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Article 3
Fitness for Everyone
By Joan Frentz
Setting an example.
Until the 1970s Finland had one of the world’s highest death rates from heart disease and a high obesity rate during the 1980s. Blame was placed on the population’s consumption of large amounts of butter, cream, full-fat milk and living a sedentary lifestyle. This all changed when the government launched an enormously successful public campaign.
Most of us think of the Finns as being rosy cheeked skiers, hikers and spending time sitting in saunas. Today this is true. Despite their bone chilling weather, Finns spend a great deal of time outdoors. Instead of huddling around the fireplace they are out and about, criss-crossing the countryside hiking and skiing. Regardless of the weather, all ages participate in outdoor activities. With government support, 70 percent of the population is involved in some form of physical exercise.
Unfortunately, the opposite is true in the United States. Eating healthier, the Finns even made an effort to substitute milk for drinking colas. Workplaces offered incentives for not smoking and encouraged employees to exercise by actually enrolling them in and paying for programs.
Living in Carpinteria we don’t have to worry about bone chilling weather and can spend most of the year outdoors. We have limitless opportunities to be physically active. Though weather can make it difficult to be outdoors in the hottest of summer days and coldest of winter days for many across our country, if we are interested and willing, there is no reason why everyone cannot be encouraged to get out and do something.
In the past, Finns worked hours in the fields and thought heavy starchy meals were necessary. Today with most employees sitting at desks, food requirement needs, quantity and quality, have changed. They now eat fresh caught salmon, not frozen. They still have their reindeer, but not served with a rich sauce. They enjoy wonderful dark bread rather than plastic-wrapped white bread. Schools provide healthy well balanced meals. At the end of the school year children are weighed, and if obesity is suspected, it is reported to their parents.
Happy meal for adults.
Finland is one example of what a concerted national effort can do. In the States we are encouraged to drink milk with less fat, eat whole grain foods, use less butter and eat more fish, vegetables and fruit. Fast food restaurants offer salads and veggie burgers.
There is hope for us even without our government intervening. Some McDonald’s restaurants offer a “Happy Meal for Adults.” The lunch box consists of a choice of “premium” salads with or without chicken breast, Newman’s Own salad dressing and a bottle of water. Included inside the box is an adult “toy” (a pedometer used to count a person’s steps and a pamphlet on walking for fitness.) McDonald’s U.S. president, 53-year-old Mike Roberts, says that for the past 20 years he’s worked out four times a week.
Doctors are not exempt from being overweight.
At recent American Medical Association meetings, doctors discussed their own weight related problems. When asked, half the doctors reported they exercised on a regular basis. Back in 1968, doctors were encouraged to quit smoking and asked to encourage their patients to do likewise. This worked, and now they have been instructed to tackle obesity.
Take a dip.
Another aspect of the Finnish lifestyle, worth noting, is their use of saunas. The countryside is dotted with small cabins near frozen lakes. The idea is to sweat in the steaming cabins and then immerse yourself into a carved out section of the icy water and then dash back into the sauna. Saunas, and then the cold dip, are thought to be good for circulation, to improve mental stamina and as a cleansing experience as well as a form of meditation. No icy lakes around here, a cold shower or plunge into the ocean might do.
Author of Life Begins@Sixty, Joan is a certified personal trainer presently on vacation from teaching at Carpinteria’s The Firm Athletic Club. Contact Joan at 566-4987.
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| "Exercise, combined with proper diet
and an active and curious mind, plays
an important role in the quality and
length of your life."
- Joan Frentz |
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