Center for Health Transformation Georgia Project

Increasing your Activity

One of my colleag ues and I are trying out a new technology that is aimed at increasing non-exercise activity.  According to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 60% of adults in the U.S. are overweight or obese.  Studies conducted over the last 20 years to determine both the causes of obesity and the reasons for the continued increase in the U.S. obesity rates determined that our society has become more sedentary, that non-exercise movement has decreased to a point where many Americans are taking in more calories than they are able to burn. The belief is that the key to reversing this obesity trend is to add physical movement back into a person's day. This is not "organized exercise" such as running or working out but rather it is taking the stairs, walking and generally being more active.

The Gruve device is a small omnidirectional accelerometer that measures activity intensity and duration.  It provides a personalized, quantifiable measure of activities and the calories burned throughout the day.  Synchronizing the device with the Gruve web site gives you the ability to view your own daily calorie burn and track your weight loss progress.  The device also tracks your progress towards your daily goal and lets you know with a colored light system how you are progressing.  You can get more information on this interesting solution for increasing activity at www.muveit.com/ .  We will keep you posted on our evaluation.

Fresh Fruits and Vegetables

One obstacle we often hear to a healthy diet is the decreased availability of fresh fruits and vegetables - particularly in the inner cities.  Do you have solutions that you have implemented for this problem?  We would love to hear them.  Recently I have heard about a hospital that is transforming their previous smoking area into an employee vegetable garden.  I also heard about a farmer's market coming to hospital parking lots during the day to make fresh fruits and vegetables available.  Individual change needs to be supported in the community in order to be sustained.  These are great solutions.

Microsoft Be Well Fund Project Update

 

 

 

The Columbus Research Foundation ‘Be Well Columbus Georgia Project’, made possible by a grant from the Microsoft Corporation Be Well Fund, kicked off January 17, 2009 and will come to a close April 24, 2009.  It was offered on a voluntary basis to all twelve middle schools of which ten chose to participate.  The district has 3500 seventh graders enrolled and about 900 signed up along with 100 teachers.

The project is a competition among homerooms and hinges on an interactive website, www.walktomicrosoft.com.  Students log daily physical activity in the form of steps or miles by using a pedometer and log their daily food intake.  They are taking a virtual walk across the country with their logged miles and end at the Microsoft Corporation in Bellevue, Washington. Each participating student and the teacher of the first homeroom to collectively accrue 2977 miles and reach Microsoft will win a Wii, Wii Fit and a game of their choice.  Other incentive prizes, including new tennis shoes, are being awarded as they reach designated mile markers.

Students, parents and teachers say that they have become much more aware of junk food and idle lifestyles since they began the Be Well Project.  Students are motivated by their pedometers to log more steps and have learned to read food labels.  Many are reporting actual weight loss.  Others report they have insisted that their families join them in daily walks or gym memberships.

The competition has heated up as the end date approaches.  One homeroom moved from being ranked number eight to number three in less than two weeks.  Keep checking this blog for updates – we will recognize the winning class and their teacher!