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American Morning
Interview With Dr. Howard Shapiro
Aired September 01, 2003 - 8:48 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: You know two-thirds of Americans are overweight. And a new study out says that suburbia has something to do with that. So, how much does your address weigh on our waistline?
Well, joining us now with some answers and insight into that is the author of Dr. Howard Shapiro's "Picture Perfect Weight Loss," Dr. Howard Shapiro. Good to see you, doctor. Happy holiday to you.
Tell us, first off, what you think about this study? You think there is a connection here?
DR. HOWARD SHAPIRO, WEIGHT LOSS EXPERT: Well, I definitely think there's a connection here. First of all, it was a study of 448 counties. It was 200,000 people. And it's really obvious.
If you live in a suburb, and you get in a car and you drive everywhere and you don't walk, the tendency is that you're going to gain weight. Whereas if you live in one of the cities like New York or Philadelphia or San Francisco, these are the high concentrated areas where people walk all the time. You're definitely going to burn off more calories.
So it's really obvious. And part of the study is to bring attention to city planners, and say, you know, what you develop is really what encourages people to become active. And you should have sidewalks and bicycle paths and things of that sort.
Some new communities don't even have sidewalks. They're just building the suburbs and that's it. So I think it's definitely a significant thought.
HARRIS: And sidewalks is the biggest problem I've seen in most of the suburbs that I live in and my friends live in, as well. But you know sidewalks won't be put in overnight any time soon. You have any advice for folks out there, anything they can do to counter their environment?
SHAPIRO: Yes. You know what we talk about in my books and what I talk about in my practice are lifestyle exercises. Do activities that you normally do during the day. Walk as much as you can, rake your leaves, mow the grass, wash your car, walk up and down steps when you get the opportunity.
These are things that you just do in your normal routine and you don't even feel like you're exercising. Yet it's really significant. It's good cardiovascular work, it burns off calories. So lifestyle exercises I think are very important. I encourage my patients just to move and be active.
On the other hand, don't drive from one place to the other and get out and walk in the door. Maybe park your car a couple of blocks away and walk a few more blocks just to get to your destination. I mean, there are things you can do if you really want to try.
HARRIS: All right. If you had to judge between the two, which would you say is the bigger problem, the fact that suburbanites may not get that much exercise by walking or the fact that we eat in the car so much? We're always snacking, it seems.
SHAPIRO: I think they're both important. One of my patients spends about three hours a day in his car. And he actually lives in Brooklyn, but he's traveling all the time. He eats more food in his car than he does in his house.
So I think both of those things are important. And a lot of times people commute into the city from the suburbs and there's an hour, an hour and a half or a two-hour time period. And after work is the time when we sort of let down, when we relax. So people always stop and eat something on the way home.
So I think they're both important, and I don't think you can say one's more important than the other. It really depends upon the individual.
HARRIS: OK. It seems like no matter how many times we talk about it, it still comes up to the same point, you got to move your body. Got to move it.
SHAPIRO: Eat less, move more.
HARRIS: There you go. Dr. Shapiro, appreciate your time. Take care. Happy holidays to you.
SHAPIRO: Same to you.
HARRIS: All right.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired September 1, 2003 - 8:48 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: You know two-thirds of Americans are overweight. And a new study out says that suburbia has something to do with that. So, how much does your address weigh on our waistline?
Well, joining us now with some answers and insight into that is the author of Dr. Howard Shapiro's "Picture Perfect Weight Loss," Dr. Howard Shapiro. Good to see you, doctor. Happy holiday to you.
Tell us, first off, what you think about this study? You think there is a connection here?
DR. HOWARD SHAPIRO, WEIGHT LOSS EXPERT: Well, I definitely think there's a connection here. First of all, it was a study of 448 counties. It was 200,000 people. And it's really obvious.
If you live in a suburb, and you get in a car and you drive everywhere and you don't walk, the tendency is that you're going to gain weight. Whereas if you live in one of the cities like New York or Philadelphia or San Francisco, these are the high concentrated areas where people walk all the time. You're definitely going to burn off more calories.
So it's really obvious. And part of the study is to bring attention to city planners, and say, you know, what you develop is really what encourages people to become active. And you should have sidewalks and bicycle paths and things of that sort.
Some new communities don't even have sidewalks. They're just building the suburbs and that's it. So I think it's definitely a significant thought.
HARRIS: And sidewalks is the biggest problem I've seen in most of the suburbs that I live in and my friends live in, as well. But you know sidewalks won't be put in overnight any time soon. You have any advice for folks out there, anything they can do to counter their environment?
SHAPIRO: Yes. You know what we talk about in my books and what I talk about in my practice are lifestyle exercises. Do activities that you normally do during the day. Walk as much as you can, rake your leaves, mow the grass, wash your car, walk up and down steps when you get the opportunity.
These are things that you just do in your normal routine and you don't even feel like you're exercising. Yet it's really significant. It's good cardiovascular work, it burns off calories. So lifestyle exercises I think are very important. I encourage my patients just to move and be active.
On the other hand, don't drive from one place to the other and get out and walk in the door. Maybe park your car a couple of blocks away and walk a few more blocks just to get to your destination. I mean, there are things you can do if you really want to try.
HARRIS: All right. If you had to judge between the two, which would you say is the bigger problem, the fact that suburbanites may not get that much exercise by walking or the fact that we eat in the car so much? We're always snacking, it seems.
SHAPIRO: I think they're both important. One of my patients spends about three hours a day in his car. And he actually lives in Brooklyn, but he's traveling all the time. He eats more food in his car than he does in his house.
So I think both of those things are important. And a lot of times people commute into the city from the suburbs and there's an hour, an hour and a half or a two-hour time period. And after work is the time when we sort of let down, when we relax. So people always stop and eat something on the way home.
So I think they're both important, and I don't think you can say one's more important than the other. It really depends upon the individual.
HARRIS: OK. It seems like no matter how many times we talk about it, it still comes up to the same point, you got to move your body. Got to move it.
SHAPIRO: Eat less, move more.
HARRIS: There you go. Dr. Shapiro, appreciate your time. Take care. Happy holidays to you.
SHAPIRO: Same to you.
HARRIS: All right.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
