UT receives grant to improve state’s eating habits

The national campaign is called “America on the Move. ” In Tennessee, the program will be directed by Michael Zemel, a UT professor of nutrition and medicine.

“We have a modest goal of enrolling 1 percent of our state’s population in the first year,” he told The Knoxville News Sentinel’s Washington bureau. “I think we can do better than that — 2 percent, or about 100,000 people.”

The campaign hopes to help people lose weight by walking 2,000 extra steps a day — about one mile — and eating 100 fewer calories.

U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., the key congressional member in securing funding for the state, said UT’s research in nutrition made it a good candidate to coordinate Tennessee’s efforts to reduce obesity through diet and exercise.

“I call us the Fried Chicken Belt,” Wamp said. “We are the opposite of healthy.”

On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., joined Wamp in Washington to herald the program.

Frist, a former heart and lung transplant surgeon and regular runner, said he’s getting pedometers for his 45 leadership and state staff members so they can count their steps each day.

“As a physician, I know how important it is that we eat healthily and lead an active lifestyle,” Frist said.