Exercise Guru Sweetgall Says 'Do Activities You Like To Do'
By Amy Polk

Fitness expert Robert Sweetgall speaks with a group of 35 people in Cedarville during an evening fitness program and walking clinic February 28, following a school program hosted by the Mackinac County Wellness Coalition. The program was presented in St. Ignace the day before.

The key to leading a healthier life is finding some activity you like to do.

That was the message Robert Sweetgall conveyed to students and adults in St. Ignace and Cedarville at workshops February 27 and 28.

"The best activities in life you can do are the ones you enjoy," Mr. Sweetgall said. "If you're making yourself run or get on an exercise bike, or working yourself too hard, you diminish you chances of success with a sustainable fitness program."

He recommends a gentle exercise program dominated by walking, and emphasizes the importance of being more active on a daily basis. Thirty minutes of exercise a day over a lifetime extends a person's life by at least two years, he said, and that 30 minutes could be integrated in a variety of ways, like adding at least 2,000 steps to daily activity. A pedometer is useful in tracking daily activity.

Cedarville High School student Rhianna Milligan (left) tries a device that measures carbon monoxide levels in lungs and blood during a health fair at Les Cheneaux Community Schools Wednesday, February 28. Tami Duncan of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians Health Clinic helps with the device.

He demonstrated how one can cram nearly 1,000 steps into a 10- minute session by having participants run, jump, and dance around the room.

"To lose one pound of fat a week, add 17 minutes a day of movement to your daily routine," he said.

Mr. Sweetgall promoted a program of easy, enjoyable activities based on health and wellness research, and his own experiences.

Mr. Sweetgall has walked across the United States seven times, and he has logged 70,000 miles by walking, jogging, skiing, and snowshoeing since 1969.

The former overweight chemical engineer for DuPont started his personal fitness campaign by walking 11,208 miles through all 50 United States in one year. Walking an average of 31 miles a day, he covered the country by walking along roads and spending nights in motels, pizza places, jail cells, and "mom and pop" lodging places.

Gina Augugliaro of Cedarville enjoys the challenge of a dance game demonstration offered at a health fair that accompanied the Robert Sweetgall walking program Wednesday, February 28. The school owns a copy of the game, which can be used for exercise.

His health and diet were studied as he walked. At designated points along the route, he was flown to a university, where researchers found his muscle mass increased and his heart muscle was getting stronger.

His diet was studied, too, and researchers found he lost 11 pounds, despite eating twice as many calories as the average American. His diet was less than ideal, he pointed out, and included whatever food he could buy along the route.

Mr. Sweetgall does not advocate activity as rigorous as all that, but he does recommend walking less than five miles a day.

"The healthiest Americans," he said, "walk three to five miles a day."

Walking a mile or more a day significantly increases one's lifespan, he noted, while walking more than eight miles a day has been linked with increased mortality rates.

He recommended walking three miles per hour for maintaining one's health, or four or more miles per hour for aerobic conditioning. Walkers can lose weight by walking farther.

Avoid "off-the-ground" activi- ties like volleyball, jumping, and high-impact aerobics, which strain the joints, he suggested, and opt for "on-the-ground" activities such as walking and Pilates, which are easy on the joints.

Nordic walking with ski poles, he said, can increase heart rates and burn 40 percent more calories. He provided other fitness tips, such as toning the abdomen by pressing hands on the steering wheel while driving, or sitting taller in one's chair while at work.

Concentrate more on fitness and developing lean muscle, rather than focusing on diet and caloric intake, he advised, and weight loss will follow. He recommended some of the foods one should eat for better health, including wholegrain breads, brown rice, and colorful vegetables high in vitamins, including flowering kale, yams, and carrots.

"I always try to put together a colorful palette of foods," he said.

Processed foods are the unhealthiest foods, he said, because most are low in nutrients and high in calories. People tend to eat more of them because the body craves nutrients, and continues feeling hungry after eating processed food. He cited the high calories in processed food as one of the reasons children and adults are packing on pounds so fast.

"The Upper Peninsula is gaining 50,000 pounds of fat a year," he said. "The problem is we're eating too much food without many nutrients. I would like you to consider this in the future: One M&M [candy] equals one football field. It would take walking across one football field to utilize the calories in one M&M. The whole bag is 53 football fields. A Hershey's Kiss equals five football fields. A beer equals 36 football fields."

Mr. Sweetgall cited some of the risk factors that contribute to heart disease, which remains the nation's number one killer. Those factors include tobacco use, a sedentary lifestyle, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity, diabetes, anger and stress, and a family history of heart disease.

Healthy habits should be encouraged early in life to improve an adult's chances of remaining active. Studies show that people who are more active as young children tend to become healthier adults, Mr. Sweetgall said, and the most physically active children have lower blood pressure later in life. Teenagers with high blood pressure now will be more likely to develop high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart disease as adults. Children who are less active now tend to retain baby fat and continue to gain fat into adulthood. Children with inactive parents are the most likely to grow up as sedentary individuals with higher rates of heart disease.

This is why Mr. Sweetgall's program targets children, and he has presented his program to students in 350,000 schools over the past two decades. He told parents that children become less interested in health the older they get. When he asks students if they would prefer $1 million to 75 years of perfect health, 75 percent of all elementary and middle school students say they prefer perfect health. In high schools, most of the students say they would take the money.

At workshops with teachers and school administrators, Mr. Sweetgall suggested ways to integrate exercise into the school day. Teachers received pedometers and curriculum packets containing exercise incentives.

As a result of the program, teachers at Cedarville and St. Ignace have been using their pedometers to record their steps. Les Cheneaux Elementary School will start a "walk with the principal" incentive program this spring that rewards students for academic and social accomplishments by inviting one student a week to walk with Principal Eric Cardwell. St. Ignace teachers have been trying some of the suggested activities in their classroom, and are discussing future exercise activities that can be introduced to the school day. Teachers in St. Ignace are considering taking students on a walking field trip, Mr. Sweetgall said.

He was invited to the area by the Mackinac County Community Wellness Coalition, with a $10,000 grant from Michigan State University Extension.

The Mackinac County Wellness Coalition was formed in February 2005 to improve the health of children and their families through the prevention of weight problems and related chronic diseases, and to develop communities that support healthy lifestyles. It involves Mackinac Straits Hospital, Luce- Mackinac-Alger-Schoolcraft District Health Department, MSU Extension, the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians Health Clinic, St. Ignace Recreation Department, Eastern Upper Peninsula Intermediate School District, local schools and fitness providers, and youth and adult volunteers.

Specific food recommendations that complement Mr. Sweetgall's program, including nutritional guidelines, sample diets, recipes, and sugar content lists, are available at the Extension office in St. Ignace.