don's report archive

by Donald B. Ardell, Ph. D.

Wellness in the Headlines
(Don's Report to the World)

My wife's jealousy is getting ridiculous. The other day she looked at my calendar and wanted to know who May was.
Rodney Dangerfield

Doing the right thing for ANY reason is a good thing, in my opinion. Anyone surprised at the obesity epidemic seems as clueless as Rodney's jealous wife on finding "May's" name on Rodney's calendar. Yet, governors and other politicians all over the country are suddenly getting no respect if they don't have a task force or other special project to deal with the crisis now upon them of a fat electorate, with fat kids. Across the nation, politicians are scrambling to do the right thing, namely, to promote healthier lifestyles, if not always for the best of reasons or in the wisest of ways. In Florida, Jeb Bush just appointed a task force of physically unfit Republicans charged with devising a plan to fight "a tidal wave of unhealthiness" in hopes of stemming further leaps in health costs and deaths from assorted diseases. No doubt about it--dramatic increases in weight gain to the point that 60 percent of American adults and about 40 percent of teens are overweight have captured the attention of politicians, local and national. It's about time. Now that the governors are part of the wellness bandwagon, let's figure out how to help them understand the concept in order that their public posturing actually does some good, that is, makes a difference in the fitness levels and overall lifestyle patterns of state residents--young, old and in-between.

Before speculating on a strategy for doing that, let's look at the numbers.

Besides numbers like these, a personal story can convey a sense for the problem in getting a governor to do the right thing when struck with good intentions about wellness promotion. Let's look at a governor who is personalizing the obesity crisis in an attempt to do the right thing by the people. This governor has made his own transformation an issue, and is now urging all citizens to do as he did to become healthier. No, I am not referring to Arnold, the soon-to-be governor of Cal-E-fornia.

Meet Mike Huckabee of Arkansas, a state made famous by Bill Clinton but which some well-informed Americans realize actually existed before 1992. The governor of a state that ranks third nationally in the percentage of residents considered obese (Source: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), Huckabee wants to use his own situation (he lost 50 pounds) to promote health and wellness for others in Arkansas. As in Florida, doing so has practical payoffs--his state also pays extra in medical costs for state employees and for public school teachers because of optional illnesses brought on by obesity and other avoidable health problems. Diabetes alone is estimated to cost about $450 million a year in Arkansas, according to an AP report on the governor's ambitions released on October 15.

Unfortunately, Governor Huck is no more aware of genuine wellness than his colleague Jeb in Florida. His idea of a wellness program is to have employees weighed and their cholesterol/blood pressure and blood-sugar levels monitored. That's pathetic. What, exactly, does Gov Huck do to be well? According to the AP report, he doesn't eat pie anymore, he cuts back on fried foods and butter-drenched vegetables and he passed on chip and dip at a recent party. Well, that's swell. He also favors bananas, protein bars and water. Lovely.

If this kind of "wellness" regimen is good for a 50-pound weight loss, imagine what a serious exercise and all-around wellness lifestyle might accomplish! If the governor has the attention of many others in Arkansas impressed with his weight loss regimen, would it not be wonderful if he, and Governor Jeb Bush and other state leaders nationwide, were to learn about comprehensive, effective wellness concepts associated with self-management for lifestyle artistry, not just temporary one-shot weight gains? It's a rhetorical question--the answer is "Yes, it would!"

How do we seize the day, that is, make the most of these opportunities? How, in specific terms, can wellness advocates reach governors responding to a crisis with well-intended but half-baked solutions and convince the chief execs and their appointed task forces that wellness is more than weight loss?

One possibility is to become a wealthy donor to the Republican Party and use the access this enables to chat with the governors about the physical, mental and meaning/purposes dimensions of the wellness concept and some of the key principles in 15 skill areas. I'm sure there must be other approaches. Perhaps you might suggest a few.

Be well. Look on the bright side of life.

(Note: This essay will be filed in the archives in the PHYSICAL DOMAIN under the skill area of lifestyle habits. Additional articles related to this theme may be found there.)

(Ed. Note: Views expressed in this and other columns are those of the author and not necessarily those of the SeekWellness Editorial Board.)

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