‘It is spring, and I’m the hunter’ Friday, July 29, 2011
In my opinion these are the only truths in science: “Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution,” Theodosius Dobzhansky, and “The truth changes,” author unknown. I usually write about the benefits of healthier running, and this month I will explore a topic which lends even more credence to why every human should learn to run or walk a lot. The sad but not sur-
The Shepherdstown Chronicle
Re-evolution of Running
By Mark Cucuzzella
prising news from the 2011 “F as in Fat” report (http://healthyamerican s.org/report/88/) from the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson
Eastern Panhandle Auction
Foundation has been released, and yes, America is getting fatter. Some lowlights: • Twenty years ago, no state had an obesity rate above 15 percent.
Today, more than two out of three states, 38 total, have obesity rates over 25 percent, and just one has a rate lower than 20 percent. • Four years ago, only one state was above 30 percent. Twelve states now have obesity rates above 30 percent. • Today, the state with the lowest obesity rate would have had the highest rate in 1995. • The rate of all chronic disease and associated
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medical costs are rising rapidly in the same trajectory. • West Virginia is the No. 3 state for adult obesity weighing in at 32 percent. My friend from Japan, Dr. Hiro Tanaka, chair of Exercise Physiology at the University of Fukuoka, visited Shepherdstown last month for our Running Injury Prevention Conference. He has written two books in
Japanese translated as “Run with Smile” and “Run Marathon Wisely, Reduce Body Weight, and Forefoot Strike.” So what does this have to do with obesity? At age 46, Dr. Tanaka was obese with fatty liver, and as an exercise physiologist he set out to be his own experiment. He realized to lose weight, the running motion, even if very
See Running
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