Let’s Move is a campaign started by Mrs. Obama two years ago to promote healthy living amongst our nation’s kids. It is a program that was made to solve the problem of childhood obesity. The Let’s Move campaign has ‘provided children with healthier food and greater opportunities for physical activity in schools and communities, helped get families the information they need to make healthier decisions, supported a healthy start in early childhood, and have worked to ensure more people have access to healthy, affordable food.’

The Let’s Move website has many useful tools including, food pyramids, portion recommendations, tools for child care providers and day care centers to help the youngest children get off to a healthy start, resources for parents, and much more.

The first lady has chosen Des Moines as the kick-off location for a three-day national tour promoting the Let’s Move campaign. Thousands of central Iowa elementary and middle school students will descend upon Wells Fargo Arena to participate in this 2^nd anniversary event. Mrs. Obama is scheduled to speak to the crowd at 11:00 a.m. Local acts will perform for the crowd. There will also be some local and national celebrities including: Biggest Loser trainer Bob Harper, ISU basketball coach Fred Hoiberg, figure skater Michelle Kwan, WNBA player Tamika Catchings, NASCAR driver Carl Edwards, and gold-medal gymnast Shawn Johnson. Organizers have said more celebrities could be added.

Des Moines University has recently implemented a new Vision statement. I believe this event fits perfectly with the vision’s main points which include: education, leadership, wellness, and community. We get many opportunities to volunteer here at DMU, but I feel this one is very unique. Our students and employees are getting a chance to come together as one body and represent DMU in one of the best ways they know how: by giving back to our community and volunteering for an event that will hopefully have a positive effect on the future of our children.

This year’s Mini Medical School begins this evening and runs for the five consecutive Tuesdays following. (February 7 – March 6, 2012)

The theme this year is all about becoming the healthiest you possible. You will learn how to do this through the five keys to living a happier, healthier life.

1. The 10 Pillars of Healthy Aging
2. Stress Management Techniques
3. Improve Your Physical Health
4. Enhance Your Emotional Well-Being
5. Establish Good Nutrition Habits

Register online or you can just sign up and purchase your tickets tonight before the talk.

Here are some ways to keep the dark days of winter from dragging you down:

Let there be light! Getting exposure to sunlight can be a powerful way to boost your mood.

Reach out. Maintain connections with family and friends. A little love and companionship can help sustain you.

Buy some bulbs. When you can’t get any outdoor light, a high-intensity indoor light fixture can help.

Get moving! Hit the gym and exercise. Doing so in the winter can provide a powerful lift to your mood and your energy.

Eat for energy. Combine lean protein and complex carbohydrates in your meals. Limit your consumption of alcohol, sugar, and high-fat foods, all of which may temporarily lift your mood but then leave you feeling tired soon after.

Change your thoughts. Learning to think less negatively will help improve your mood.

Reach in. Prayer, meditation, inspirational reading can provide a little relief during the dark days of winter.

WARNING: Overuse can be hazardous to your health.

As a New York Times reporter put it so well, “This is your body on chairs” (insert provocative CSI-style zoom-in to body): The assault on your metabolism begins as your calorie use dwindles to around 25 percent as compared to walking. Several researchers have published the sedentary body’s decline in sugar uptake, as insulin sensitivity drops by up to 40 percent. Several studies also show that our means of vacuuming fat from the bloodstream are also diminished after long periods of inactivity – particularly an enzyme called Lipoprotein Lipase (LPL). Increased levels of triglycerides and lipids and lower levels of HDL (the good cholesterol) have been measured in multiple studies. The combined harms of excessive sitting, especially over a lifetime, leave one with an increased risk for type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

This whole time many of you have been thinking, “Surely my exercise routine of 40 minutes, four times a week, protects me from these problems.” Experts would tell you that this is like excusing a cigarette a day with some time on the treadmill – the health effects take their toll regardless of your fitness level. Intense exercise is simply not enough to burn off the calories equivalent to our daily intake, even though it may boost our metabolisms throughout the day. Think of your metabolism as a car on the freeway – and for a frame of reference, Lance Armstrong is an Indy 500 car. The goal is to keep your engine running to maintain a high speed. When you are inactive, you are pressing the brake pedal, and your relatively short bursts of exercise are punches on the accelerator. Put the time difference into perspective, and you can imagine how slowly this car would be moving.

The silver lining in all of this is that there may be a way to ease up on our brake pedals, according to Dr. James Levine, a physician at the Mayo Clinic who is pioneering solutions for our “chair-based lifestyles.” This is where things get so simple! All it takes are minor activities, and more of them, such as standing or pacing while studying or on the phone, taking the stairs, cooking more – simple alternatives to long-term inactivity. He has coined this type of activity as non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT), which realistically accounts for most of our caloric burning throughout the day. He and other researchers have demonstrated these interruptions of inactive time directly decrease health risks. Study subjects had increased insulin sensitivity, lower triglyceride and lipid levels, and long-term studies had smaller waistlines and BMI’s.

Students and those with desk-based jobs should be especially aware of the risk factors and their individual solutions to their inactivity. So next time you hear about treadmill desks, or the use of exercise balls as office chairs, consider the benefits of these solutions. I’m gyrating on an exercise ball right now, and it’s fantastic! If you need baby steps, perhaps start by avoiding the elevator.

A study released last week by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) found that among 84 cereals, at least three that are marketed to children contain more sugar in a one-cup serving than a Hostess Twinkie. An additional 44, the study revealed, serve up more sugar in a cup than three Chips Ahoy! cookies. The three worst offenders: Kellogg’s Honey Smacks, Post Golden Crisp and General Mills Wheaties Fuel. Even more cavity-inducing is my guess that few kids limit themselves to just one cup of cereal per serving.

Like "crack" for kids?

“Most children’s cereals fail to meet the federal government’s proposed voluntary guidelines for foods nutritious enough to be marketed to children. Sugar is the top problem, but they may also contain too much sodium or fat or not enough whole grain,” the EWG stated in its report on the study. “The bottom line: Most parents say no to dessert for breakfast, but many children’s cereals have just as much sugar as a dessert – or more.”

Compounding the sugar shock, 56 of the 84 analyzed cereals contain more than 24 to 26 percent sugar by weight. The voluntary guidelines proposed earlier this year by the federal Interagency Working Group on Food Marketed to Children recommend no more than 26 percent added sugar by weight for all foods marketed to children. The evil Kellogg’s Honey Smacks is nearly 56 percent sugar by weight, EWG says.

It’s no surprise that the big cereal makers have largely ignored voluntary guidelines and the alarmingly increasing rates of obesity and diabetes among our children. They’re out to make a buck by mercilessly marketing sugar-bomb cereals to kids with fun characters, commercial inundation and “a prize inside,” while also persuading parents to believe their products are the – and the only – nutritious breakfast choice of champions.

What are the best ways we as consumers can stop this morning meal madness?

Millions of Americans go hungry every day.

Among local organizations working to do something about these tragedies is Des Moines University’s Homeless Camp Outreach, a campus organization started by two DMU students in 2008 to provide the city’s homeless with friendship, information on local services and basics like batteries and warm socks. Every Sunday, HCO students visit homeless camps in Des Moines, bringing hugs, hot coffee and conversation. Two Sundays a month, students and supervising physicians – many DMU faculty – provide health care services in the DMU Mobile Clinic, parked near the Central Iowa Homeless Shelter.

“Like most people, the image I had of a homeless person is a bum – a dirty person asking for money, who doesn’t want to work,” says second-year osteopathic student Abhishek Karwa, who grew up in India and Los Angeles. “When I saw Homeless Camp Outreach here, I thought that would be an interesting way to test that image.”

Now president of the organization, Abhishek says the experience “really changed my perception.” He notes, “Each person has a story to tell, just like me. The homeless people we’ve met have become our friends.”

HCO members agree the experience will make them better people and health care providers. “You gain skills in how to relate to individuals who are very different from you,” says Scott Lowman, an osteopathic student and first-year HCO liaison. “You can be comfortable with the fact that you may not fully understand another person, but you can still communicate with them and be respectful.”

HCO students this week encouraged the DMU community to skip one meal and donate the cost to a local shelter or food pantry. So instead of offering a recipe this week, I ask that you pause to ponder what it would be like to be truly hungry and/or homeless – then consider what you can do to change that situation.

The theme for the summit is “Collaborating for the Future: Unveiling Iowa’s New Cancer Plan,” which has been revised for 2012-2017. In addition to learning about the plan’s components and strategic projects, participants can explore national perspectives on cancer control, related public policies and legislation, cancer’s impact on diverse populations, the role of education and primary preventive health care, community-based screening efforts and more.

You can view the summit brochure and registration form online. Questions? Contact katherine-jones@uiowa.edu at the Iowa Cancer Consortium. This nonprofit organization is a partnership of researchers, legislators, health care providers, faith-based organizations, public health agencies, family caregivers, cancer survivors, volunteers and many other Iowans who work together to conquer cancer.

Another great feature of Networking Night is that it’s designed for both local students and those who take courses online. The “locals” can enjoy light refreshments while browsing booths, signing up for student organizations and learning about the IPHA and APHA. Online students can tap into the MPHSC Adobe Connect link beginning at 5 p.m. for socializing and networking. And everyone can listen to faculty comments starting at 5:30 p.m. in the SEC Auditorium.

“We hope to have diverse attendance at Networking Night, including online and local students of public health as well as students from all programs at Des Moines University,” says Caitlin Molsberry, MPH Student Club president. “As health professionals, we will all be working together to improve the health of our patients and communities. It makes perfect sense that we should begin to foster strong personal and professional relationships now.”

After faculty comments in the auditorium, on-campus students can enjoy a networking reception and another opportunity to learn about and sign up for various campus organizations. Online students can participate in a discussion with Elizabeth Eastman, MPH Student Club vice president and an online student.

If you plan to attend in person, the MPH Student Club asks that you take a brief survey to help the group estimate attendance. Be sure to bring cash or checks to sign up for organizations of interest (credit cards will not be accepted).

“Public health is recognized as an integral part of the work of all health professionals and key to  improving the health of populations throughout the world,” says Mary Mincer Hansen, Ph.D., R.N., director of DMU’s MPH Program. “The MPH Student Club’s Networking Night is a great opportunity for students of all professions to learn more about public health and experience interprofessional networking.”

This “gray tsunami” – the result of positive advances in medicine, health care, public health and economic development – will create profound and certain changes and challenges for individuals, families, communities and government, says Yogesh Shah, M.D., DMU’s associate dean of global health. It’s imperative we plan for the tsunami, he adds, and he is: Dr. Shah is co-chairing a committee of 13 Des Moines business and community leaders to guide the metro area in becoming the first Midwestern city to qualify for the World Health Organization’s Global Network of Age-friendly Cities.

How should we plan age-friendly cities?

The challenges of global aging also will be the topic of the Heartland Global Health Consortium’s third annual conference, which will occur at DMU on Oct. 12. The conference will bring together experts, policy-makers and citizens to explore these challenges and our opportunities to address them – through services, housing, health care, transportation and myriad other areas.

Des Moines Register columnist Rekha Basu, in a recent editorial about our aging population, notes that Des Moines is a “good bet to live in” for young people. Forbes.com recently rated the city as the best for young professionals, and it’s often highly rated as a place to raise a family or do business.

Still, she points out, “Even as the threshold for what’s old keeps changing, one thing is certain: Most of us will eventually get there. And when we do, we’ll want to live in an age-friendly city.”

As a health care leader, as an elected official, as a policy-maker and/or as a citizen, what do you think are the most important ways to manage our inevitable gray tsunami?

Having the D.O. program at DMU also impacts all our other programs in approach, overlap and understanding and that gives our grads an edge. Wouldn’t you want to know your health care practitioner understood other disciplines and had a whole body outlook on your health?