State officials team up to raise childhood obesity awareness

Gov. Mitch Daniels and 19 other state officials were just finishing their last steps in an awareness-building competition of physical activity to fight childhood obesity when IU students headed back to school from winter break.

The sponsor, Virgin Health Miles, asked governors and state officials nationwide to participate in the Capitol Steps Challenge and track the number of steps they took during a two-week period using GoZone pedometers. The 14 participating state teams had to log their steps, and the state with the most steps will win $50,000 toward childhood obesity prevention programs.

The winners of the challenge will be announced at the National Governors Association meeting on Feb. 21 in Washington.

“The governor and the first lady were very adamant about getting the Hoosiers to be more active and take better care of themselves, and they are leading by example,” said Brad Rateike, spokesperson for Gov. Mitch Daniel’s office, adding how Indiana has moved from the 10th to the 21st most obese state in the nation.

Daniels and his team logged more than 4.2 million steps from Jan. 1 to 14, and several of Indiana’s state officials consistently logged more than 30,000 steps a day, including the governor’s wife, Cherri Daniels, and Indiana State Health Department Commissioner Dr. Judy Monroe.

“As health commissioner, I believe you need to walk the talk,” Monroe said. She said she woke up at 4:30 a.m. daily to walk on a treadmill and log her steps to become one of the top participants.

Monroe and several other state officials said they found that the competitiveness encouraged them to stay on track and stay active.

“First off, you have state officials who are probably quite competitive anyway, and then you add a challenge to the whole thing and there is a lot of competition,” said Lori Torres, commissioner of the Department of Labor, who participated in Zumba aerobic classes and biking throughout the weeks.

Cherri Daniels said she took walks two to three times a day to beat the male competitors in the office.

“They were determined that they were going to beat me every day, and they failed miserably,” Daniels said.

Although Gov. Daniels was an enthusiastic participant, taking daily runs, his wife beat him out in the competition. 

Kathy Wilson, spokesperson for Virgin Health Miles, said it was important for participants to engage in any type of physical activity they wanted for others to see fun and healthy ways to staying active.

“Over the past decade, child obesity has tripled,” Wilson said. “We wanted to shed light on the issue of obesity prevention and have these state leaders really lead by example.”

During the challenge the participants prioritized their schedules around preparations for the governor’s second inauguration, State of the State address and several other speeches. 

“It was a great lesson in setting a goal,” Monroe said.

Monroe encourages children struggling with obesity to take simple steps in becoming healthy, like planning out meals with their parents and becoming more active in school programs.

“Walk away from the television, walk away from the computer screen and get outside and play,” Monroe said.

Monroe said if the Indiana team wins the prize, the money will be used to further current health initiatives, such as Daniels’ “INShape Indiana” plan. In the meantime, Monroe encourages students and adults to find creative ways to stay fit in their community.

“The healthy choice should be the easy choice,” Monroe said. “We shouldn’t make it hard for people to live healthy.”