Welcome to the companion Web site to "The Shape We're In," a five-part series produced by Public Access Journalism, appearing in newspapers across America. The series highlights innovative solutions to our continual battle with obesity and overweight issues.

Readers will find resources and tools to help you pursue physical activity and good health. For community groups, media outreach strategies, ideas for community events and links to other organizations working on these issues are here for your exploration.

"The Shape We're In" project is funded by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the series was distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.

America’s new diet: Less sprawl, less fat, less frenzy

By Ellen Creager
(Public Access Journalism)

If you’re an American, the statistics say you’re out of shape — and you don’t need another study to tell you why. Your life is high in stress and calories and low in free time and physical activity.                                                                                    

With two-thirds of adults overweight and 25 percent barely moving, the shape of America is not good. But now, experts looking at the bigger picture are becoming more convinced it’s not all your fault. Obesity, they say, is not really caused by that extra Oreo. It’s the result of urban sprawl, a frenetic lifestyle and global food policy.                   

And for the first time, public health, zoning, transportation, fitness, education, government, legal and business interests have aligned in determination to stop the runaway train of national disrepair.

Innovative schools just say no to status quo

By Lorna Collier
(Public Access Journalism)

Racquel Hall used to be your typical burger-munching teen, scarfing down junk food at every opportunity. Her body showed it, too. In 2000, as she headed into ninth grade, the 5-foot-1-inch teen weighed 202 pounds.     

Then Hall joined a popular school program called Ecotech, a specialized learning community focused on hands-on ecology, within University City High School in Philadelphia. There, Hall learned to grow, cook and sell fruits and vegetables harvested in the school’s extensive outdoor and indoor gardens. She also discovered the joys of eating them.

Fast-forward:
What will the McMenu of the future look like?

By Patrick May
(Public Access Journalism)

America’s love affair with fast food has hit a rocky patch.

There is litigation in the air. Nutritionists warn us about trans-fats and super-sizing our way to obesity. Something is not right in the drive-thru, our transport to a half-century of low-cost, high-calorie, turned-on-a-dime comfort food.

As Americans get fatter, and critics look for culprits among peddlers of cheeseburgers and chicken fingers, the nation may be about to engage in an epic culinary transformation.

Weight training:
Doctors find new ways to treat overweight patients

By Lauralee Ortiz
(Public Access Journalism)

The doctor walks into his examination room, where an overweight female patient waits. “Still fat,” he says, shaking his head.

The woman lets out a nervous chuckle, hoping a punch line is about to follow to ease the shame intensifying inside her. But the doctor says nothing more, and she is too humiliated to bring it up again.
Within a year, the woman finds a new doctor — a nutrition specialist who deals sensitively but directly with her obesity — and drops more than 75 pounds.

“The doctor shook her up, but in the wrong way,” said her new doctor, researcher Pamela Peeke. “He ended up losing her as a patient.”

Sounds like a plan:
Link between health, sprawl makes
’smart growth’ even smarter

By Nora Macaluso
(Public Access Journalism)

When architect David Dixon first made the case for building a pedestrian-friendly development in Cambridge, Mass. — mixing houses, stores, offices, restaurants and apartment buildings — the neighborhood went on the warpath.

Local residents called for a moratorium on the project and Dixon heard all the usual arguments: The new community would result in more traffic, crowded streets and sterile buildings towering overhead. It took three years of meetings, presentations and debate to win over skeptical townsfolk, but the East Cambridge project is now under “active development,” according to Dixon.