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The standard for health

Park Yong-woo

Weight-management physician · Family medicine specialist · professor at the Center for Health Promotion, Kangbuk Samsung Hospital

He looks at restoring a body that has broken down, not at a number on a scale

  • Korea's first obesity clinic, 1991
  • 35 years · 20,000 patients
  • Switch-On Diet
  • Family medicine specialist
Portrait coming soon
PROFILE · introduction

Who he is

Park Yong-woo is a family medicine specialist who opened the first obesity clinic in Korea in 1991. In the 35 years since, he has treated more than 20,000 patients.

His diagnosis has been consistent for a long time: people do not gain weight because they eat too much, they gain weight because the body has broken down. So rather than pushing a number down first, he chooses to switch stalled fat metabolism back on. In reduced-salt jeotgal he fixes the salt standard before the taste, in exactly the same order. Set the standard, then look for the answer inside it.

Current post
Professor at the Center for Health Promotion, Kangbuk Samsung Hospital · clinical professor, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine
Specialty
Family medicine specialist · obesity · metabolism
Education
SNU College of Medicine · master's in epidemiology, SNU Graduate School of Public Health · doctorate in preventive medicine, Korea University College of Medicine
Practice
Since 1991 · more than 20,000 patients
PATH · the road here

What he did to get here

  1. 1991

    Korea's first obesity clinic

    He began treating obesity as a field of its own. It was the first clinic of its kind in Korea.

  2. Former posts

    Seoul National University Hospital · Columbia

    After a fellowship in family medicine at Seoul National University Hospital, he worked as a research professor at the obesity research center of Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.

  3. Former posts

    Head of the obesity and body management clinic, Kangbuk Samsung Hospital

    As a professor of family medicine he led the hospital's obesity practice.

  4. Books

    Switch-On Diet: Turning Fat Metabolism Back On

    It sets out the eating and exercise method that switches stalled fat metabolism back on in three weeks. Most of his later books rest on the same view.

  5. Today

    Professor, Center for Health Promotion, Kangbuk Samsung Hospital

    He also holds a clinical professorship at Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine and is in his 35th year of treating patients with obesity.

VALUES · principles

What he sets out to protect

  • Change the body, not the number

    Aim at the reading on the scale and the number moves up and down while the body stays as it was. What has to recover is metabolism, not a number.

  • Weight is a result, not a cause

    People do not gain weight from eating a lot but because the ability to burn fat for energy has degraded. Cut back the result and leave the cause, and it returns.

  • Set the standard first

    Decide what to hold and how far, then look for a method. He does not reverse the order and lower the standard to fit the method.

  • He does not follow fashion

    Diets have fashions, but the way a body recovers does not change. He recommends only what has been verified.

“To treat obesity you have to step away from the numbers and restore the body.”

EBS Class-e, Park Yong-woo: Obesity — Change the Body, Not the Number
WORKS · what he has left

Results you can verify

Books

  • Switch-On Diet: Turning Fat Metabolism Back On
  • My Body Revolution
  • Hormesis and Intermittent Fasting
  • Food Addiction
  • Professor Park Yong-woo's New Human Diet
  • Park Yong-woo's My Optimal Diet

Practice and research

  • Opened Korea's first obesity clinic in 1991 · more than 20,000 patients treated over 35 years
  • Research professor at the obesity research center, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons
  • Former head of the obesity and body management clinic, Kangbuk Samsung Hospital
ROLE · planned scope of collaboration

His role in this product

The place this person holds among the four axes: taste, health, tradition and maturation.

  • Setting the salt standard first

    The target 40% reduction in salt content is set first on clinical grounds, and recipes are explored only within that limit. The target is not relaxed for flavor.

  • Redefining jeotgal as a protein side dish

    Composition and role are designed so it carries the protein and savory depth of a meal, rather than being a salty relish eaten in small amounts.

  • Designing the 50 g single-meal portion

    A reduced-salt design means little if intake is not managed. The baseline is a portion pack in which sodium per person per meal can be calculated.

  • Running the verification gate

    His planned role is to review the recipes from the dietitian, the chef, the jeotgal master artisan and the bamboo-salt heritage trainee for sensory quality, nutrition and acceptability, and to request revision when they fall short.

* The detailed scope of participation is under discussion and will be updated once confirmed

The other three

See all four

Sources

Compiled from publicly available material. If anything here is inaccurate, tell us through the contact page and we will correct it.