globalbriefs
Daily Self-Care Every Body Walk Campaign Aims for Healthier Americans
Hipster Farmers More Young Adults Put their
Walking 30 minutes a day, five days a week, is the first step toward better health for every body type, according to Kaiser Permanente, a leading health plan provider spearheading the nation’s new Every Body Walk! awareness campaign. This simple, take-charge message comes in the wake of an annual national medical bill exceed- ing $2.5 trillion, with about 80 percent of it spent on treating chronic conditions that can be prevented or treated by regular walking, according to Dr. Bob Sallis, a fam- ily physician with the Southern California Permanente Medical Group.
Hands to the Plow Conditions are perfect for a new generation of farmers in their 20s and 30s that distrust industrial food systems, are intent on meaningful employment and may well succeed an aging farm populace. More are starting small farms and joining networks of like-minded agriculture enthusiasts, according to a recent story in The New York Times, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture wants to transform the budding trend into a fundamental shift. Last year, under a provision in the 2008 Farm Bill, the department distributed $18 million to educate young grow- ers and ranchers across the country. Garry Stephenson, coordina- tor of the Small Farms Program at Oregon State University, says he has not seen so much interest among young people in decades. “They’re young, energetic and idealist, and they’re willing to make the sacri- fices,” he says.
According to the USDA’s 2007 Census of Agriculture, farmers over 55 currently own more than half of the country’s farmland. Accord- ing to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, the hope is that some of the beginning farmers will graduate to stakes in midsize and large farms as older farmers retire.
22 Collier/Lee Counties
swfl.naturalawakeningsmag.com
“Walking is an excellent form of exer- cise for everyone, and for those with condi- tions like diabetes, asthma, heart disease and
depression, a regular walking regimen has the added benefit of helping to manage these diseases [and conditions],” advises Sallis. “I’m a strong believer in the power of walking, and that’s why I literally prescribe it to my patients as frontline medicine— often in place of medications.”
Fifteen years ago, the U.S. Surgeon General’s landmark Physical Activity and
Health report concluded that Americans’ sedentary lifestyle is a primary factor in more than 200,000 deaths a year. Currently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that nearly 70 percent of American adults ages 20 and older are overweight or obese; some 72 million are medically obese. Seventeen percent of U.S. youths ages two to 19 are obese, as well. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development projects that within a decade, three out of four Americans will be overweight or obese, unless we get moving.
Find motivational videos, health information, walking maps, walking groups and personal stories at
EveryBodyWalk.org.
July 7 is National Father-Daughter Take a Walk Together Day Most Walkable Cities
This year’s best Walk-Friendly Communities, recognized less for being organically hospitable and more for establishing commendable policies that encourage safe, accessible and comfortable walking are: Seattle, Washington; Ann Arbor, Michigan; Arlington and Charlottesville, Virginia; Hoboken, New Jersey; Santa Barbara, California; and Decatur, Georgia. Next best include Austin, Texas; Charlotte, North Carolina; Flagstaff, Arizona; and Wilsonville, Oregon.
Source: Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center (Bicycling
Info.org) of the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center, and the Federal Highway Administration
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