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The federal government should put money behind a recently launched national walking program, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said, day.
He convened a meeting in Washington, D.C., to get ideas on solving the nation’s obesity epidemic.
The America on the Move program, an initiative started two weeks ago, is designed to get millions of people to wear inexpensive step counters and walk an additional 2,000 steps (about a mile) a day or cut out 100 calories. It was started by a non-profit group with support from industry, and it is now time for the government to financially back it, Thompson said.
Thompson also said officials are considering the creation of a National Institute of Obesity, which would be part of the National Institutes of Health. The institute would oversee research on weight control.
"We’re making progress making obesity a national issue that people are talking about," Thompson said. "Once we do that, like we did with tobacco, and people understand it’s a health issue, they’re going to start walking, exercising more and eating less."
Researchers told top government health officials that there needs to be more education on how to use the food label. The food industry and government should work together to tell consumers to move more and watch their calories, said Mike Doyle, director of the Center for Food Safety at the University of Georgia-Griffin. "We are not going to eliminate obesity in this country in one fell swoop, but with everybody working together, we can have a major impact."
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Learn how the can increase your patients physical activity.
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DID YOU KNOW:
The Diabetes Education Society offers online accredited continuing education programs. Got an hour, take a course. Visit www.MedEdOps.org, take the free sample course and review the Course Catalog. Then update yourself and your staff to meet your Education Recognition requirements. For more information call (800) 659-5808.