WALKING, DIET MAY BE KEY IN OBESITY FIGHT

Associated Press Online
August 11, 2004
BYLINE: DUNCAN MANSFIELD

Obesity is a big problem in Tennessee, more than in many other states. But the solution may be in small steps.

Walk more, eat less and include dairy products to burn fat is the message of a largely grass-roots, consumer-driven, voluntary health project called Tennessee on the Move.

"Nationwide, about a quarter of men and a third of women are obese, and about two-thirds of adults are overweight," said University of Tennessee nutrition professor Michael Zemel, who will direct the project.

"Where does Tennessee fall on that list? We are a little bit higher on each of those numbers," he said.

Tennessee ranks in the Top 10 nationally in obesity and overweight residents, according to the American Obesity Association.

"I have to tell you, this is a matter of life and death," U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., said Tuesday in announcing a $500,000 grant from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to underwrite Tennessee on the Move.

A national model formed in Colorado, the program has become America on the Move and adopted by the Bush administration.

Zemel said the CDC funding will be used to hire three coordinators - one for each Grand Division - who will promote Tennessee on the Move in schools, health departments, boys and girls clubs and corporate wellness programs. Federal Express, for instance, already has adopted it.

The money also will buy educational materials, support a Web site that residents can personalize to reach their own specific health goals and supply pedometers for
walkers who can't afford them.

"We have an enormous problem and our inclination when faced with an enormous problem is to seek enormous solutions, to seek the big ideas," Zemel said. "What we propose instead is small steps, the small idea."

Many people can't spend hours at a gym or radically change their diet to health food, but Zemel sees huge gains in smaller doses.

His recommendations:
- Move more. Walk 2,000 steps, or about a mile, each day.
- Eat less. Reduce consumption by 100 calories, about a pat of butter.
- Include lowfat dairy products that UT research has found can help burn fat.

This formula will prevent the weight gain of 1 to 3 pounds that most Americans experience each year, according to the program.

"When you are in a hole the first thing you have to do is stop digging," Wamp said. "We want obesity to stop in this country and not get worse so we can reverse this trend."

Being overweight increases risks for hypertension, coronary heart disease, diabetes and several cancers, Zemel said. Obesity ranks second only to smoking as the nation's greatest preventable health threat.

At the current rate, he said, "In less than two years, obesity will be the No. 1 killer."