The former U.S. surgeon general in charge of the Shape Up America! campaign to get people to trim their bellies by getting off their butts, has started out in typical corporate style: C. Everett Koop has taken a survey.
The results show that one reason we are becoming a nation of overweight slugs is we think we have to set aside special times and work up a sweat to burn calories.
Unlike his successful war against smoking, which began to fall into place as people realized the dangers, the battle against obesity is likely to be a long, uphill struggle.
Food, after all, is a necessity, while physical activity becomes less and less a part of daily life.
Part of the success of the anti-smoking movement was due to peer pressure, but the same tactics are difficult to apply to someone who is over-weight, he says.
“Smokers are doing something that can be harmful to others, so is what a
you can say ‘This is a smoke-free house or business,”‘ Koop says. “But when you say something about fat, people get their feelings hurt. They feel discriminated against, and that’s no good at all.”
About the only advantage in an anti-fat campaign is that you don’t have the tobacco industry opposing you, Koop says. On the other hand there are plenty of enticing, convenient and fatty foods out there.
“This is not a quick fix,” he says. “Shape Up America! … will go on for years. And it isn’t about keeping your figure, although anybody struggling with a diet won’t be very successful without physical ativity. It’s about health.”
Among the misconceptions concerning physical fitness are that exercise must be formal and sustained 20 or 30 minutes, according to the survey of 1,000 adults conducted by Yankelovitch Partners Inc. While there certainly is nothing wrong with joining a health club or flexing for an hour in front of the TV with Jane Fonda, research shows we also can benefit from much simpler physical activity–a phrase he prefers to exercise.
“Many people think they need to have sweat running down their brow to get health benefits,” says Dr. James M. Rippe, “and they’ve turned physical activity into a grim experience.” Rippe is an associate professor of medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine and an adviser to Shape Up America!
Another adviser, Steven Blair, director of the Cooper Institute for Aerobics Research in Dallas, says,’Accumulating 30 minutes of activity over the course of the day increases calorie expenditure and can be an option for those not fit 30 minutes of sustained activity into their schedules.”
So get off the bus a block or two early, Koop says. Park your car at the farthest point in the lot. Take a 10 minute walk with a friend after lunch, where, by the way, you haven’t gorged on high-fat food. Do a little dance while you wash the dishes, instead of flopping in front of the television set while the dishwasher grinds away.
“On the weekends leave your car at home when possible and do your errands on foot,” Koop says. “You also can see a lot more that way.” Those are helpful words, but when it comes down to specifics, Shape Up America! is just getting started. The American Medical Association, the American Dietetic Association and the America Public Health Association already have signed on, and Koop is busy spreading the gospel to influential groups.
He also is recruiting “ambassadors” who can be Shape Up spokespeople around the country Joe Paterno, head football coach at Penn State University “who just loves kids,” Koop says, has agreed to help develop a voluntary activities program directed at youngsters not involved in organized sports. They would compete against standards rather than other kids.
For the growing number of overweight adults, the task may be more difficult.
Motivating the country to switch from O.J. and Ito to orange juice and isometrics is “a tough, tough assignment,” Koop says, “because everybody loves to eat.
“I’m disturbed that 300,000 people die every year because of obesity- related diseases. That costs this country in more ways than one.”
