“Healthy Buddies!” What a great idea. Developed by Dr. Jean-Pierre Chanoine, of British Columbia’s Children’s Hospital, Vancouver, Canada and tested at two public elementary schools, over one school year, participants in the “Healthy Buddies” program, boosted their physical activity levels, gained less weight, and showed smaller increases in blood pressure, compared with age-matched counterparts not enrolled in the program. To me, given the trend in childhood obesity, that is extraordinary.
In one school, teachers taught healthy-living lessons — the value of being physically active, eating healthy foods, and having a positive body image — to students in grades 4 to 7. These older students then paired with students in kindergarten to grade 3 to teach them similar healthy-living lessons. The other elementary school served as a control and underwent no intervention, the researchers report in the journal Pediatrics. After one school year, assessments of students’ knowledge of healthy living showed an increased overall understanding of healthy diet and behaviors in the intervention school compared with the control school.
So what does this mean to us? “Younger kids learn very efficiently from their older peers,” Chanoine noted in comments about the study, but how can we, as adults, apply the findings of this study? Use what we have learned from our own successes with healthy eating and exercise and spread the word to family members, friends, neighbors, co-workers and anyone who will listen. Be outspoken advocates. Instead of being silent, be vocal sharers with others of the benefits of a healthy lifestyle and make a difference. If the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. are true, then “We are called to play the good Samaritan on life’s roadside…True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar.” We are healthy and because of it, wealthy and wise. Share that wealth of knowledge with those around you and be Healthy Buddies! Read more in the Reuters Health article here

I am an Ambassador of Fitness. Will you join me in my quest?

Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor from Reuters Health News wrote an article August 28, parts of which I will quote here:

Americans are fatter than ever, with obesity rates up in most states and fewer people exercising, according to a study released on Monday. Only a concerted effort by state and federal government, schools and individuals will make a dent in the growing epidemic, the Trust for Americas Health reported.

Obesity rates ranged from more than 17 percent in Colorado to more than 30 percent in Mississippi.

“No state is doing well. We have seen a dramatic increase throughout the country,” Jeff Levi, executive director of the nonprofit Trust, told reporters in a telephone briefing.

“Poor nutrition and physical inactivity are robbing America of our health and productivity.”

Adult obesity rates rose in 31 states last year and obesity rates did not fall in any states, the report said.

“Rates of adult obesity now exceed 25 percent in 19 states, an increase from 14 states last year and 9 in 2005. In 1991, none of the states exceeded 20 percent,” the Trust said in a statement.

The group advocates a concerted effort to fight obesity in the United States, where more than 60 percent of adults are either obese or overweight.

The article goes on to say that the Trust for Americas Health is suggesting, “changes in laws, including mandates on school lunches, requiring insurers to pay for weight loss programs and restoring physical education programs to schools.”

We don’t need laws, we need action. Sunday morning I heard a sermon from 2 Corinthians 5:20 and knew that I had to implore as many people as I could to become Ambassadors of Fitness. Take the initiative yourself to be fit and healthy and then turn to your families, friends and neighbors and speak up and speak out to change the lives of those in need and rid our country of this epidemic of obesity.

Please join me as a Million Dollar Body Club Member or a Million Dollar Body Club Coach. You can learn more about my 20 year quest at www.howtobefit.com or you can email me at howtobefit@aol.com.

As I have mentioned before, I am a late adaptor, meaning, for instance, that I just learned to send myself an email on my phone. That’s late. But because I was able to do that, I could share with you a couple of pictures that I also figured out that I could take on my run by putting Wireless Run Tracker into Suspend Mode. Wow, that is technological progress.So let’s recap. I track all of my runs with my Polar S3 Stride Sensor, which I now know much to my dismay, is exceptionally accurate (I am dismayed because I had hoped that it would be wrong and that I was really running a lot faster than it was telling me – but alas, no, I am slow). I also always carry a cell phone and now that I have my super duper Katana II (probably old in your terms) phone with Power Vision, I can log into BIM Active in Applications and track my run by GPS every step of the way (thus I know how accurate the S3 Stride Sensor is). On top of that, I can whip out my handy, dandy Katana II, pause GPS tracking, take a couple of pictures to show the wife that I really was up in the foothills running and that is why I got home late and then post my tale in my blog all from Wireless Run Tracker.The late adaptor has made a quantum leap forward today and it is a giant leap for us old folks!

North from Albertson’s on Academy, under Tramway then east to 365. Stopped and took some pictures and turned around at 30:00

Map

Elevation (ft)

Posted from runtracker.runnersworld.com