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MARK FENTON On September 12, 2002, Mark Fenton, host of the new PBS TV series "America Walking", made time in his busy schedule to spend the morning with us. Mark is a very energetic and knowledgeable expert in the field of exercise and in particular, the health benefits of walking. We were very fortunate to have him share his vast experience with us. |
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| We had a very good
turn-out, considering it was early on a Thursday morning. Besides our
PATCH team members, we were honored by the presents of; Beatrice City
Administrator, Jim Bauer; High School Principal, Jason Sutter; Dr. Don
Weldon, who is a very active trail supporter; out-of-town guests,
including members of NE Health & Human Services; and many enthusiastic
members of our community. The weather even cooperated. It was a very
beautiful morning for this event. Mark indicated to us that there is a great concern in this country about the fitness and health of our citizens. As health & wellness advocates, we need to do a better job of promoting a healthier lifestyle by encouraging our citizens to exercise more and eat a more nutritious and lower fat diet. He is very concerned about the overall health and well being of our children. He indicated that children today are spending too much time watching TV and playing video games and eating too much fast-food and snack foods. In his opinion, if this trend continues, our children and grandchildren may not live as long as we will. He advocates that children should walk to school, when feasible, which is currently a national campaign. Click on this link for more information: Walk To School (USA). Click HERE for links to other very informative web sites on the subject of walking. He also recommends that all of us get at least 30 minutes of vigorous exercise per day. For those of us who think that we do not have the time to dedicate 30 minutes every day to exercise, Mark states that the 30 minutes does not necessarily have to be all at one time. He says that if we take a 10 minute walk 3-times per day, that would count as our 30-minute work-out for the day. He used an example of how people in some other countries seem to be more healthy with less occurrence of obesity than United States citizens. One of the reasons for this fact is the lack of public transportation in most areas of the United States and that we tend to drive our cars everywhere we go. If we go four blocks to the grocery store, we drive instead of walking. We drive our children to school, even if it is only six blocks away. Where public transportation is available, a person could walk to the bus stop; get off the bus a few blocks from work; walk the rest of the way to work; take the stairs instead of the elevator; walk back to the bus stop to catch the bus back to your neighborhood; then walk the rest of the way home. In most cases, that would be at least the 30 minutes of exercise that you need.
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Mark did seem very impressed with the City of Beatrice's efforts in the planning, developing and maintaining a city trail system. He offered some suggestions, one being that we should try to inter-connect all the trails to encourage people to use them more when trying to make it across town for what ever reason. |
