She's tried different diet pills and taken courses at slimming centres, but when it comes to weight, this 40-something executive is only a master of the yo-yo.

So she went to see the dietician team at Chulalongkorn University's Nutrition Clinic.

If you have a weight problem because of an ailment or your eating habits - or if you think you have one - the Nutrition Clinic can help. Opened a few months ago, it's a part of the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences' curriculum in nutrition and dietetics.

What you can expect there is a customised diet plan that will end your wait for a solution to your weight problem.

Nutrition clinics aren't common in Thailand. The hospitals pay careful attention to a patient's diet, of course, but their nutritionists are usually called in only in certain cases, like diabetes.

The Chulalongkorn clinic currently provides guidance to about 100 clients, ages 18 to nearly 70. Around 60 of these need help because they're overweight; the rest have diabetes or are between chemotherapy sessions and want to maintain a dietary balance.

There are a few who are "normal" but seek advice about maintaining their good health.

Slimming centres and diet pills can help people lose weight. And massage with special cream, the centre's Suwimol Sapwarobol acknowledges, can firm the body by stimulating the metabolism - if it's applied regularly.

Suwimol, a registered dietician, explains that the countless diet plans seen in magazines and books and on the Internet - free or otherwise - can sometimes be beneficial, but people "don't know how to adapt those plans to their own daily lifestyle".

Most such plans suggest a balanced breakfast, but you're not going to get that when you're stuck in traffic. Few people have time for a proper meal until lunch, Suwimol says. The diet gurus always warn against heavy evening meals, but you might have to take a customer out to a steakhouse.

"You can't make people change their lifestyle and schedule work to fit a diet plan," she notes.

At her clinic, the diet plan is designed to fit you. A "bioimpedance analyser" is used to measure your overall state of health, and then the dietician starts asking questions about what you eat and what you do.

Among the advice given:

l If you're in a hurry in the morning, grab a whole-wheat-bread sandwich with some vegetables and a coffee.

l If you don't pack a lunch for work, avoid deep-fried dishes and go for clear soup and veggies.

l If you really have to accompany your client to a steakhouse, order the fish and drink only water.

Suwimol was recently consulted by a 155-centimetre-tall, 86-kilogram woman executive who works nine to five at a

desk. She'd tried diet pills and slimming centres in a bid to shed 30kg.

After a long discussion, the dietician came up with a solution that had never occurred to the patient: Get more fibre by replacing her morning pasteurised fruit juice with real fruit, reduce the cream and sugar in her coffee, and have more vegetables with her meals.

Changes in lifestyle - and getting exercise - can be subtle yet rewarding. You can park your car a little further away from work so you have to do some walking. You can do the small errands yourself that you'd normally ask your secretary to do. And you can play golf.

Among the clinic's clients is a college student who's neither overweight nor underweight. Suwimol says she realised she should maintain her health now while she's still young and wanted to make sure her daily diet wasn't going to cause problems in the long run.

You don't need to wait until you get sick before you see an expert.

The clinic charges nothing for a consultation. For details, call (02) 218 1073.

Sirinya Wattanasukchai

The Nation