Huckabee sets healthy standard for state

Governor Mike Huckabee is leading the citizens of Arkansas to a healthier lifestyle with the hope of making one of the unhealthiest states in the country one of the healthiest.

Huckabee set an example for the state with his own personal weight loss, which he accomplished by changing how and what he eats and exercising.

“When I began this journey to better health, I simply got out of bed each morning and went for a walk,” Huckabee said. “After I had walked for a couple of months, my weight was going down, and my energy level was up.

“Regardless of where you live, or how much money you make, you can go for a walk each day.”
Changing his eating habits was no small task as he now avoids sugar, processed or fried foods, late night snacking and unhealthy starches. Instead he reads food labels and chooses salad and fresh vegetables, grilled meats, water and fruit.

“I realized that eating healthy doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy what you eat,” Huckabee said.
He has since implemented the Healthy Arkansas initiative, a comprehensive effort defining specific areas where behavioral changes can lead to healthier individuals. Tobacco use, obesity and physical inactivity are the primary causes of such serious chronic conditions as diabetes, stroke, lung and heart diseases, and cancer. The Healthy Arkansas initiative provides strategies to reduce and/or eliminate the behavior-related causes of these diseases.

“We must convince Arkansans that the key to real change is a behavioral change,” Huckabee said. “We eat the wrong foods, smoke too much and don't exercise enough.

“If a person maintains a normal body weight, exercises at least three times each week and doesn't use tobacco, that person will live an average of 13 years longer than he or she would live otherwise.”

Huckabee has directed the state Department of Health to attempt to achieve the following goals by January 2007:
• Increase from 64 percent to 85 percent the percentage of juveniles who are active at least three times a week for at least 20 minutes.
• Increase from 15 percent to 30 percent the percentage of adults who exercise at least three times a week for at least 30 minutes.
• Reduce the percentage of obese children from 11 percent to 5 percent.
• Reduce the percentage of obese adults from 23 percent to 15 percent.
• Reduce the percentage of adolescents who smoke from 36 percent to 16 percent.
• Reduce the percentage of adults who smoke from 24 percent to 12 percent.

“For many years our country put money and energy into treating disease and illness rather than dealing with avoiding disease through healthier lifestyles,” Huckabee said. “We have staggering rates of heart attacks, high blood pressure and strokes simply because people opt not to take care of themselves.”

He encourages Arkansans to take the first step in becoming healthier.

“Try to keep in mind that you are not going to change your lifestyle overnight,” Huckabee said. “You will find that if you make small changes, the big changes will follow.

“Change one thing about how you eat, and start to get just a little bit of exercise. You will start to notice a difference in how you feel.”

 

Healthy Arkansas Initiative
Governor Mike Huckabee