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Introducing:
«What Gets Measured Gets Done» :: Tom Peters
«An early morning walk is a blessing for the whole day» :: Henry David Thoreau
Your pedometer will measure your steps each day, but does not keep a lasting record. (Although the new Omron HJ-105 does keep a 7-day cumulative step count.) Enter P•E•D, which will provide you with your own personal progress report. You can access P•E•D on the Speakwell web site:
There is no charge for using P•E•D; you just click the P•E•D button, create your own password and enter your steps.
P•E•D features include:
- Daily step record
- Cumulative step totals
- Graphs of your progress
- Daily step average over a chosen time period
- Calories burned while walking
- Calories appropriate for weight maintenance
- BMI (Body Mass Indicator) calculator
(Most media stories about weight gain and obesity are based on people's BMI. It's a complex little calculation made simple by the P•E•D BMI Calculator.)
Go to the Home Page and click 'P•E•D Step Log and Calorie Counter'.
P•E•D is ideal for groups who are cumulatively walking across the USA or Canada or maybe fundraising by seeing how far they walk in a given time period.
Welcome to P•E•D.
The Wellness Tipping Point
Steven Covey used to say, "If you want to feel good about yourself, make a promise and keep it". Every day increasing numbers of people are promising themselves to walk 10,000 steps and are fulfilling their promise. The tipping point has arrived and quietly, in ever increasing numbers and in many different ways, people are beginning to take responsibility for their own wellness. New life is being breathed into the old sayings:
"If it's going to be, it's up to me."
And
"The helping hand is at the end of your arm."
Ever-growing armies of people are finding time to walk 10,000 steps each day and pedometers will soon be competing with cell phones for space on belts and waistbands. A year ago airport security were mystified by my pedometer, now they see them every day. Two years ago the orders for Omron pedometers from Speakwell were typically measured in ones and twos and now they're starting to arrive in multiples of 50 or 100 from schools, businesses, government groups, community health centers and hospitals.
A look down at your pedometer before bed can tell you that you are 10,000 steps further away from heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, hypertension and an array of expensive and debilitating sicknesses that go hand in hand with a sedentary lifestyle. You won't need to look at your pedometer to realize that you feel less stressed.
Think Globally, Act Locally
At Speakwell we can't change the world
but we can support a variety of local initiatives
involving walking and pedometers.
Step It Up
This is a school-based initiative spearheaded by my colleague and former student, Dr. Lara Lauzon. One of the most significant features of this program is that it's being funded by the Royal Victoria Marathon Society. Over the years this society has raised 10's of thousands of dollars for diagnostic and surgical equipment for hospitals. This year, the Race Director, Rob Reid, while continuing to support local hospitals, felt that some of the money would be better used if it were directed towards prevention and wellness. As a result, at least six local schools will be initiating pedometer-based programs in the fall under the banner of "Step It Up". The pedometers are not seen as something used exclusively by physical education teachers. In other schools, pedometers have been used in the following:
- Math class--for estimating distance, for graphing, averaging and many other number-related functions
- Health and Nutrition classes to see how many steps it takes to walk off the students' favorite fast foods. (They are always astounded)
- Science--for learning about how the body creates energy, stores fat and can burn fat by walking and other physical activity
The old maxim was that, "Every teacher was a teacher of English." If the current generation of children are to thrive, we'll need every teacher to be a teacher of wellness and walking.
Step It Up has been supported, since its inception, by our local member of the BC Legislature, Susan Brice. I've often noted, politicians think of the next election, but statespeople think of the next generation. Well done Susan.
The need for physical activity in schools is brought into sharp focus when one sees products such as "Skinny Pills for Kids" advertised by the Fountain of Youth Group.
Their promotional literature notes:
"This is the FIRST thermic and herbal formula ever developed for weight loss for children 6 to 12 and has been created to help our children in their battle with fat."
Fortunately, the company is in trouble with the FTC and I believe Skinny Pills are no longer available. But it's tragic to see parents and children seek chemical solutions for what are largely lifestyle problems.
The cost of "Skinny Pills"? $39.95 US per month.
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The Walk to the Village
This is a unique project being created by Naz Rayani (People's Drug Mart), Dr. Lara Lauzon and Speakwell. It is a pilot project that will be portable to any community. The concept is simple with a goal of encouraging people to walk to the local Cadboro Bay Village for their shopping, morning coffee or to visit the restaurants or other services in the village. We are currently awaiting permission to paint signs on the sidewalk telling people how many steps to the village from particular points. The merchants have agreed to deliver merchandise free of charge so that the customers won't be concerned about having to carry their purchases home with them. Using an honor system, people will be able to register their steps for a weekly draw, with local merchants providing the prizes. The parking lots will be less crowded, there'll be more social interaction and, most importantly, people will make walking a part of their day.
Pedometers in Parliament
I was delighted to see pedometers featured in the opening paragraphs of the transcript of the Standing Committee on Health, which reported the words of Dr. Penny Ballem, Deputy Minister of Health Services for BC.
"We were thrilled to hear that the committee is interested in health promotion and wants to be assigned their own pedometers. Pedometers are becoming extremely popular. They are a best practice in physical activity promotion because they actually do motivate you. You start to have an understanding of the relationship of your activities of the day and how much that equates to physical activity that actually benefits you from a physical health and emotional health point of view.
These little step counters will give you feedback on every step you take through the course of your day. If you get to the early evening and you're finding you're lagging behind, then a few loops around the block - close to home or the Legislative Assembly - is a great little thing to do to catch up.
We've done a lot of work in the ministry around health promotion. We just launched a ministry Stairway to Health worksite wellness campaign this spring. We're actually going to have our staff all assigned pedometers. For that initial initiative just about the whole ministry, each individual, was given a pedometer, and we actually did a 10,000 step challenge on the Stairway to Health, where people wore their pedometers all day but a critical part of it was using the stairwells of 1515 Blanshard, which is a 7 floor building. Most of the time, most of us stand outside the elevators and wait to be carried up to the fourth, fifth, sixth or seventh floor on an elevator, but in that two-week initiative, basically everybody took the stairs unless they were carrying something very serious. We had just a remarkable engagement of our whole ministry staff in the competition to see which floor would actually track the most miles, both in their daily working and walking but also on the stairways. That was really wonderful."
Following Dr. Ballem's opening remarks were two powerful presentations by Dr. Lauzon and Dr. Rick Bell of the Coalition for Active Living, who both addressed the activity deficits in our country. They pointed out the human, social and fiscal costs of inactivity and suggested viable solutions. In front of a different audience both talks would have drawn standing ovations and a clarion call to action, but this being a government committee the responses were positive, but guarded, For example, "Not to shortchange the people we represent, but we're 11 billion plus dollars in health care today and the people are crying out for more - not on the preventative side, from what I'm getting, unless I'm missing things." Prevention and politics make strange bedfellows, as preventative measures are usually not big vote magnets. However, with health care costs measuring into the trillions it is clearly unsustainable to keep pumping all our resources into disease treatment.
The Simon Fraser UniverCity
The UniverCity is an exercise in sustainable living that is built on Burnaby Mountain in Vancouver. It is a real example of the sort of place that city planners and students often dream about, but that never get beyond the planning stage. This is not a carless community, but it is built with pedestrians and cyclists very much in mind
"Special paving, lighting, tree plantings, public art and the creative use of water features will help animate this area. In fact, the extensive use of paving stones, wooden benches, gardens, water features and other design elements will add to the overall charm and livability of the community.
A shuttle bus will link to the new Millennium SkyTrain, just minutes away. The layout of the community encourages walking or cycling to all public destinations including schools, shopping, transit and parks. At every opportunity, priority is being given to pedestrians and cyclists, with wider sidewalks and a network of paths connecting the community and campus. Consideration is also given to other forms of transportation such as scooters, rollerblades and skateboards."
There is also a car sharing co-op using Toyota Prius hybrid vehicles and a 'free' bike program similar to those found in the Netherlands. There is a real attempt to keep the ownership of the shops and services local. The designer and CEO of UniverCity, Michael Geller, wanted storefronts that would 'set a tone' in much the same way as independent businesses did on the Vancouver landmark of Granville Island, on which Geller worked in the 1970's. "You can go anywhere in North America and see the same businesses," said Geller, "So we made the decision right at the beginning that you wouldn't find Starbucks or Kentucky Fried Chicken on Main Street".
UniverCity has won praise from David Suzuki and in a recent TV documentary on obesity he suggested a new marketing slogan for the development, "Move here, you'll live longer". Few people are surprised that this pedestrian friendly, sustainable community is already a major success, which serves to remind us that a significant segment of the population would prefer to live without mega-malls, McDonalds and massive parking lots jammed with monster SUV's. 
It's refreshing to see a University literally walking the talk and living up to some ideals and is certainly preferable to the campus at the University of Western Ontario in London, which is currently home to 16, yes 16, Tim Horton's outlets.
For more information on UniverCity, click on the logo:
Old McDonald has a Stepometer
 | In a previous issue of 'Well', I wrote about the unfortunate, unreliable pedometer distributed by Kelloggs. (It now comes in 3 colors). McDonalds have introduced their own 'Stepometers' and I'm happy to report that my initial road testing found them quite satisfactory. I wore 2 of mine for two 5k walks and each time they were well within 10% of my calibrated Omron. They have a decent belt clip, they have a cover so you can't accidentally reset them and if they are durable, they are certainly worth the price of the "Go Active Happy Meal", to which they are an accessory. | When I'm 'caught' in McDonalds, I feel like a priest in a whorehouse so I sent my executive assistant, Bev, to purchase the Go Active meals and stepometers. The salad was quite acceptable, there was nothing wrong with the Dasani water except that it's made by Coca Cola and costs more than gas and our only problem with the meals was the ecologically unfriendly amount of packaging. |  |
I actually like the "Go Active Happy Meal" website with its graphics and walking suggestions.
Bob Greene's bike ride across America is well illustrated and I like the partnership with The President's Challenge. My only real disappointment was the downloadable step-log, which seemed very 1990's, although you can track your steps on-line using the President's Challenge site or, for 'Well' readers, the P•E•D.
In summary, while I'm not "Lovin' it", I think the McDonalds site is creative and professional and can only help spread the word about walking, pedometers and physical activity.
This must be my "Be nice to McDonalds" issue. I've been mighty critical in the past and if the choice was money or health, I"d always expect McDonalds to go for the money. However, of late they"re beginning to believe that perhaps they can get money and provide some healthy choices. They are eliminating "supersizing", loudly protesting that it had nothing to do with Morgan Spurlock's "Supersize Me" documentary, and are offering more salads and calorie reduced meals. On July 14th they blew away Wall Street's projections with sales up 8% for the quarter, the 2nd largest quarterly increase since 1987. I remain skeptical, but hopeful that people are starting to reward vendors who offer healthy choices.
Clarica/Sun Life
When addressing the Clarica long term care insurance specialists recently, I was delighted to find that each delegate had been given a pedometer in their delegate pack bearing the Clarica logo. If insurance companies can help support a wellness lifestyle for their clients they have the ultimate win/win situation. The clients live longer with a greater quality of life and the insurance company is less likely to be paying out large sums of money for long-term sickness. Seems like a no brainer.
I noted in a previous edition of 'Well' that quality pedometers are the most useful items I have seen in the traditional delegate packs, which are given to conference attendees.
 
The Father of Medicine, Hippocrates, said,
"Walking is the best medicine."
It was true around 420 bc
and remains true nearly 2500 years later.
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