Fourth of July fireworks
2008 Cityfolk Festival
Spotted at the Cityfolk Festival
Book helps county workers get fit
Sunday, May 11, 2008
DAYTON — Before his boss gave him a book that changed his life, about the most running Chris Schlorman would do was to the refrigerator or recliner.
But now the Kettering resident wants to run the Boston Marathon next year, thanks to "The Culprit & the Cure — Why lifestyle is the culprit behind America's poor health and how transforming that lifestyle can be the cure."
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"With Culprit & the Cure I'm already eating better," said Schlorman, 39. "I had the gym membership and wasn't going, but now I do. And last Friday I ran my first two miles on the road and I felt better immediately afterward than I have in two years."
That's just the kind of talk Montgomery County Health Commissioner Jim Gross wants to hear. He's the one who gave Schlorman the book, after all. He also gave it to the rest of his employees at Public Health — Dayton & Montgomery County, and instructed his staffers to give it to someone else when they're finished, hoping the book and its message catch on throughout the county.
"By golly I've given out 400 of those books and I just ordered 100 more," said Gross, an avid runner and pitchman for Public Health's new "Healthy Lifestyle" campaign.
Public Health paid $2.95 per book, a pittance considering the potential payback, Gross said.
"It's probably the best $2.95 you can spend," he said. "I have no doubt that if one person makes a lifestyle change that results in them not going to the hospital for a procedure, we'll pay for that book many times over."
Author Steven G. Aldana, a former professor of lifestyle medicine at Brigham Young University, writes in an easy-to-read, non-preachy fashion, using science to illustrate how diet and exercise can change your life, physically and mentally.
"He's pushing that knowing the facts and applying some common sense and making some minor changes in how you eat and exercise, that it's possible to transform your health, transform your well-being and the way you feel, and that it's not hard to do," said Schlorman, an epidemiologist and special projects manager.
Since Gross gave the book to his employees in April, he and Schlorman said they've noticed more staffers taking the stairs instead of the elevator, parking at the far end of the parking lot and walking to lunch. There's a weight-loss support group and an internal blog about the book that Schlorman created.
And the cookies, junk food and other treats an employee used to bring for his coworkers to share? Now it's fruit salad.
"It's amazing how your body responds to putting good things in it — it's sings, 'Hallelujah,'" Schlorman said. "I'm actually more alert, more productive and I don't have that 2:30 drop off. Your body rewards you. It says, 'Thank you for eating that broccoli without cheese and butter smothered on it."
Music to Gross's skinny ears.
"We believe people need to take responsibility for their own health, but people have barriers to achieve the lifestyle changes they want to make," Gross said. "We want to remove those barriers. Education — this book — removes a barrier."
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7408 or agottschlich@DaytonDailyNews.com.
