Pediatrician and co-host of The DOCTORS TV show, Dr. Jim Sears is passionate about fighting childhood obesity by getting families up and moving together. This month is Get Moving May on The Doctors, so Dr. Sears took some time to talk Fitzness with us, dish out some thoughts on the obesity crisis and share some personal info too. Did you know Dr. Sears used to be overweight? Read on!
Fitz: Childhood obesity has become a legitimate crisis in our country. What do you point your finger at being the cause?
Dr. Sears: A lot of things. We’re eating the wrong things, we’re eating too much of the wrong things and simply not moving enough. That goes for kids and adults. I do believe movement is the most important ingredient in this equation though. Even people with a predisposition to being obese can overpower that gene with regular exercise.
Fitz: And that’s why The DOCTORS has launched “Get Moving May”!
Dr. Sears: That’s right. We want people to do at least one active thing, every single day. It could be taking the stairs, parking farther away or walking your kids to school. We believe that after making this a habit for 31 straight days, people will learn to enjoy movement and make it a priority.
Fitz: My Morning Mile program allows 100% of a school’s student body to arrive to school early and walk or run for 20-40 minutes. It’s such a simple thing to do, but has made a massive impact in 77 schools. Our Morning Milers have run 280,000 miles, have lost weight, been pulled off meds and more. Fighting childhood obesity is just that easy!
Dr. Sears: I prescribe an hour of exercise a day for my patients and I truly think of it as medicine. Kids need their daily dose! Doing at least some of that before school can have a huge difference on how they perform IN school too. Not just physically, but mentally. Expending that energy before school is a recipe for success. When parents seek advice on behavioral issues, I always recommend more exercise and it usually makes a big difference.
Fitz: Obesity is a colossal issue for our country. You’re a private sector guy, just like I’m a private sector gal. Do you believe health is the responsibility of individuals or the government? From my experience, it has to be ruled by personal accountability.
Dr. Sears: It’s obviously a complex problem. My first inclination is that everybody needs to take responsibility for themselves. It’s up to YOU to get exercise and choose healthy foods. But so many people don’t do that, and when they don’t – it ends up being a burden on everyone else. Even if I take care of myself and keep my own medical bills low, if the guy next to me doesn’t … I’ll eventually have to pay his bills. Since poor health often becomes the government’s problem, I think it’s OK for them to take action to try and prevent the problem to begin with.
Fitz: What kind of things do you do to stay active with your family?
Dr. Sears: We love taking bike rides after dinner and on the weekends. Sometimes we walk to school, and quite often we start our morning bouncing on the trampoline in our backyard. We have the netting around it so it’s safe, and it’s actually a great workout that wakes up the brain too. My Dad, my son and I like to golf here and there, and we walk instead of riding the carts. I also love to surf and I’m trying to get my family it join me. Surfing is cool because it’s something you can do well in to your senior years.
Fitz: Is surfing your favorite exercise?
Dr. Sears: No, I really love biking. I ride it to the gym for workouts and I try to get in 20-30 mile rides whenever I can. I’ll even take my bike with me and go for a ride and leave my car in a lot.
Fitz: Were you ever chubby?
Dr. Sears: I was! I ran cross-country and track in high school and college, and even ran the first L.A. Marathon. I was in great shape! But when I went to med school, my exercise came to a screeching halt and I put on about 40 pounds. When I graduated, I looked in the mirror and thought “holy cow! Where’d that come from?” That’s when I started eating right and got back in to cycling. I wrote a book on family nutrition and realized that for anyone to take me seriously, I was going to need to look the part. When my patients parents saw all of that weight come off me, they started asking me to help them with weight loss too.
Fitz: On another fit subject. Would you ever do “Dancing with the Stars”?
Dr. Sears: That’s funny! I actually tried to get on the show for a while and was extra interested because I’m friends with the pro dancer Corky Ballas. But I went to a few tapings and ended up seeing some things I didn’t really like.
Fitz: What kind of things?
Dr. Sears: There were just some things that lead me to believe that some of the results were based more on personalities and less on performances. I’m really competitive, so if I were on it … I’d want to win it all. But it looks like a lot of fun and is great exercise, so if I had the chance I’d probably still do it.
Fitz: Who would win if you were competing against your colleague Dr. Travis Stork?
Dr. Sears: Ha! Well that’s interesting. He’s got some good moves, but he’s more of a “club dancer” and I’ve got a background in musical theater and partner dancing.
Fitz: So you’re saying you could take him?
Dr. Sears: I think it would come out to who worked the hardest.
Fitz: Lastly. You doctors talk about a lot of explicit stuff on the show and you seem fairly comfortable with it. Have you ever covered a topic that made you embarrassed?
Dr. Sears: It’s funny, as a physician there’s not a lot that embarrasses us. But every once in a while, something comes up that does. Recently, I did a workout at Crunch fitness called the “Broadway Workout” which was really a good workout. But the outfit they gave me was extremely embarrassing. I had to wear those Richard Simmons style Dolfin shorts, leg warmers and worse. Richard can pull that off, but I can’t! They know I’ll do anything for the show, but every now and then they push the limits.
For more information on Get Moving May!, please visit TheDoctorsTV.com
