About CHIP
As the
debate rages on how to "fix" our country's ailing
health care system, a new understanding is dawning: At the
root of our current health care crisis
is a health crisis. A U.S. surgeon
general's report in 1990 warned that 70 percent of all causes
of death in America are lifestyle related—and therefore
preventable. Ten years later, three studies showed the following
to be avoidable: 71 percent of cancers, 70 percent of strokes,
82 percent of heart disease and 91 percent of type II diabetes.
The Peoria Area Labor Management Council (PALM) has a plan to help reverse
this alarming trend on a local level. Known as the Coronary Health Improvement
Project (CHIP), it is an intensive, science-based lifestyle change program
with more than 50,000 graduates worldwide—including some 4,500 in nearby
Rockford, where PALM representatives were trained to become CHIP facilitators.
CHIP classes are presented in a 12-week, two-hour-per-week
format that includes video instruction by program founder Hans
Diehl, a cardiovascular epidemiologist, and personalized instruction
by a dietitian, exercise specialist and life coach. The program's
goal is to markedly reduce coronary and other health risk factors
through lifestyle changes, such as healthier eating, consistent
exercise and not smoking.
Lifestyle evaluations taken before and after the program document a host of
participant statistics, including weight, blood pressure, pulse, and fasting
glucose, cholesterol and triglyceride levels. Documented results of CHIP programs
are impressive. For example, a 2002 Rockford study of 470 CHIP participants
showed blood cholesterol levels were lowered an average of 17 points and clinically
obesity was reduced by 15 percent.
CHIP has been shown to be effective in preventing, controlling and even reversing
many chronic diseases, including heart disease, hypertension,
type 2 diabetes, gout, arthritis, overweight, certain adult cancers, impotence,
diverticular disease, constipation, heartburn and gall bladder disease.
Results include normalized blood pressure, lowered blood cholesterol, triglyceride
and blood sugar levels, weight loss, and enhanced overall quality of life.
Research studies documenting immediate and longer-term results of the program
have been published in the American Journal of Cardiology (1998), the Journal
of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (2002 and 2005), Preventive Medicine
(2004) and the Journal of the American Dietetic Association (for details, visit www.chipglobal.org/scientific.html.
The CHIP program is currently conducted in more
than 150 cities. PALM and Methodist Medical Center of Illinois
are the Peoria area's licensed leaders for CHIP programs and
activities.
For the
latest Peoria-area CHIP offerings, visit our "Events & Activities" page.
For
more details about CHIP nationwide, visit www.chipglobal.org.
Coronary
Health Improvement Project (CHIP)