PRAGUE (AFP) - At the obesity management clinic in the centre of Prague, specialist Doctor Marie Kunesova is halfway through her day's patients.
Her patient list is growing just like Czechs' waistlines thanks to the bad habits left over from the communist era and new ones picked up since the fall of the regime in 1989.
It's a scene repeated throughout central and eastern Europe, which has one of the world's highest obesity rates.
"We have adopted an unhealthier lifestyle over the past 15 years; we are spending more time sitting in front of computers and televisions. Before, people at least walked to the local food shop every day; now they drive to the hypermarket once a fortnight," Kunesova, president of the Czech Society for the Study of Obesity, told AFP.
While obesity is a huge problem worldwide the combination of old and new has hit central and eastern Europe unexpectedly hard as the rise of consumerism brought a flood of cars, computers and cable television.
"To a large extent the older generations are continuing with the traditional unhealthy, high fat diet while children want to eat the new heavily-marketed fast food," added Kunesova.
"Under communism there wasn't much to be happy about so I sought solace in food and that's a hard habit to break. Now I also sit at home more than before, watching TV and videos and listening to CDs," said Eva, a 66-year-old patient at the clinic who weighs 148 kilograms (326 pounds).
In the former Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Slovakia half of the population are above the normal weight while four-fifths of Latvian women, three-quarters of Czech men and more than three-fifths of Hungarian women are overweight or obese.
And throughout the region the problem is growing.
In the Czech Republic for example, 22 percent of men and 25 percent of women are obese compared to the early 1990s when the rate was 16 percent and 20 percent respectively.
"The stress and poverty of the post-communist period transformed into obesity. Most Bulgarians have to economise on the quality of food and don't have the time or financial means to do sport," said Svetoslav Handjiev, president of the Bulgarian Association for the Study of Obesity.
In Hungary, where the obesity rate has doubled over the past seven years, a ministry of health study found that lack of sport, high alcohol consumption and poor diet contribute to the problem, with only 12 percent of people eating healthily.
Poor education about healthy living dating back to the communist regime is compounding the situation, said Boris Krahulec, chief physician of internal medicine at Comenius University in Bratislava.
Professor Philip James, chairman of the UK-based International Obesity Taskforce, blamed the region's obesity problem on the communist era.
"Central and eastern Europe is at the top for middle-aged obesity due to communist time agricultural and food policies geared towards producing and eating a lot of meat and fat," he told AFP.
Obesity leads to a range of health problems, notably diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Margarita Koleva, of Sofia's Academy of Medicine, highlights that 66 percent of deaths in Bulgaria are due to cardiac disease compared to the European average of 47 percent while deaths from cerebral haemorrhage are four times higher.
And the region is worse prepared to treat the epidemic, say some experts.
"Obesity is becoming the most serious health problem this region faces but management is worse due to a lack of specialist physicians and not enough public knowledge," Vojtech Hainer, a Czech specialist and chair of the European Obesity Management Task Force, told AFP.
Recognising the problem, the Czech Ministry of Health has just launched a cross-ministerial National Council for Obesity focusing on prevention and healthy eating.
Still, other parts of the region trail behind. The Romanian Ministry of Health says tackling obesity is not a priority even though experts warn the problem is growing.
Within Europe the former Yugoslavia has the highest obesity rate according to the International Obesity Taskforce.
"The increase of obesity in Macedonia, particularly among teenagers, is of great concern and has resulted in more cardiovascular diseases," Lidija Petrusevska-Tozi, professor at the pharmaceutical faculty in Skopje, told AFP, blaming the growth of fast food outlets.
Experts agree that prevention through promoting healthy eating and exercise is the key.
"We are talking about a real epidemic. Unless we do something the numbers will only continue to rise," said Kunesova.