A LOT TO BURN: A nutritionist measures the weight of a girl who wants to lose weight at a nutrition center in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, on February 17 (CFP)

Xing Hong is a 38-year-old full-time housewife. She is proud of the praise she receives from friends, who call her an ingenious cook because of the broad repertoire of delicacies she creates in the kitchen.

But in recent days her pride has been tempered with a new understanding that her food might be injuring her family.

FOOD TOWER: Visitors appreciate colorful fruits and vegetables at the West China International Agricultural Products Fair held in Chongqing Municipality (ZHOU HENGYI)

Recently, Xing attended a lecture by Zhou Yongshan, a well-known Chinese health expert. Zhou told the audience that the human body is like a precise machine, which needs to be maintained with care. Like machines, he said, the human body has its own maintenance manual but many neglect to learn what their bodies need and what they do not need.

The lecture brought her family's eating habits into focus. Xing's daughter, Ding Wei, is 11 years old, 1.3 meters tall and weighs 55 kg, far more than the average of 30 kg for girls her height. Ding has also been diagnosed with diabetes.

"I was shocked by the two events, especially my daughter's illness," said Xing.

"With the development of living conditions, many parents blindly force their children to eat many kinds of food. In their minds, different foods provide better nutrition to their children," said Ji Chengye, a professor with Peking University's Institute of Child and Adolescent Health. This concept is incorrect, he said, and leads to an unreasonable diet structure that gives "diseases of the rich" like diabetes a foothold in Chinese society.

Yin Shi'an, Vice Director of the Chinese Nutrition Society's Maternal and Child Nutrition Committee, agreed that many diseases today are caused by an excessive diet and imbalanced nutrition.

Food master

In order to change her family's lives for the better, Xing decided to learn more about diet and health. She found nutritionist Wen Wen.

In 2008, Wen, a medical science graduate student, earned a public nutritionist certificate issued by China's Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security. She picked up a part-time job in a health institution where she observes the diets of clients and then creates balanced and nutritious alternatives based on age, height, weight and exercise.

"The job of a nutritionist is to research the relationship between food's nutrition and a human body's function," said Yang Liu, Executive Chairman of the China Cuisine Association.

"It's not easy to be a public nutritionist," said Wen. She said a public nutritionist must understand the nutrition theories of traditional Chinese and Western medicine and also have an understanding of food sanitation and processing. "A qualified public nutritionist must at the same time be a doctor, a cook and a speaker."