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AUSTIN, TEXAS, MAY 4
Paul Carozza, Molly Gee and R. Sue Day deliver presentations at the Austin TRIUPMH event.
Austin Mayor Will Wynn emphasizes the importance of a healthy balanced lifestyle.
Kate Coler, undersecretary of the US Department of Agriculture, highlights the importance of the 2005 Dietary Guidelines and pyramid.

Phil Haberstro, executive director of the National Association for Health and Fitness, with Austin Mayor Will Wynn.
Ken Bomar, marketing director of Texercise, calls on Texans to lead healthy and active lifestyles.
Peter Cribb of Coordinated Approach to Child Health (CATCH) stretches with the audience.

At ACFN’s second of eight TRIUMPH events in 2005, Mayor Will Winn of Austin, Texas committed to making Austin the fittest city in the United States. “I look forward to continuing to work on this issue, and I know that our community will greatly benefit from embracing healthy living,” he said. The Austin event drew more than 160 community leaders and professionals from the health, nutrition and fitness community.

ACFN Chair Susan Finn served as moderator and Kate Coler, deputy undersecretary for food, nutrition and consumer services at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, was the keynote speaker. Coler offered valuable guidance about the new food guidance system “MyPyramid” and noted the need for collaboration to combat obesity. She said, “It really is going to take leadership from a variety of sectors to come up with solutions, and the work of people in the medical community, education community, nutrition educators, all of us really need to work together to collaborate our efforts to find a solution. And the American Council for Fitness and Nutrition is a great example of how we can work together to do this.”

The panel included experts in fitness and nutrition and discussed the role that both physical activity and good nutrition habits play in the fight against overweight and obesity. Panelists included:

  • Mayor Will Wynn, Austin, Texas
  • Paul Carrozza, member, President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, Texas Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness
  • R. Sue Day, Ph.D., associate professor, University of Texas (Houston) School of Public Health
  • Molly Gee, M.Ed., R.D., L.D., project leader, Baylor College of Medicine, LOOK AHEAD
  • Kathy Hutchison, R.N., C.O.H.N., medical department manager, Campbell Soup Company (Paris, Texas)

Following the panel discussion, participants shared with the audience the work they are doing to help Texans live healthier lifestyles:

  • Peter Cribb is the program director for the Coordinated Approach to Child Health (CATCH), a school health program that builds an alliance of parents, teachers, child nutrition personnel, school staff and community partners to teach children and their families how to be healthy for a lifetime.
  • Ken Bomar is marketing director for Texercise, a statewide fitness program developed by the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services (DADS), designed to educate and motivate Texans to lead healthy and active lives.
  • Dianne Bangle is the executive director of “Born To Run.” The nonprofit organization Shoes for Austin, together with RunTex, launched the “Born to Run” program this year to specifically target at-risk youth and encourage them to be more active and physically fit. Additionally, Shoes for Austin teams up with more than 40 local nonprofit organizations to help support their clients. Each partner organization works with children and families in need who set self-improvement goals such as improving school grades, job placement, learning about nutrition and sports and improving reading skills.
  • Kay Morris is the founder and director of MarathonKids™. MarathonKids™ is a free incremental, endurance building running/walking/nutrition program for kindergartners through fifth graders. Its mission is to be quickly accepted and integrated into private and public elementary and home schools as a free, innovative physical fitness program, resonating not only with the child but also with the child's family.
  • Joanna Mesecke is the program manager for Play Strong Austin. Play Strong is an initiative created by the Austin Parks and Recreation Department to promote physical activity within the scope of all-day camp and playground activities. The program addresses the burden of chronic diseases such as diabetes, asthma and obesity and seeks to foster an enhanced quality of life through increased education on physical fitness and nutrition.
  • Dolly Lambdin is a past president of the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE). NASPE is a nonprofit professional organization comprised of individuals engaged in the study of human movement and the delivery of sport and physical activity programs. Through its members, as well as corporate and public partnerships, NASPE develops and supports quality sport and physical activity programs that promote healthy behaviors and individual well-being.