I used to take a class at the gym called Butts & Guts where we focused on nothing but lower body and abdominal exercises. I thought about this class yesterday when attending the Whole Health Experience put on by Hy-Vee, a grocery store chain in my neck of the woods.

One of the presenters was David Katz, MD, MPH, FACPM, FACP, his credentials read like an eye chart, don’t they? The title of his presentation was Feet, Forks, and Fate. In a nutshell, Dr. Katz explained if we use our feet for physical activity and our forks for fueling our bodies with healthy foods we can impact our fate of getting heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. In other words, if we get off our butts and care about what goes into our guts, we can look and feel better, and live healthier lives.

Not only does Dr. Katz educate audiences about using exercise and nutrition as components in preventative medicine, he also develops programs to help children and adults live healthier lifestyles. Dr. Katz discussed two programs during his presentation: one for fitness and one for nutrition.

Dr. Katz developed the ABC for Fitness© (Activity Bursts in the Classroom) program for schools. The free program encourages teachers to introduce short bursts of cardiovascular activity in the classroom periodically, adding up to about 30 minutes a day. What a great way to teach lifelong habits and turn restless-energy into healthy activity! No wonder Dr. Katz was named one of the 25 most influential people in the lives of children by Children’s Health magazine.

As adults, I think we can all take away a valuable lesson from the ABC for Fitness program. Short duration cardio exercise throughout the day can add up to make a big difference for big kids like us, too.

NuVal, the nutritional scoring system that scores food on a scale of 1 to 100 is another solution founded by Dr. Katz. The NuVal program helps shoppers make sound decisions about food quickly and easily just by looking for one number on the grocery store shelf. The higher the number, the healthier the food. Lucky for me, Hy-Vee has the NuVal system in their stores so I can benefit from this program every time I shop. If it’s not in a store near you, chat with your grocery store managers, and find out more on NuVal.com.

I’m so impressed with Dr. Katz, a man on a mission to teach others the ABC’s of fitness and the 1-2-3’s of nutrition. Changing the way schools and grocery stores look at fitness and nutrition takes butts and guts!