What Makes Colorado Special?

CHAPTER 1

WE'RE FREQUENTLY ASKED BY the media and by people we meet at parties why America is getting so fat. Is it because we spend too much time sitting in front of the TV? Is it because we drink those huge sugary soft drinks or that junk food advertising is often geared toward kids? Everyone has an opinion: Healthy food is too expensive. Schools are the problem, since most did away with recess and serve unhealthy food. Our portion sizes are too big, and we're eating too many wheat-based products. The list is endless. People want to blame someone or one specific thing--and everyone wants a simple solution.

There's no doubt that overweight and obesity are huge health problems in our country. Americans have been gaining weight year after year since the early 1980s. In fact, we published a study in Science in 2003 showing that the average weight gain in adults is about 2 £ds per year. This may not seem like a lot, but it adds up to 20 extra £ds in a decade!

What has caused this increase in weight gain? The American lifestyle has changed so much in the past 30 years--nearly everything about the places we live, work, and play is different--that it's impossible to assign blame to any one, two, or even three things. More important, though, we don't believe that "Why is America getting so fat?" is the right question. There are people who are lean and healthy. Some of them have always been this way; others have managed to lose weight and keep it off for a very long time. We've been asking, "How do these people do it?" With the Colorado Diet, our focus is on what people have done right.

Colorado is a perfect learning laboratory in which to study what's effective and what isn't for weight loss because there are many, many people here doing it right. While the rest of the nation has been packing on the £ds, Coloradans have avoided the high rates of obesity seen elsewhere. The state has the lowest obesity prevalence in the nation, about 26 percent below the national average. However, not everyone in Colorado is lean--just being a Coloradan doesn't give you immunity against the factors that contribute to obesity. You have to live the Colorado lifestyle actively.

In studying the Colorado lifestyle, we discovered six key factors that make healthy living easy and are necessary for developing a Mile-High Metabolism (we describe this in greater detail in Chapter 2). We think they explain why Coloradans are the leanest people in the nation. What's more, in comparing the habits of lean Coloradans to those of the participants in the National Weight Control Registry (NWCR), we determined that you don't need be a Colorado resident to adopt this lifestyle. Those people live across the country, proving you can be a weight-loss success story anywhere. In the chapters that follow, we'll go into greater detail about each one of the factors and show you how to incorporate them into your daily life. But for now, we wanted to give you an overview.

1 / Be Active Every Day

A few years ago, we worked with Harris Polls to research the walking habits of people across the United States and published the results in the journal Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. Participants wore pedometers to count the number of steps they took each day. Turns out that the national average was about 5,500 steps (about 2 to 21/2 miles), but Coloradans took 1,000 additional steps. We weren't surprised to find that obesity rates were correlated to the number of steps taken. In Arkansas and Tennessee, where obesity rates are among the highest in the country, residents took only 4,500 steps per day.

There's no getting around it--to stay lean, you must be consistently active. Without regular movement, your metabolism becomes slow, sluggish, and inflexible. And an inflexible metabolism makes weight gain inevitable and lasting weight loss next to impossible. Whether it's a walk with the dog, a hike with a friend, a bike ride, or a workout at the gym, movement is a priority in Colorado, not another dreaded task on the to-do list. Some of us get up early, others fit it in between obligations, but the key is we always find a way.

If this feels foreign and seems daunting to you now, don't despair. In Chapter 4, we help you discover the joy of movement and show you how to make it part of your life.

2 / Fuel Up on Real Food

With all that activity, Coloradans love to eat, but we're selective about our food. We look for fresh and local fare, sustainably grown and harvested, where possible. Just about every neighborhood has a farmers' market, and health and organic food stores are very popular, too. (In fact, several major health food chains originated in Colorado.) The majority of our calories come from minimally processed foods that deliver the most flavor and nutrition so our bodies perform at their best. We don't waste our calories on foods with low nutritional value, although we do love our occasional indulgences.

A passion for adventure and new experiences is common here, and food is no exception. Many Coloradans identify as "foodies" and love to cook and seek out inventive restaurants that serve fresh, delicious meals. At restaurants and at home, the emphasis is on quality, not quantity. A healthy-size portion of a great-tasting dish is better than a huge serving of fare that's filled with refined carbohydrates, fat, and sodium--even if that big portion costs less money.

Our friends Debbie and Tim exemplify the Colorado Diet philosophy we discuss in Chapter 5. They love to cook, and even though they live in downtown Denver, they grow their own vegetables in the neighborhood community garden. On a typical Sunday, they might walk or bike to the grocery stores in their neighborhood to pick up a few ingredients for dinner. Debbie prefers making simple meals with fresh ingredients. One of their favorite dinners is sauteed vegetables and herbs tossed with pasta and topped with a little Parmesan cheese--it's tasty, and Debbie can put it together in just a few minutes after work. The couple joined a local farm share program that provides them with a box of fresh, locally produced foods each week. They are both lean and active and readily admit that a major reason they are active is to be able to enjoy the food they love.

3 / Create Your Own Healthy Environment

Colorado is famous for its beautiful scenery and ample opportunities for outdoor recreation. Active people are drawn to our state because of our weather (more than 300 days of sunshine a year), mountains, walking and biking trails, and lots of parks and open spaces. It's hard to stay inside. Of course, it's easier to be active when you're in this kind of environment.

But the typical Coloradan doesn't hike a tall peak before breakfast every day--or even once a month. It's our communities and immediate surroundings-- the plethora of parks, the bike paths in our neighborhoods, and our friendly walking groups--that provide an important nudge for healthy living.

And if you're looking for someone to join you on a hike or a bike ride, you don't have to look far. In Colorado, you're likely to rub elbows with a triathlete or trail runner or hiker at a movie, party, or neighborhood event. Your neighbor may be the local running club coach or the organizer of a local charity walk. It seems like everyone...