Mrs Petrou, who works at Port Lapsurgery, is a member of the Australian and New Zealand Metabolic and Obesity Surgery Society.

While she is honoured to be accepted into the prestigious US-based association, Mrs Petrou says the training and education leading to her acceptance proved beneficial.

“I can honestly say that I now have even more empathy for people living with obesity," she said.

"It opened my eyes to the psychological and emotional trauma that some people may experience as part of their obesity.

"The course constantly challenged me to think like someone who has the disease; putting myself in the position of the patient.

"This is a chronic metabolic disease. And by ‘chronic’ we are really saying it is ongoing.

“The World Health Organisation says that bariatric surgery is the most effective treatment for obesity; and while the surgeries performed are permanent, lifelong management is required."

Mrs Petrou says a procedure called mini gastric bypass was proving successful in forcing people away from consuming high levels of highly packaged sweet products and toward quality foods, a Mediterranean style of eating. 

She said the operation showed promising results in evidence-based studies showing remission of Type 2 diabetes.

While surgery is part of the process in managing obesity, Mrs Petrou said understanding the disease and how to help patients were also crucial.

“We have introduced a number of unique programs and support networks for people who come through the Mid North Coast Bariatric and Hernia Centre," she said.

“I think this approach provokes better outcomes - for people pre- and post-surgery."

Alongside the training and education involved in achieving her certification, Mrs Petrou said there was another positive outcome from her achievement.

“We are adopting a newly discovered equation as a result of the AABC Fellowship studies that allows our patients to know what to put in their personal fuel tank," she said. 

"AABC research has identified a new metric that we call the Metabolic Factor, which can be thought of as the missing link in understanding why some people are thin and others carry excess weight despite similar caloric intake."

Mrs Petrou became interested in the American Association of Bariatric Counselors after attending a US professional conference.

"I realised that there was a real need for specialised training and education," she added.

According to figures supplied by Mrs Petrou, up to 59 per cent of the population between Port Macquarie and Narrabri could be considered obese.