Safety – Amenity – Access – Health
Att: Nick Daly
Producer - Breakfast with Nathan and Nat, Nova 93.7
Fancy a 69-er – served up for National Walk to Work Day?
The Biggest Loser runner-up Alison Braun is putting her feet first and strutting her hot bod as a Walking Class Hero for National Walk To Work Day – Friday 3 October 2008.
Alison was once 122 kgs, and has slimmed her way down to just 69kgs. She says walking helped her get that weight off, and keep it off, and she says many others need to start pounding the pavement to get rid of those jiggly bits.
“Walking is such a simple activity, yet it seems the majority of Australians don’t do enough of it. This is one of the key reasons that currently over half of the Australian population is overweight or obese. By 2025, a total of 4.6 million Australians are probably going to be obese .1 This is pretty concerning,” says Alison.
So, Alison has teamed up with the navy personnel at HMAS Stirling and will be walking the 7km causeway on WTWD, providing motivation and support to them all.
“Because I live in the southern suburbs, I have offered to help out HMAS Stirling for the day, walking with the navy personnel , then enjoying a healthy breakfast and some fun and games,” said Alison.
National Walk to Work Day is held annually to remind all Australians that regular physical activity such as walking is a great way to not only avoid obesity but also a range of illnesses including high blood pressure and cholesterol, diabetes, arthritis and cancer.
The facts speak for themselves. Access Economics estimates that productivity losses due to obesity are at $3.6 billion and a further $2 billion in health costs, while the combined financial costs of the obesity related ‘big three’ is $19.5 billion dollars per annum. (Diabetes $3 billion; cardio vascular disease $13.1 billion; and cancers $3.4 billion).
Meanwhile, 23.8% of Type 2 diabetes and 21.3% of Cardio Vascular Disease is caused by obesity. Obesity and being overweight are also important causes of cancer, particularly cancers of the colon (11%), breast cancer in post-menopausal women (9%), uterus (39%), kidney (25%), oesophagus (37%) and gall bladder (24%)
Walking along with other therapies can also be used to overcome mild to moderate depression which accounts for three to four days off work per month for each person experiencing depression – the equivalent of more than six million working days per year in Australia2. Undiagnosed depression costs $4.3 billion dollars in lost productivity annually3.
Alison says: “WTWD is truly an event for everyone. The navy in WA is 100 per cent behind this campaign because like many other public and private organisations across Australia, it thinks the benefits of encouraging people to get fit and healthy by walking more, far outweighs the costs. ”
Alison reminds others of all shapes and sizes that every step counts towards better health and cleaner air. Organisations and individuals can register for Walk to Work Day at www.walk.com.au . There is no cost to register or participate.
For more information or to interview Alison Braun preparing for Walk to Work Day, please contact:
Karen Kerlin Alison Braun
PR Coordinator 0438 922 459
Walk to Work Day
Phone 0414 443 964
1 Diabetes Australia/Access Economics Report 2008
2 Andrews G, Hall W, Teesson M, and Henderson S. (1999). The Mental Health of Australians. Mental Health Branch, Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care.
3 Hilton, M. (2004). Assessing the financial return on investment of good management strategies and the WORC Project. The University of Queensland.
