison), but when Westerners dine out in the Middle Kingdom, we too often indulge our carnivore tooth. (How often have you devoured a bouquet of chuar at 3 A.M. after a night of drinking?) Our lifestyle choices in China, including the urge to over-indulge because we can, contribute to weight gain, with women getting the short end of the biological stick.

Unless you are strict about cooking healthy meals at home and lay off the restaurants and liquor, it is difficult to keep slim. There is no magic way to control weight, but in China ex-pats face an extra challenge in terms of self discipline – even though that plate of fried rice and Tsingtao is only ¥10, we can still say no.

So how do you keep off the extra padding? We asked the experts. "Exercise," says Dr. Annie Chu from Shanghai's Sun-Tec Medical Center. Duh, but getting to the gym everyday for at least 30 minutes, as she recommends, may not fit into our busy schedules. "So turn on some light music and try practicing yoga at your desk for 20 or 30 minutes during your lunch break," she advises. We await the day when mothers everywhere will tell their children, "Do your yoga, don't you know there are obese children in America?"

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The Daily Grind

Local ex-pats sound off on their eating and exercise habits**

Richard Baimbridge, 37, Shanghai**
In the morning I wake up, practice tai chi and then ride my bike to the yoga center for hot yoga. You shouldn't eat two hours before practicing yoga, and I practice and teach all day, so I only eat light snacks like liquid yogurt in the morning or Chinese noodles in the afternoon with trail mix as a snack. For dinner I like to cook Japanese or Thai at home, go out for Sichuan fish or head to a sushi bar for lots of good quality sake. Morning yoga is a great hangover cure.

Anna Froehlich, 30, Beijing
In the mornings I cycle to work (10 minutes), and since I teach, I'm on my feet all day. I try to get to the gym twice a week to swim for about 20 minutes and I just joined a running club and circuit club at the school. For breakfast I eat the same thing I always have, tomatoes on toast. Since I'm trying to shed the extra bit of weight I've put on since moving here, lunch is usually a garden salad, a little meat and some fruit. My boyfriend likes to eat out in the evenings so I only get to cook at home about once a week