Back in the end of January I wrote about problems I was having with my hands and feet in cold weather. As time went on, I noticed that the end of my nose and the tops of my ears were also affected. I found the latter odd, since I rarely have my head uncovered outside in the winter.

When going outside in cold weather, I noticed that I’d quickly feel cold, even slightly tingly, in the mentioned extremities, despite dressing very warmly. When going back inside, those areas would become red as they warmed up and I’d feel a stronger tingling sensation.

As time has gone on, these symptoms have lessened, probably because of time and the end of winter.

When I saw the doctor about this in January, he thought I might have chilblains, which can sometimes involve a systemic problem with the blood thickening upon exposure to the cold. On the other hand, a friend said that I might have gotten “frosted,” which made me think that I may have experienced “frostnip,” the mildest form of frostbite.

I still don’t know the cause of these problems and can’t point to one incident that caused them. It may have been due to playing outside with my daughter in cold weather, sometimes around 10-15 degrees with wind, I think, though I was dressed very warmly. Or my troubles may have been the result of riding my bike in the winter, though I did that much less than usual this year and not in the coldest weather. Read the rest of this entry »

In an opinion piece published yesterday in the StarTribune, Blue Cross and Blue Shield CEO Mark W. Banks, M.D., summarized the results of a study by his organization and the Minnesota Department of Health on the costs of treating obesity in the state. I discussed that study in a February 4 post.

Here are some key excerpts from Dr. Banks’ essay:

The Minnesota report states that healthier eating — combined with 30 minutes of physical activity a day — can significantly reduce some of the most costly illnesses to treat. The Minnesota Department of Health estimates that a more physically active Minnesota population could lead to a 30 percent reduction in heart disease, strokes, colon cancer, and osteoporosis; and 18 percent fewer cases of type 2 diabetes and hypertension.

However, the solution is not simply an issue of individual willpower. Realistically, if Minnesota truly wants better outcomes, we need to create a “state of health.”

What would happen if we created environments across Minnesota that encouraged more walking and less driving? What if it was as easy to find fresh fruit on our lunch breaks as it is to get a double cheeseburger to go? And how much more likely would we be to get moving if physical activity was something that blended naturally into our daily routines, instead of being a task reserved just for the gym? The changes would be dramatic.

Kudos to Dr. Banks, Blue Cross, and the Minnesota Department of Health for pushing hard on these issues.

In its December 2007 issue, Scientific American Body published one of the best articles I’ve read on the topic of the relationship between the “built environment” - our roads, buildings, etc. - and our health. The article, by Kathryn Brown, presents some of the relevant statistics; describes efforts by “built-environment advocates” in communities such as Atlanta, Georgia, and Columbia, Missouri; and examines the scientific debate on how best to build communities that foster physical activity.

I was especially interested in the paragraphs below (emphasis added), which describe research that shows the positive influence of densely populated, mixed-use communities on physical activity. (Mixed-use communities mix different land uses together - residential, commercial, recreational, public, etc. - to give people shorter distances between different destinations.) Just to show that I’m interested in an open inquiry, I’ve included the author’s brief discussion of a Heritage Foundation editorial that questions the role of the built environment in determining a condition such as obesity. Read the rest of this entry »

On the morning of my talk to the Northfield Rotary, the StarTribune published a story on a recent report by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota and the Minnesota Department of Health: “Obesity and Future Health Care Costs: A Portrait of Two Minnesotas.” (Executive summary also available.) The report is a collaboration between Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, the Minnesota Department of Health, and the Minnesota State Demographer. It is based on research by Kenneth E. Thorpe, Ph.D., of Emory University.

According to the StarTribune article, these are the key findings of the report:

• If Minnesotans pack on the pounds at current rates, fewer than one fourth will be a healthy weight by 2020, according to projections in the study prepared by Kenneth Thorpe, chairman of health policy and management at Emory University in Atlanta.

• Treatment costs for overweight or obese people will be 61 percent more by 2020 than for people of healthy weight.

• Unless rates go down, health problems related to overweight and obesity will account for 31 percent of the increase in health care costs projected to occur by 2020.

• That would add $900 million a year to the health care tab for Minnesota by 2010 and $3.7 billion a year by 2020.

I was particularly struck by this question and the answer from the StarTribune article. Read the rest of this entry »

On Thursday, January 31, I spoke to the Northfield Rotary Club about the Northfield Area Task Force on Nonmotorized Transportation, on which I serve as chair. I began by explaining how I got involved in bike and pedestrian advocacy. I didn’t put it quite this way in the talk, but I’ve come to view my advocacy as really a coincidence resulting from the special character of the last two cities I’ve lived in: Davis, California, and my current city of residence, Northfield, Minnesota. Davis showed me what was possible for nonmotorized transportation in cities, while Northfield encouraged me with its potential and its people - people who agreed that Northfield could make important strides in healthier modes of transportation.

The bulk of my talk to Rotary addressed the reasons that communities should promote cycling and walking and the mission and goals of the task force. As far as the reasons for promoting nonmotorized transportation, I focused on energy issues and health issues, with more emphasis on the latter. Regarding energy, I displayed a slide showing the vastly different energy requirements for propelling a pedestrian or cyclist as compared to a person in a motor vehicle. Of course this is a function of the difference in the weight of the vehicles (or lack of vehicle) involved. Here are the examples of vehicle weights that I gave: Read the rest of this entry »

Today the Northfield area submitted its grant proposal to the Safe Routes to Schools program, which in Minnesota is administered by our state Department of Transportation. Our proposal is for what is called a “non-infrastructure” grant. That is, we’re not proposing to build anything with the money we might receive. Instead we would use the money to do planning and technical analysis of safe routes around schools and to create educational, encouragement, law enforcement, and evaluation programs that support children walking and biking to school.

Our proposed project is called “Pathways to Healthier Students (PaTHS): Planning Enhanced Access to Northfield Schools.” The proposal asks for $15,000 for the planning/technical analysis component (most of which would be used to hire an engineering firm), $10,000 for education and encouragement programs, and $5,000 for law enforcement programs (including crossing guard training and equipment). The project would involve Northfield Public Schools’ three elementary schools and its Middle School. Read the rest of this entry »

Richard Cretan is a dear friend and one of the most talented writers I know. In his blog, Glebe Cow Drooled, he recently commented on my efforts to improve snacks at my daughter’s pre-school. Here is an excerpt, written in Richard’s inimitable style:

Against bureaucratic feet-dragging, I had earlier advised [Bill] to wage a campaign of surrealism and hijinks by staging an anti-junk food demo at the school: march the kids around holding giant self-portraits in which they’re transmogrified into the quivering jellied ovoids that are apt to rise from a diet of Pop-Tarts and doughnuts. Bill may have found this a bit much for Northfield, Minnesota.

Now comes news that shouldn’t be too surprising. Earlier this month, a new Florida State University study found Americans see being fat as normal. So maybe the pre-school has been onto something all along. Cheese puffs: gateway to cultural literacy!

Back in March and May, I wrote about the snacks at my daughter’s pre-school. I’m happy to say that the doughnut holes and Pop-Tarts are gone from the August snack menu, but the cheese puffs remain. Are they gone permanently? We shall see.

If gone permanently, is that a step in the right direction? Probably, since those seemed to be two of the three snack items that had the least amount of nutritional value. However, lots of processed food snacks remain on the menu that I wouldn’t feed to my child regularly, so we’ll continue to send a snack along with her.

And yes, lest you think we are too food-puritanical in our household, we do eat our own share of processed foods, and I often eat doughnut holes at our church when the nice ladies put them out after the service. I’ve not downed a Pop-Tart in a long time, however, and my waist line, already expanded, says thank you.

On March 14 I wrote about my attempt to persuade our daughter’s preschool to change its snack menu. To date, there has been no change. I will cross my fingers, remain hopeful, and hope others will suggest changes as well.

The weekend before last I saw Northfield News publisher and editor Sam Gett at our church. I recognized him from his photo in the paper and I introduced myself. We talked for quite a while about Northfield, the newspaper business, and local efforts to promote biking and walking. I learned that Sam’s wife has been a diabetes educator, so he already knew about the toll that physical inactivity can take on health.

I was delighted to find a few days later that Sam addressed the topic of health and physical activity with gusto in his column, titled “Let’s develop a healthy city.” Here’s an excerpt: Read the rest of this entry »