General Article
February
6, 2003
In this contest, everybody wins
For 12 weeks, faculty/staff
teams can earn points for beneficial eating and exercise, in springtime Healthy
Challenge 2003 adline
 Julie Meyers, Seattle Cancer Care Alliance dietitian, demonstrates one of the many activities that will earn points in the Fred Hutchinson/Alliance Healthy Challenge 2003. Photo by Todd McNaught |
By DANIELLE IPPOLITO
Having trouble finding time to exercise and eat healthfully? Perhaps a little friendly rivalry among co-workers will do the trick.
In March, Fred Hutchinson teams with the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance with a competition to help make fitness and good nutrition part of your daily routine. It's called the Fred Hutchinson/Alliance Healthy Challenge 2003.
To participate, foursomes of Fred Hutchinson and/or Alliance faculty and staff will register as teams at http://www.fhcrc.org/admin/hr/ben. The registration deadline is Friday, March 7.
Then for a 12-week period from Monday, March 10 through Sunday, June 1, teams earn points for healthy eating and exercise. Prizes go to the team with the highest final score.
"It's for important for us as an organization involved in discoveries relating to the benefits of a healthy diet and exercise to promote this message to our employee population," said Jonathan Sheppard, the center's compensation and benefits manager.
Alarming rate
"We spend almost $10 million on health-care-related expenses for our employees, and these costs are increasing at an alarming rate. To complicate things, the center has been bumping up against the limit of what it can afford, which means that employees will be sharing a larger portion of future increases.
"There are few things we can do to control the cost of medical services and drugs. But one thing we can do is to try to decrease the need for medical care through adopting a healthier lifestyle."
The Challenge aims to help fill the bill. In coordinating the Challenge, Sheppard looked to experts in food and fitness: Alliance Nutrition Department dietitians, including Jean Stern and Saundra Aker.
They, in turn, decided to capitalize on the American Dietetic Association's designation of March as National Nutrition Month. This year's theme, "Healthy Eating, Healthy You," emphasizes integrating good nutrition and fitness habits into a daily lifestyle.
Stern has worked with department dietitians to plan events in March for Alliance and center staff, patients and caregivers. These events will spread the word on up-to-date guidelines for healthy eating and fitness.
At the same time, Stern and Sheppard worked with a committee of center and Alliance staff to develop the Challenge.
The Challenge point system relies on recent guidelines from the Surgeon General's report on physical activity, the American Heart Association, and the American Cancer Society.
"Physical activity has three primary benefits," Stern said. "It improves health, it improves strength and stamina, and it improves mental spirit. Fresh air and activity are good for the soul."
According to the Surgeon General's report, regular physical activity has long-term health benefits, such as reducing the risk of complications from coronary heart disease; minimizing the chance of developing diabetes, hypertension, and colon cancer; and keeping muscles, bones and joints healthy.
Workouts don't have to be intense to be beneficial, nor does physical activity have to be done all at once. A few sessions of light to moderate daily exercise will help ward off chronic disease - while increasing a participant's Challenge point tally.
"These are activities you can do at work, like walking or taking the stairs instead of the elevator," Stern said.
While working with patients who undergo radiation treatment and chemotherapy, Stern and Aker repeatedly underscore physical fitness.
"As patients become more weak, they are less able to participate in the routine activities of daily life," Aker said. "Any activity will help, even sitting in a chair and lifting two Campbell's soup cans."
"More than 50 percent of Americans are overweight," added Alliance dietitian Julie Meyers. "People are sedentary. They overeat, and what they eat tends to be high in fat and simple carbohydrates (sugar)."
Meyers, formerly a competitive runner, will present a seminar in March with University of Washington physical therapist Jon Elvrom.
"I'll be talking about how to eat around exercise, to maximize exercise benefits," Meyers said. "You need to listen to your body, and pay attention to your satiety level and eating frequency.
"The concepts are clear: Reduce portion sizes. Increase fiber content. Increase the variety of foods you eat.
"A lot of people work out after work, then gorge themselves because they haven't eaten for 12 hours. Something simple, like adding an afternoon snack, can prevent you from overeating when you finally eat dinner."
Healthy Challenge teams can earn points for attending talks like the Meyers/Elvrom discussion and other events, starting March 10.
The Challenge incorporates a newer food pyramid, published last month in Scientific American and created by Dr. Walter C. Willett of Harvard University, that incorporates exercise with nutrition.
"The biggest change in the pyramid has to do with physical activity," said Alliance dietitian Kerry McMillen. "The key is to incorporate physical activity into your life every day. It can be swimming, walking, or running - anything. Just be active."
Pyramid points
In the Challenge, 15 minutes of pyramid-endorsed activity translates into one point. The pyramid merits a new look for other reasons, too.
"In the previous pyramids, all grains were lumped together, but not all grains are created equal. Some are better for you," McMillen said.
"Whole grains are emphasized in the new pyramid - whole grain vs. white flour, and brown vs. white rice, for example. Whole grains have more fiber. You might choose to eat Shredded Wheat instead of Rice Krispies."
And not all fats are bad. In fact, you can actually earn Challenge points for including olive oil, for example, in your meals.
The new food pyramid also recommends "eating lots of fresh fruits and vegetables," McMillen said. Incorporating five of them into your daily diet will award two points toward the Challenge prizes.
But the message behind the Challenge and the National Nutrition Month events goes beyond a point tally.
"It is really a vector to open a dialogue, to spread the message of regular exercise and a healthy diet," Sheppard said. "It's a good prescription for everybody."
[Danielle Ippolito is a graduate student in pharmacology at the University of Washington.]
Here’s where to sign up and find more info
The Web site for Fred Hutchinson/Alliance Healthy Challenge 2003 is where to register your four-member team. You also can find a matrix of healthy activities and points to be earned for each. Visit: http://www.fhcrc.org/admin/hr/ben .
