“Health care reform starts with efforts from each of us - The Spokesman-Review”

Health care reform starts with efforts from each of us - The Spokesman-Review

Posted: 29 May 2010 11:54 PM PDT

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May 30, 2010 in Business

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No matter where you stand on the health care debate, I think most of us agree that Americans are not doing a good job of taking care of ourselves.

The percentage of obese people, the out-of-shape recruits into the military and the problems with inactive, computer-addicted children — they all come at us like rolls of fat. It is not a pretty sight. Our physical woes add up to just one more example of the erosion of personal responsibility, of us not taking care of us.

I have always been a preacher of balance in life, and that the higher you rise in your career, the more difficult it becomes to create and maintain that balance between home, family, work and self. But if we are not caring for ourselves, how can we expect to offer the best in any other area of our lives?

In September 2008 my husband and I, after months of training, completed the near 200-mile Coast to Coast walk across England. Since then we have walked to the kitchen and into great restaurants as our aerobic activity, and it shows.

So when the Spokane Club board of trustees challenged each other to get back in shape, seven of us committed to get fit. We set goals and went through a fitness assessment and body fat measurement, and we offered up several hundred dollars to be paid to the overall winner. We started Jan. 1 and the contest ended with Bloomsday. In the beginning, none of us was in horrid shape, or so we thought. I felt I was in fairly good shape, but my cardio-lung health was only fair and my body fat percentage was, well, embarrassing.

The staff at the BBB has been watching this contest and listening to me talk about where I am in my quest to reach and exceed my weight and fitness goals. Their interest offered me an opportunity to get them on the bandwagon, too. The healthier they are, the lower our use of insurance will be and that should translate into lower premium increases for our benefits.

So the BBB tossed some money into the pot, the participants had a small buy-in, and I purchased pedometers for everyone who signed up. I really thought the pedometers would show each individual just how active or sedentary they had become. And each person went to a trainer at the Spokane Club to have a full fitness assessment, including that ever-popular body fat measurement.

Each week my staff participates in a fitness group meeting. They have number of step contests, share healthy recipes and challenge each other to simply get moving. The BBB contest will not end until mid-July, but we have some folks who have already lost more than 15 pounds. And I have noticed a difference in the snacks people bring in to share. (Doughnut sales in the west end of downtown have seen a steep decline.) Just the practice of writing down everything you eat is a real eye-opener.

Back to the Spokane Club board contest: This is a highly competitive bunch. At one meeting, a couple of us arranged for a special treat for Greg Bever, publisher of the Journal of Business. As a participant, we knew Greg was off to a great start, so of course we wanted to undermine him. While salad was being served to the other trustees, Greg was presented with a huge platter of chili cheese fries. I had fellow board members leaving me cookies after my workouts. It was brutal!

But an amazing thing happened: We all saw such a change in energy levels and mental health. To a person, we are all feeling so much better and can't imagine going back to our old bad habits. I cannot reveal the winner yet, but we all won in a way. And nobody did some crazy "just eat pomegranates" diet or extreme workout routines. We simply took responsibility for what we put in our mouths and what we did to invigorate and improve our bodies. Collectively we lost more than 100 pounds and added who knows how many years to our lives.

Talk about health care reform.

Jan Quintrall is president and CEO of the local Better Business Bureau. She can be reached at jquintrall@spokane.bbb.org.

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