Editor's note:Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service, in partnership with Public Access Journalism, an independent editorial company, has created
a five-part series,
"The Shape We're In," examining new research on overweight and obesity issues.
Link between health and sprawl makes 'smart' growth look even smarter By NORA MACALUSO KNIGHT RIDDER NEWS SERVICE Tuesday, July 1, 2003 Editor's note: This is the fifth part of a five-part series running Tuesdays that examines America's weight crisis. When architect David Dixon first made the case for building a pedestrian-friendly development in Cambridge, Mass. -- mixing houses, stores, offices, restaurants and apartment buildings -- the neighborhood went on the warpath. Local residents called for a moratorium on the project and Mr. Dixon heard all the usual arguments: The new community would result in more traffic, crowded streets and sterile buildings towering overhead. It took three years of meetings, presentations and debate to win over skeptical townsfolk, but the East Cambridge project is now under "active development," according to Mr. Dixon.
These days, Mr. Dixon and his allies in the "smart growth" movement have some new ammunition to move things along: America's weight problem. Give neighborhood 'walkability survey' By NORA MACALUSOI When's the last time you said, "Let's go for a walk around the block?"
If the answer is, "What's a block?," then you might want to think about how accessible your neighborhood really is.
By ELLEN CREAGER KNIGHT RIDDER NEWS SERVICE Tuesday, July 1, 2003 Only 2,000 people live in Wray, Colo., but 500 of them were interested in "Wray Walks the World." Within a month after the program started three years ago, the citizens of the tiny plains farming town three hours east of Denver had walked enough miles to circle the globe, and moved on to walking to the moon.
They did it without fancy paths, perfect sidewalks or a Starbucks down the street. Reader's Resources KNIGHT RIDDER NEWS SERVICE
Innovative schools teach health by saying no to status quo By LORNA COLLIER KNIGHT RIDDER NEWS SERVICE Tuesday, June 24, 2003 Editor's note: This is the fourth part of a five-part series running Tuesdays that examines America's weight crisis. Racquel Hall used to be your typical burger-munching teen, scarfing down junk food at every opportunity. Her body showed it, too. In 2000, as she headed into ninth grade, the 5-foot-1-inch teen weighed 202 pounds. Then Ms. Hall joined a popular school program called Ecotech, a specialized learning community focused on hands-on ecology, within University City High School in Philadelphia. There, Ms. Hall learned to grow, cook and sell fruits and vegetables harvested in the school's extensive outdoor and indoor gardens. She also discovered the joys of eating them.
Now 16, Ms. Hall packs 45 fewer pounds on her frame, prefers carrots to potato chips, and says she'll "never go back" to unhealthy living.
By LORNA COLLIER KNIGHT RIDDER NEWS SERVICE Tuesday, June 24, 2003 When Gayathri Rao suggested to fellow PTA members in Redlands that they take a hard look at their high school's beverage machine contract at renewal time, she didn't expect her request to spark an overhaul of the entire school district's nutrition program. But that's what happened. "It all started with this little idea," says Ms. Rao, a soft-spoken substitute teacher with a degree in public health whose son attends Redlands High School. Ms. Rao initially hoped to find out if healthy beverages could be included in the school's vending machines, which offered only soda. Her proposal to the PTA moved to the school district board, which liked it so much that it recently decided to go her one better and re-examine all food served to students. Ms. Rao says she found advocating for change relatively easy, though as an immigrant from India for whom English is a second language, she admits to being intimidated by public speaking.
"It's not a daunting task," she says. "It's just a matter of doing the research. Any parent can ask to talk to any school board in the country - they do give you a few minutes. The main thing is you just have to think positively and say (to yourself): 'As a parent, I have power.' "
Walking school bus: A movement with legs By LORNA COLLIER Far from the days when kids strolled to school on tree-lined sidewalks through "Leave It to Beaver" neighborhoods miraculously bereft of crime, only 10 percent nationwide now regularly make the trek on foot. Even among those students who live within a mile of their schools, only 25 percent are regular walkers.
While school liability, safety and sheer distance make "walkers" a rarity, for those who live reasonably close to their schools, the Walking School Bus offers a way to revive a healthy habit.
Despite obesity epidemic, doctors lack training in treating overweight patients By LAURALEE ORTIZ KNIGHT RIDDER NEWS SERVICE Tuesday, June 17, 2003 The doctor walks into his examination room, where an overweight female patient waits. "Still fat," he says, shaking his head. The woman lets out a nervous chuckle, hoping a punch line is about to follow to ease the shame intensifying inside her. But the doctor says nothing more, and she is too humiliated to bring it up again. Within a year, the woman finds a new doctor - a nutrition specialist who deals sensitively but directly with her obesity - and drops more than 75 pounds.
"The doctor shook her up, but in the wrong way," said her new doctor, researcher Pamela Peeke. "He ended up losing her as a patient."
By LAURALEE ORTIZ I am not overweight, but I am toeing the line a bit. And those extra 10 pounds can't be good for me. It would have been easy to blame my age, 41, since studies say my metabolism just doesn't have the same power to burn calories as it did 10 or even five years ago.
But, doctors now know, metabolism is different for everybody. Which is how I ended up sitting in a conference room in Livonia, Mich., with my nose clamped shut, breathing through a plastic tube. Talk about it Tuesday, June 17, 2003
These tips can help patients - and doctors - start discussions about weight issues.
Restaurant chains want anything healthy to be cool, hip and marketable By PATRICK MAY KNIGHT RIDDER NEWS SERVICE Tuesday, June 10, 2003 America's love affair with fast food has hit a rocky patch. There is litigation in the air. Nutritionists warn us about trans-fats and super-sizing our way to obesity. Something is not right in the drive-thru, our transport to a half-century of low-cost, high-calorie, turned-on-a-dime comfort food.
As Americans get fatter, and critics look for culprits among peddlers of cheeseburgers and chicken fingers, the nation may be about to engage in an epic culinary transformation.
By PATRICK MAY Like millions of Americans, Bob Beliles and his family routinely head for the local fast-food joint when they're looking for a convenient way to eat out without spending a lot of time or money.
On these almost weekly outings, their table is normally covered with the typical - and fat-filled - fare this fast-food nation was raised on: juicy cheeseburgers and thick shakes, chicken nuggets with a rich dipping sauce, sodas and ice cream, all stacked around that monolith of on-the-go dining - the super-sized carton of french fries.
Less sprawl, less fat, less frenzy is the call for improvingthe health of the nation By ELLEN CREAGER KNIGHT RIDDER NEWS SERVICE Tuesday, June 3, 2003
If you're an American, the statistics say you're out of shape - and you don't need another study to tell you why. Your life is high in stress and calories and low in free time and physical activity. Western-style consumption fuels 'globesity' By ELLEN CREAGER
A woman frowning at her bathroom scale in St. Louis, a man whose pants are suddenly too tight in Jakarta, and a roly-poly child playing under a tree in Cairo all are part of a 1.1 billion-person trend called "globesity." Seven plans to get America moving Tuesday, June 3, 2003
What you eat and whether you exercise are strictly private decisions. Or are they? What Americans may not realize is that public policies have helped engineer active living and sensible eating right out of American life. Now, there's a new move afoot to engineer them back in.
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