By Keith Purtell
Colorful discs that flew around a room Thursday at Indian Capital Technology Center are part of fitness guru Robert Sweetgall’s presentation.
The audience was mostly business leaders who wanted to learn economical ways to keep their workforce healthier.
The flying discs were a way to get everyone relaxed, and walking with a pedometer demonstrated how easy it is to add more healthy motion each day.
Karen Allen, physical education and health instructor at Oklahoma School for the Blind, said she was planning to attend all of Robert Sweetgall’s events Thursday.
“I’m really interested in his ideas about using a shoestring budget for an employee fitness plan,” she said. “All the topics are of interest to us. I’d like to get the kids persuaded to take an interest in this.”
Sweetgall said more evidence is emerging that the health care crisis is a result of our sedentary lifestyle and profit-based health care system.
“And then, when we do all the epidemiological studies and ask ‘Why are so many children autistic?’ ‘Why haven’t found a cure for cancer?’” he said. “Forty years of trend analysis shows explosions in this kind of stuff.”
Sweetgall said he grew up as a “butterball” and took a job as an engineer making up to $150,000 a year. He designed centrifuges for processing plutonium. But, when a fitness craze swept the nation in the 1970s, he got involved and left his previous lifestyle behind. One of the first things he did was walk across the United States in one year.
Fitness doesn’t require something so drastic, however.
“You like swimming?” he asked. “You like golf, you like gardening? Just get up and do something. The important thing is to keep active. It will control your blood sugars, your body fat, your stress levels, it will improve your bone and muscular system, it will help your creativity and intelligence.”
Sweetgall also had a low-cost suggestion for the school system starting their days.
“Start every school day with a 10-minute walk,” he said. “It will reduce behavioral problems and improve grades.”
Since the mainstream health care system is based on profit, that leaves a small number of people who have a sincere concern for each other’s well-being.
“Your family, employer and you are the only three people really interested in your health,” he said.
Reach Keith Purtell at 918-684-2925 or Click Here to Send Email
