Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 10, 1995 TAG: 9505100015
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ALMENA HUGHES STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
In 1993, workers NoonLiting at Maid Bess in Salem trod 4,020 miles and shed 410 pounds and 333 inches.
Both groups also lowered their cholesterol and blood pressure counts.
Now, Debbie Sams hopes to get NoonLiting into churches and civic organizations, where it can help an even broader audience win the war against unnecessary fat.
NoonLiting is a lifestyle changes program that emphasizes exercise and gradual weight loss. Sams is with Salem-based Healthy Differences, a health promotion and education project funded by the federal government and carried out jointly by the state and the Roanoke City and Alleghany Health Districts.
She said the NoonLiting program was developed by the North Carolina extension service and brought to Virginia about three years ago by Barbara Fowler, health services administrator for Ingersoll-Rand, and Roanoke County extension agent Jean Vandergrift. Healthy Differences teamed up with them to help fund and promote the program, which emphasizes healthy eating, moderate weight loss and exercise, especially walking. NoonLiting I focuses on correct eating and exercise, while part II places more emphasis on exercise.
Under the program, one or two health-care professionals or lay people from various work sites are brought together for training in how to present the course information to their co-workers. There is no charge for the training, which is funded by a federal grant at the state level. Employees are solicited at the workplace and once a large enough group is assembled - a recommended 20 people to allow for about 50 percent attrition - the program gets underway.
Participation usually requires a sign-up fee of about $5 to $15, plus a weekly contribution of about $1. The average cost per person for the entire program is $25, which most groups apply toward buying start-up equipment, such as a good weighing scale, and toward incentives and prizes to be given out during or at the end of the program's 15-week term.
``Fifteen weeks was chosen because studies found that it takes about that long to change a lifestyle habit,'' Sams said. ``And this is about changing your lifestyle more than about following a specific diet.''
NoonLiting is based on reality, Sams said. Session 8, in fact, gives enrollees a chance to reset their goals, if they wish, in order to make their expectations more realistic.
``The first goal is to prevent further weight gain. Next, we encourage a loss of no more than 2 pounds per week,'' Sams said.
She said that weight loss seems most effective and permanent when people lose five to 10 percent of their body weight, keep it off for six months to a year and then lose another five to 10 percent of body weight until they reach their ultimate goal.
``And face it,'' Sams added, ``your basic shape is not going to change; it will just get smaller. If you're shaped like a pear, you'll become a thinner pear.''
NoonLiting also touches on self-esteem and self-acceptance, dealing with lapses, eating out and using wardrobe and makeup to help you look good while losing weight. Each class can easily be presented within 30 minutes.
Together with extension agent Vandergrift, nurse Fowler taught the first NoonLiting class in the Roanoke Valley to a group of 33 employees at Ingersoll-Rand. During their training, members of the largely male group lowered their cholesterol counts by about 20 points. They also lost more weight and walked more miles than groups composed mostly of women.
``But we'd tease them and tell them that was because we women had to take care of the housework and the children and didn't have time to do all that walking,'' Fowler laughed.
Even with 15 years of experience in health care, Fowler, who also participated in the program and continues to follow its tenets and walk daily, said it taught her a lot.
``I learned a lot about calculating my caloric intake and keeping records and about the types of foods that are high in fat and cholesterol," she said. "As a rule, people eat a lot more than they think they do.''
Coincidental with its introduction of NoonLiting, Ingersoll-Rand was installing an on-premises walking track in response to a health risk appraisal that showed its employees weren't getting enough exercise. Now, even though no NoonLiting program is in progress at the company, employees continue to use the track, walk the half-mile circuit around the plant, and compete for fun among themselves in their Mile Markers' walking club.
Fowler said she's also noticed a change in the foods offered during meetings: Bagels, muffins, fruits and salads have largely replaced the donuts and other high-sugar, high-fat snacks that formerly reigned.
Carilion occupational health nurse Jo Wirth taught the fall '94 NoonLiting course at Maid Bess. She was a participant in its first session in fall '93, which included line workers as well as personnel director Linda Hodges and executive vice president Dick Robers. Wirth said the interaction among different employee strata and coworkers who hadn't met added a plus to the course.
The class included machine operator Lorna H. Smith, a diabetic. She credits what she learned - eat three balanced meals a day; reduce or eliminate snacks; watch the manner of food preparation; and exercise - with enabling her to lose 58 pounds, walk up to 45 miles per week, avoid taking insulin shots and stay off sugar-control medication since October 1993.
While no official data has been kept, Hodges said Smith's work attendance has improved along with her health.
Several Roanoke Valley companies plan to study the effects of wellness programs on health-care costs and absenteeism rates. Sams said a needs assessment has identified Roanoke City and Salem as above state and national averages for heart diseases and digestive cancers - conditions attributed to high-fat diets and sedentary lifestyles. This is one of the main reasons she said she'd like to see NoonLiting expand beyond workplaces to churches and civic organizations.
Sams and a team of other trained professionals can supplement or even teach NoonLiting to such groups. Another teacher training session may be offered in the fall. Either case would require approximately 20 committed participants. For information, contact Sams at 387-5549.
|By ALMENA HUGHES| |STAFF WRITER|
HILE ``NoonLiting'' in 1992, employees of Ingersoll-Rand in Roanoke County lost 500 pounds and walked 5,000 miles over a period of 15 weeks.
In 1993, workers NoonLiting at Maid Bess in Salem trod 4,020 miles and shed 410 pounds and 333 waistline inches.
Both groups also lowered their cholesterol and blood pressure counts.
Now, Debbie Sams hopes to get NoonLiting into churches and civic organizations, where it can help an even broader audience win the war against unnecessary fat.
Noonlighting is a lifestyle changes program that emphasizes exercise and gradual weight loss. Sams is with Salem-based Healthy Differences, a health promotion and education project funded by the federal government and carried out jointly by the state and the Roanoke City and Alleghany Health Districts.
She said the NoonLiting program was developed by the North Carolina extension service and brought to Virginia about three years ago by Barbara Fowler, health services administrator for Ingersoll-Rand, and Roanoke County extension agent Jean Vandergrift. Healthy Differences teamed up with them to help fund and promote the program, which emphasizes healthy eating, moderate weight loss and exercise, especially walking. NoonLiting I focuses on correct eating and exercise, while part II places more emphasis on exercise.
Under the program, one or two health-care professionals or lay people from various work sites are brought together for training in how to present the course information to their co-workers. There is no charge for the training, which is funded by a federal grant at the state level. Employees are solicited at the workplace and once a large enough group is assembled - a recommended 20 people to allow for about 50 percent attrition - the program gets underway.
Participation usually requires a sign-up fee of about $5 to $15, plus a weekly contribution of about $1. The average cost per person for the entire program is $25, which most groups apply toward buying start-up equipment, such as a good weighing scale, and toward incentives and prizes to be given out during or at the end of the program's 15-week term.
``Fifteen weeks was chosen because studies found that it takes about that long to change a lifestyle habit,'' Sams said. ``And this is about changing your lifestyle more than about following a specific diet.''
NoonLiting is based on reality, Sams said. Session 8, in fact, gives enrollees a chance to reset their goals, if they wish, in order to make their expectations more realistic.
``The first goal is to prevent further weight gain. Next, we encourage a loss of no more than 2 pounds per week,'' Sams said.
She said that weight loss seems most effective and permanent when people lose five to 10 percent of their body weight, keep it off for six months to a year and then lose another five to 10 percent of body weight until they reach their ultimate goal.
``And face it,'' Sams added, ``your basic shape is not going to change; it will just get smaller. If you're shaped like a pear, you'll become a thinner pear.''
NoonLiting also touches on self-esteem and self-acceptance, dealing with lapses, eating out and using wardrobe and makeup to help you look good while losing weight. Each class can easily be presented within 30 minutes.
Together with extension agent Vandergrift, nurse Fowler taught the first NoonLiting class in the Roanoke Valley to a group of 33 employees at Ingersoll-Rand. During their training, members of the largely male group lowered their cholesterol counts by about 20 points. They also lost more weight and walked more miles than groups composed mostly of women.
``But we'd tease them and tell them that was because we women had to take care of the housework and the children and didn't have time to do all that walking,'' Fowler laughed.
Even with 15 years experience in health care, Fowler, who also participated in the program and continues to follow its tenets and walk daily, said it taught her a lot.
``I learned a lot about calculating my caloric intake and keeping records and about the types of foods that are high in fat and cholesterol," she said. "As a rule, people eat a lot more than they think they do.''
Coincidental with its introduction of NoonLiting, Ingersoll-Rand was installing an on-premises walking track in response to a health risk appraisal that showed its employees weren't getting enough exercise. Now, even though no NoonLiting program is in progress at the company, employees continue to use the track, walk the half-mile circuit around the plant, and compete for fun among themselves in their Mile Markers' walking club.
Fowler said she's also noticed a change in the foods offered during meetings: Bagels, muffins, fruits and salads have largely replaced the donuts and other high-sugar, high-fat snacks that formerly reigned.
Carilion occupational health nurse Jo Wirth taught the fall '94 NoonLiting course at Maid Bess. She was a participant in its first session in fall '93, which included line workers as well as personnel director Linda Hodges and executive vice president Dick Robers. Wirth said the interaction among different employee strata and coworkers who hadn't met added a plus to the course.
The class included machine operator Lorna H. Smith, a diabetic. She credits what she learned - eat three balanced meals a day; reduce or eliminate snacks; watch the manner of food preparation; and exercise - with enabling her to lose 58 pounds, walk up to 45 miles per week, avoid taking insulin shots and stay off sugar-control medication since October 1993.
While no official data has been kept, Hodges said Smith's work attendance has improved along with her health.
Several Roanoke Valley companies plan to study the effects of wellness programs on health-care costs and absenteeism rates. Sams said a needs assessment has, identified Roanoke City and Salem as above state and national averages for heart diseases and digestive cancers - conditions attributed to high-fat diets and sedentary lifestyles. This is one of the main reasons she said she'd like to see NoonLiting expand beyond workplaces to churches and civic organizations.
Sams and a team of other trained professionals can supplement or even teach NoonLiting to such groups. Another teacher training session may be offered in the fall. Either case would require approximately 20 committed participants. For information, contact Sams at 387-5549.
by CNB