[Betty Nguyen, Cnn Anchor:] Now in the news, in Pakistan today, President Bush and Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf cemented the resolve in the war on terror. The U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are unpopular in Pakistan. Mr. Bush also made it clear the U.S. will not extend to Pakistan the same nuclear energy pact he signed with India. A mortar round landed in a crowded market just southeast of Baghdad today. At least seven people are dead and 15 wounded. Meanwhile, the U.S. Central Command told Iraqi leaders the future of their country is in their hands. A lawsuit forces the Pentagon to identify detainees held at the Guantanamo Bay prison. A judge rejected claims by the Bush administration that revealing names and nationalities of prisoners would violate their privacy or endanger their families. The Associated Press had sued under the Freedom of Information Act. Well, it could be nearly three months before we learn if an Arab company will manage six U.S. ports. Following a 30-day Treasury Department review, DP World has agreed to a more intense 45-day investigation. A dispute over the deal centers on whether the Dubai- based firm would pose a national security threat. Those are the headlines. "HOUSE CALL" starts right now.
[Sanjay Gupta, Cnn Senior Medical Correspondent:] Good morning and welcome to HOUSE CALL. I'm Dr. Sanjay Gupta. This morning, we're talking about getting this nation of ours fit. This week marks the start of our "Fit Nation" tour, when I'm going to be traveling to cities across the country, gathering students, community and health leaders together to come up with the best ways to educate and motivate people to get healthy. I'll start in Atlanta at Spelman College, then head to my alma mater the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. In Philadelphia, I'm speaking at Temple, and then on to Iowa State in Ames, Iowa. Then April 6th, I go to the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Then I fly out west to the University of California at Berkeley. We end the tour April 20th in Austin at the University of Texas, where I'll be joined by Lance Armstrong. Now you may be wondering why you should care. Well, here's the reason: Kids today may live shorter lives than their parents. Just imagine that for a second. In a developed country, a world lead in fact, children may be dying from too much food and too little activity. And grown-ups aren't doing much better. Sixty-five percent of U.S. adults are either overweight or obese. Here to help us get behind the numbers in this epidemic is Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. He has teamed up with the American Heart Association and with former President Bill Clinton's foundation as well to fight childhood obesity. Also joining us is obesity expert, Melinda Sothern. She's the author of the book, "Trim Kids" and director of the pediatric obesity clinical research section at Ellis U.'s health sciences center. Thank you both for being here.
[Melinda Sothern, Ph.d., Author, "trim Kids":] Thank you.
[Mike Huckabee, Gov., Arkansas:] Pleasure.
[Gupta:] Governor, let me just say, first of all, you have just done some remarkable things. You once said that leaders should not ask others to do what they won't do themselves. And for you, that meant losing weight, lots of weight, over 100 pounds. The National Meeting of the National Governor Association just ended. You made sure it included a summit on getting America healthy. What sort of was the transition point for you? I think it's just such a great example. What made you lose the weight and become so healthy?
[Huckabee:] Dr. Gupta, the first thing happened when my doctor sat me down and said that if I didn't enter change my lifestyle, I would be entering the last decade of my life. And then he pointed to me how that decade would sort of unfold. And I'll be honest with you. It scared the living daylights out of me.
[Gupta:] Yes.
[Huckabee:] And what he described was not very pleasant. And I had diabetes in my family. I knew better. My lifestyle as a good old southern boy was eating lots of fried things, lots of sugary things, way too many of those things, and totally underexercising. I told somebody that my life is like really America, very much like an NFL football game 22 people on the field who need some rest, 70,000 people in the stands who need some exercise. I was the guy in the stands.
[Gupta:] Listen, you know, a lot of people watching. And obviously, it's a dramatic amount of weight that you lost. How did you do it?
[Huckabee:] The old fashioned way. First of all, I had to learn that it was a change of lifestyle. And my goal wasn't to lose weight. And that's why this time I was successful, as opposed to previous times in my life. And I would lose weight, but then gain it back and add some to it. What was different was that my goal was to be healthy, not just to be skinny. I think sometimes we try to associate that health and being thin are the same thing. There are some skinny people who aren't healthy. But the bigger issue was would I do the things that would make me healthy? When I did those things, the weight took care of itself. And I became a normal person in terms of my body weight.
[Gupta:] Well, you really you look great, governor. I applaud you for it. Melinda, let me bring you in here as well, because a lot of people you know, a lot of questions coming about losing the weight.
[Sothern:] Yes.
[Gupta:] I mean, I guess that's first and foremost still on people's mind. Is it harder for children, for young people to lose weight versus adults?
[Sothern:] You know, I think it is harder, because it's harder to understand how healthy nutrition or increased physical activity will actually affect a child who's growing. And it's not about the weight at all. And what we do is we try to have the children achieve a healthier weight. It's not even about weight loss. And the word weight loss is never used, just as the word obesity is never used. I mean, I applaud Governor Huckabee. He's done it the way it should be. The weight loss is a byproduct of changing your eating habits and your physical activity habits gradually over time. You know, so that it's 10 percent per week. So that after about three months, you're doing things totally different.
[Gupta:] Right, right.
[Sothern:] And it works really easily.
[Gupta:] I want to drill down on some of the specifics in terms of actually getting this done around the country, because a lot of people are talking about it...
[Sothern:] Yes.
[Gupta:] ...but there's some action starting to happen as well. I want to get to a sound bite now from former President Clinton. He was a guest on our show a few months ago, talking about what needs to change if we're going to stop this obesity trend.
[Bill Clinton, Former President Of The United States:] First thing I'd ask them to do is to look at schools, set some standards for the school meals, set some standards that the schools contracted out to a firm. You know, are they getting fresh fruits and vegetables? Are they getting a variety of vegetables? Almost half of all vegetable consumption by people under 20 is potatoes. And they can certainly do something about the vending machines. They either ought to get them out of the grade schools or get the bad stuff out of the vending machines. They can have more physical education programs.
[Gupta:] And you know, since that interview, and both of you know this, Governor Huckabee as well, many states and school systems have started dealing with vending machines. But governor, what about school lunches? What about the specifics of that? What about the fact that physical education classes have been cut? What are you saying to parents who are concerned about that?
[Huckabee:] I think one of the things we have to be very careful is make sure people realize that this is not caused by a single thing such as vending machines or lack of P.E. And I hope people don't have the false notion that if we just ban vending machines, kids are going to be healthy in five years, because they're not. The caloric intake for most adolescents of all vending machines, not just school, but all vending machines according to a North Carolina study is about two percent of their caloric intake at most. What we really have is a generation of kids who are sitting on their back sides, instead of running around like most of us grew up. And it's the activity level that probably is most dramatically different than even the calorie intake. But then add to that a calorie intake that's higher in fat, higher in portion size, greater in the levels of sugar and sodium and partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. And it's the recipe for disaster.
[Gupta:] Go ahead. Dr. Sothern.
[Sothern:] Well, Governor Huckabee, you're correct. But you know, it's the marketing impact of having those vending machines in there. And the kids are seeing these snacks that are 2.5 times the size that they should be. And then the child's, you know, perception changes as to what's a normal portion size. And if these vending machines did have raisins and nuts and healthy foods, it would be one thing, but they don't. So I think you could start there, certainly. I would actually like to see a lot more done with regard to making health as important as academics. So that, you know, standardized test scores are not the end all to be all, and that the teachers actually have to meet some kind of health score, some type of fitness score for the children, as well.
[Gupta:] Well, let me tell you Dr. Sothern, no one better than Governor Huckabee to talk about that.
[Sothern:] Exactly.
[Gupta:] We're going to get to that in just a couple of minutes. We are answering your questions on getting fit and healthy. All of that coming up on HOUSE CALL.
[Unidentified Female:] My grandfather died of diabetes. My dad has diabetes. My family's overweight. The family dynamics and devastating consequences of excess weight. And later, emotions and exercise. How to find the right moves for your mood.