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Healthy Lives, Church Challenge seek to increase overall health

May 28, 2015
/ Ben Sheffler
/ training-development

Who knew that strengthening your spiritual life could start by skipping the soda and cutting down on fried foods? That’s just what the Rev. Tom Collins of Catholic Church of the Holy Spirit says happened when his congregation embarked on the Healthy Lives Church Challenge. The members of the church on Gulf Beach Highway lost a combined 244 pounds — 6 percent of their starting weight — as part of the 90-day challenge issued by Healthy Lives, a program of Baptist Health Care. That earned the Perdido Key area church more than slimmer waistlines. They won the challenge, accepted by 20 Pensacola area churches. "We were just thrilled at the amount of weight loss," the Rev. Tom Collins of the Catholic Church of the Holy Spirit says. The Catholic Church of the Holy Spirit had two teams of 25, which represents a sizeable percentage of the church, Collins says. "I absolutely believe that it strengthened our spiritual life, and that of course supports our mission of being holy persons," he says. The battle to improve the overall health and well-being of our community will have be fought on all fronts, including from the pulpits, local experts say. With 30 percent of Escambia County and 28 percent of Santa Rosa County adults considered obese, according to the 2015 county health rankings, serious and wide-ranging initiatives might be necessary to regain our health. Healthy Lives has been working since 2012 to provide a holistic view of wellness that includes mind, body and soul, Healthy Lives Director Meghan McCarthy says. "Unfortunately we're getting less healthy, and we really have to have a citywide focus from not only our hospitals, but all of our businesses, churches and schools," she says. "We all need to have this shared vision." [sidebar] County Health Rankings http://www.countyhealthrankings.org/app/florida/2015/county/snapshots/113+033 [/sidebar] The Church Challenge was a chance to engage the faith community in the effort, McCarthy. Healthy Lives provided nutrition workshops, resources, support and the "10 Commitments to Rebuild Your Temple" plan, which included guidelines such as consuming no soda and eating fried food only once a week. "If you could aim to do those 10 things on most days, it would translate over a three-month period to better health," McCarthy says. The churches lost a combined 1,576 pounds. "That's a significant impact because weight is the biggest driver of any disease process," McCarthy says. "It really is a huge impact in our community, and again it starts this conversation that hopefully will continue." The Rev. Phillip Phifer, senior pastor of Grace Lutheran Church which also took part in the Church Challenge, says there should be a concerted effort by the church to not just care about the next life, but also to be concerned about a healthy life on Earth. "But also there needs to be a social aspect, whether that's competition or getting together to do something, rather than just saying, 'Hey, you need to eat better, you need to exercise and go to the gym,'" Phifer says.

Since the Challenge ended, Collins says that his church has continued to promote healthy eating through their weekly Wednesday dinners. Those meals now are designed to include healthier foods that always includes fresh vegetables and lighter fare.

They are also using smaller plates to encourage moderate portions, Collins said.

[sidebar] Questions about Healthy Lives? For more information, call (850) 469-6903. [/sidebar] With an eight-hour workday and eight hours of sleep, McCarthy says the remaining eight hours of the day isn't enough time to be truly healthy, so work environments need to support health. "They need to not have donuts on the table, they need to have water at meetings, we need to not sit at our desks for eight hours," she says. "Because if you have a work environment that supports health, you can choose to use hours outside to magnify that." McCarthy also points out that one person's health is directly related to another's, using the flu shot as an example. The more people who get the shot, the more protected everyone is. "Those healthy behaviors are just as contagious as unhealthy ones," she says. McCarthy says those who aren't aggressively working toward making themselves, their family and their community healthier are part of the problem. "We need to shift everybody's thinking that you can't just be neutral anymore," she says. "You can't not have an opinion on the health of our community."

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Healthy Lives, Church Challenge seek to increase overall health

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