Soon after the Dietetics Department launched a walking club for University students and employees, the 15 new members logged a collective 154 miles in one month.
“We walked to downtown Houston,” quipped Dr. Rachel Fournet, an assistant professor of dietetics. “When we get to Hawaii, we’ll have a luau.”
Fournet, a registered dietician, was motivated to start the club last spring, after seeing a report that pegged Louisiana as having the highest obesity rates in the nation.
For members, it’s about more than simply lacing up a pair of walking shoes for 30 minutes, two or three times each week. The club promotes healthier lifestyles through walking, proper diet and nutritional counseling, or, “a cycle of improved health, one little step at a time,” as Fournet refers to it.
“Once you start walking, you’re going to feel better,” she explained. “The body’s oxygenated. You’re building glycogen stores in muscle, and you’re going to want to eat better.”
Members can walk anywhere they choose, but several predetermined routes on campus have been measured for convenience. One lap around the Quad, for instance, is half a mile.
Total distances walked are reported weekly to the Dietetics Department in Hamilton Hall or the Kinesiology Department in Bourgeois Hall. Members also email photos showing the mileage displays on their pedometers, GPS devices or treadmills. Walkers are encouraged, but not required, to exercise in pairs or groups, for moral support and accountability. “Alone, you’re going to find excuses,” Fournet said.
To join the free club, members sign a consent form, and in some cases, are required to get medical approval. New members are given a health assessment by UL Lafayette dietetics students, and receive a nutritional screening to ascertain caloric intake and nutritional habits. Students also calculate the body mass index of members, gauging height, weight and body fat percentages.
Progress reports are provided every three months. “We all have something we could improve. It’s not really about being a certain weight, it’s nutritional soundness. Do you have antioxidants? Are you preventing cancer? Heart disease? We are proactive,” Fournet said.