By Bernard Burt
Dr. Kenneth Cooper Says Nutrition is the Foundation of Health
The father of aerobics, Kenneth H. Cooper, M.D., M.P.H., says teenage obesity in America is a national scandal. And he’s taking aim at both parents and children to eliminate harmful fats from American diets.
The worldwide fitness revolution started thirty-five years ago by Dr. Cooper is still going strong in Dallas. Only now he’s focusing on food and the way we eat. “Nutrition is the cornerstone upon which all other healthful practices rest,” he tells a visitor at the Cooper Clinic. And to prove it, Dr. Cooper is working with PepsiCo on new food products and juice drinks designed to combat global obesity.
“Globesity” is how Dr. Cooper describes the health crisis facing families around the world. Reeling off statistics from his research institute, he makes the point: “It is easier to maintain good health through proper exercise, diet, and emotional balance than to regain it once it is lost.” The Cooper Institute’s landmark eight-year study of 13,000 patients and members showed that individuals with a sedentary lifestyle are four times as likely to die from cardiovascular disease as those who exercise moderately.
The main culprit: trans-fatty acids. Taking a closer look at all the usual suspect foods, Dr. Cooper will assist Frito Lay with a line of healthy snacks that could change our obsession with diet food.
Now on grocery store shelves – Frito Lay baked potato chips. Offering a prototype, Dr. Cooper points to his signature on the package and a message about the advantages of healthy snacks. “There are no transfats in any product they’re developing,” he explains, “and they taste as good or better than traditional chips.”
Nutritionists at Cooper Clinic teamed up with makers of Frito-Lay foods and Pepsi drinks to create the new products. With 110 messages printed on millions of bags and cans, Dr. Cooper begins to sound like a corporate entrepreneur. Thanks to his association with PepsiCo (owner of Quaker Oats, Gatorade, Tropicana juice, and popular carbonated drinks), the message is getting out to 150 countries, with 47 new products planned.
Americans spent $9.2 billion on snack food last year, says Dr. Cooper, and his goal is to attack at all age levels. “Focus on parents changing habits,” he advises, “not on weight loss.”
In the face of $25 billion spent on marketing products to children by American manufacturers, he believes spas and schools can change attitudes about food. “We look at lifestyles, then reshape attitudes,” he explains.
At the Cooper Center during my visit, dozens of children were taking part in summer camp programs, from age four to twelve. In the 40,000-square-foot fitness center, more than seventy adult classes are offered weekly, and personal trainers are on the floor to help with your workout. With a core of 3,700 members, The Cooper Aerobics Center demonstrates the meaning of wellness.
Good-Bye Diet
Forget french fries! Lunch at the Cooper Center offers baked sweet potatoes with beef, chicken, and fish entrees, as well as vegetarian lasagna. Creating a variety of culinary adventures for guests is the challenge faced by Kathleen Duran-Thal, R.D. Cooper Wellness Program director of nutrition. “Over the past eighteen years at the Cooper Wellness Program,” she tells me, “we have worked with thousands of people frustrated by a lifetime of gaining and losing weight.” The best diet is no diet at all, Duran-Thal advises. During a week at the Center, you learn how to cope with restaurant menus by dining off-campus, and learn how to go shopping.
The key to managing your weight, says Duran-Thal, is to be consistent with exercise, learn a few new food facts, and have a positive attitude about shaping up. “Focus on internal rewards, increased energy, and the feeling of being in control,” she advises participants in the week-long Cooper Wellness Program. Given the right kind of motivation, and group support, the path to optimal health can easily be attained.
The number of servings a male or female eats within a food category depends on a variety of factors such as height, weight, muscle mass, and exercise. So the first order of business at the Cooper Center is a fitness evaluation plus optional medical tests. Based on your results, a personalized program is presented and monitored throughout your stay.
Cooper Center’s concept of eating according to the “Wellness Ladder” allows you to combine healthy meals and snacks with an action plan for regular exercise. To tip the energy balance one direction or another, simply adjust your food choices and serving sizes within the five major food groups. A decrease of just 250 calories per day can result in a loss of 1/2 pound per week. For faster results, you may consider eliminating 500 calories from your daily diet, to take off up to a pound per week.
What impressed me about food choices at the Center’s Guest Lodge was both the variety and presentation of delicious meals. There’s no calorie counting or obsessing about fat points. Good nutrition, you learn, is about healthful eating: variety, balance, and moderation.
Dr. Cooper’s Personal Philosophy
Committed to spreading the word about healthy food and exercise, Dr. Cooper adheres to a daily regimen that includes consulting with some of America’s leading corporations as well as patients who seek advice on coronary problems. His weekly radio show is heard on fifty-three stations nationwide.
Keeping up with a daily regimen of jogging, walks, and weight training, the 72-year-old doctor is frequently seen on campus. Exercise was the focus of his first book, Aerobics, published in 1968. But the holistic concept of wellness changed his philosophy. The Spa at the Cooper Aerobics Center opened five years ago; the fitness center added yoga and Pilates classes at about the same time. Today the fitness center is a component of a thirty-acre campus, The Cooper Aerobics Center, where research and motivation go hand-in-hand with prevention of illness.
Keynoting the 2003 International Spa Association Conference, Dr. Cooper appears October 13th at 10:30 a.m. to open the 13th annual spa industry event at the Wyndham Anatole Hotel in Dallas. For information, call (888) 651-ISPA or visit www.ispaconference.com.10 Best Breakfast Bets
Cereal mix, yogurt, and sliced apples
Scrambled egg, whole wheat toast, and orange sections
Whole grain pancakes or waffles topped with berries and/or yogurt, milk
Banana pancakes topped with fresh, sliced banana, nuts, and yogurt
String Cheese, Ak-Mak crackers, apricots
Cheese toast, fruit
Low fat cream cheese on raisin bread, calcium-fortified orange juice, milk
Peanut butter and banana slices on English muffin or whole grain waffle
Berry smoothie with bran added or English muffin
Oatmeal, nuts, low-fat milk, fruit, or calcium-fortified orange juice
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