The term "Olympic spirit" embodies a lot of ideals, from sportsmanship to optimum health. And for Utahns, hosting the Games can be about a lot more than seeing premier athletes and welcoming the world to their doorstep.
It's also going to be about changing lifestyles and making good personal choices to achieve optimum health and fitness.
As part of the effort, the Salt Lake Organizing Committee is sponsoring a health-related initiative, "A Healthier You 2002," targeted at people 25 and older and their families, in partnership with a coalition of Utah health organizations.
The Salt Lake Winter Games will be the first to include this kind of public-focused health effort.
The American Public Health Association and the American Medical Association earlier agreed that doctors and public health "should be working together on common interests," according to Dr. Scott Williams, deputy director of the state Department of Health. They identified a number of goals.
Utah health organizations were looking for ways to use the Olympics to promote personal health and fitness. Many of the goals fit. And thus a program was born.
"Most of us will never be at (Olympian) level of health," Williams said, "but we can achieve some sort of optimal health of our own. The Olympics have not been used for that before. We expanded it beyond physicians and public health."
Currently, the initiative focuses on physical activity, aiming for 30 minutes of any type of physical activity at least three times a week. In the future, increasing emphasis will be placed on nutrition, with a goal of lowering dietary fat and increasing fruit and vegetable consumption; safety issues like seat-belt and helmet use; healthful behaviors like stopping smoking and responsible use of alcohol by adults; and prevention, which embraces everything from early detection screenings, like pap smears, mammograms and blood pressure monitoring, to immunizations.
Surveys show that most people know the basic things they should do, like exercise and eat right. But knowing and doing are very different things.
"The challenge is in creating more opportunities — easy ways to incorporate it into your lifestyle," said Williams.
It's a challenge that Judy Stanfield, director of education programs for SLOC, embraced.
She'd always been fairly healthy and didn't smoke or drink. She had been a runner but had to stop after she injured herself in a fall.
Stanfield inherited the program when she took the job. But improving her own health was a choice.
"I used to be a high school principal, and I was so busy I never had time (for fitness). Now I'm not trying to find the best parking place, the one that's closest. I take the steps, not the elevator in the office.
"This is not to tell people what to do or have them stop something. It's not a lecture, but a nice way to be healthy, and it doesn't have to be a huge program that you usually stop doing later. Most people can't go to the gym every day. But everyone can walk. They can watch their cholesterol and think about body weight, drink less and stop doing some of the habits that are not so healthy. Sometimes you need a little push to stop making excuses."
Stanfield swims with a friend, Sylvia Lloyd, three times a week. But the "biggest thing — and I know it seems silly — is I have quit drinking soda and I'm drinking water eight to 10 times a day and I am feeling better."
She and her husband, Ronald, both cook more healthful foods. Sometimes, instead of going out, they stay home and have a salad. They also golf and exercise together and find ways to stay in shape.
Stanfield believes just flossing your teeth is a healthful lifestyle change. And it's simple.
The key is having a plan and identifying the simple changes you can make to improve fitness, she said. "It's silly, but if you don't think about it and you don't have a plan, you don't do it."
Besides pointing out to people how simple changes can be and how great the benefits they create, the Healthy You 2002 program helps local communities stage events like the "Gold Medal Mile," a free walk that promotes both the Olympics and fitness awareness. So far, communities from St. George to Park City have hosted them.
The participating agencies all "threw in a little money" and hired Connie Kitchens, a loaned executive, to spearhead the program. They donate in-kind staff time. SLOC provides office space and a community programs budget. The Deseret News has agreed to run monthly on its health or fitness page profiles of people who are making more healthful choices and improving their fitness levels.
The participating health organizations include state and local health departments, University of Utah Health Sciences, the state Division of Substance Abuse, the Utah Medical Association, Utah Hospitals and Health Systems Association, Utah Nurses Coalition, Weber/Morgan Human Services, Davis Behavioral Health, Salt Lake County Substance Abuse, the Utah Pubic Health Association and the Utah State Council on Health and Physical Activity.
E-MAIL: lois@desnews.com