Community program 'chips' away at bad health

Perhaps one of Fort Myers' best-kept secrets lies in a non-descript building across from the Calusa Nature Center & Planetarium.

There, healing of chronic health problems, such as high blood pressure and obesity, begins.

The Fort Myers Better Living Center, located at 3451 Ortiz Ave., mirrors its name. Inside the building, a Seventh Day Adventist Church, is where people participating in the Coronary Health Improvement Project (known as CHIP) meet for seminars and sessions about living healthier.

The volunteer-run community based lifestyle education program holds several sessions a year for people trying to better their health and battle chronic and sometimes life-threatening issues. They just began a session last week. New participants are still welcome to sign up for the six-week program. A new session will start up in January as well.

Hans Diehl, director of the Lifestyle Medicine Institute of Loma Linda, Calif., created CHIP about a decade ago. Today, it's a national and international program, said Kathy Reynaert, nutrition director for the Fort Myers CHIP chapter that started two years ago.

The local founders first began offering the program -— which advocates eating the right kinds of food for a healthy living life style — at Edison State College. Sandra Kolliniatius, the director of the Fort Myers CHIP program, and Ms. Reynaert decided to form the chapter after seeing so many area residents struggle with dangerous health problems.

COURTESY PHOTO Healthy eating is the goal of the CHIP program. Ms. Kolliniatius and Ms. Reynaert, along with a host of volunteers including retired physician Dr. Simon Witter, work to help the community feel and live better.

"We just decided we can bring this to the area and change the health of Fort Myers," Ms. Reynaert said. "My passion is to get to them before they are sick."

For Fort Myers dentist Dr. Mark Corke, CHIP became the answer to what he and his wife Terry were looking for to improve their overall health.

"It changed our lifestyle," Dr. Corke said. "We feel healthy, we eat healthy."

When Dr. Corke arrived last fall to take a session with CHIP, his cholesterol tested at 206. When he left the program six weeks later, he found his numbers dropped to 157. And to top things off, his blood pressure and blood sugar levels went down as well.

For the Corkes and the other participants, the results almost always boil down to diet. CHIP's main initiative is to show people the pitfalls of unhealthy eating and then show how to change it by just eating a mostly plant-based diet.

"Basically it just showed us the downside of eating animal fat," Dr. Corke said.

Though the Corkes liked their meatbased foods, after going through the CHIP program they have worked to eat high-fiber foods and fish. Now one of Dr. Corke's favorite CHIP recipes, "unsausage," made with oatmeal and seasonings, fulfills his yen for the fatladen meat version.

And the numbers don't lie. After weeks of learning how to prepare healthy meals sans the cow, chicken or pig, he and Mrs. Corke are happy.

"I eat some things I would never eat," Dr. Corke said.

They maintain their lifestyle change and healthier medical readings.

"It's a real eye opener," he said.

Food, which many people regard as one of the deeper pleasures of life, can still be flavorful and fun without leading to health problems, said Ms. Reynaert.

Throughout the training sessions, participants sample different kinds of healthy, high-fiber foods prepared in different, exciting ways. They then learn how to prepare these meals for themselves.

"We encourage them to taste everything," Ms. Reynaert said.

The key point in the program is about learning to think and eat differently. Staff encourages participants to eat fruits and veggies as grown and not process them or make them sugary.

"It's not a diet," Ms. Reynaert said. "It's a lifestyle."

The CHIP program also harnesses the power of community and togetherness to support participants in their goal of becoming healthy. At the end of the sessions, support-group meetings are held.

"Our promise is to help people make healthy choices," Ms. Reynaert said.

The course gets the OK from retired OB/GYN physician Dr. Witter, who at first was skeptical. But the results in black and white changed his mind. He read the decreased cholesterol, blood pressure and sugar levels of the participants as they progressed through the programs.

"I wish all of the doctors would be aware of it," Dr. Witter said. "I would highly recommend it."

But he cautions that the program is not a "fly-by-night" get healthy quick deal.

"It requires a team effort," he said.

Putting in the extra effort helped Robert Adamski, a Fort Myers resident and pilot, overcome sleep apnea that is typically brought on by being overweight. Mr. Adamski said he lost weight and the sleep apnea disappeared thanks to the program.

"I don't see why doctors don't recommend it more," he said.

Participants get to see for themselves how lifestyle changes can make a difference.

During the beginning of a session, participants get their blood drawn to check their cholesterol and sugar levels. They then get to talk with a team of health professionals about making a plan. A fully stocked nutrition store is available after the sessions to purchase items needed to go with the CHIP program. One restaurant, The Café located in the Coralwood Mall in Cape Coral, offers CHIP-based meals. Ms. Reynaert is hoping to get more local restaurants to offer the healthier meals.

The program is held Monday, Tuesday and Thursday at 6:15 p.m. Cost for materials and blood work is $250 a person and $375 a couple.

"We teach people to be healthy by choice, not by chance, and to be responsible for their own health," Ms. Reynaert said. "We have 100 percent success if you go through the programs."

For more information about CHIP, call Ms. Reynaert at 910-0755.