Tennessee tips the scales among the nation’s fattest states, according to a new government study.

According to the study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 30 percent of adults in Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama are considered obese, making the South the nation’s fattest region. Experts blame Southern eating habits, poverty and demographic groups that have higher obesity rates.

The CDC defines obesity as a body mass index (BMI, a ratio of weight to height) of 30 or above. An adult who is 5 feet, 9 inches tall is considered obese if he/she weighs 203 pounds.

On the local front, Greene County doesn’t fare much better. According to the Tennessee Department of Health, 64.8% of the residents in the Northeast Tennessee area are considered overweight or obese. In this study, overweight is considered having a BMI of 25 or greater. “Obesity is very high here,” Dr. Jo Lynn Hawthorne, a local gynecologist and owner of Chrysalis Weight Management, said. “This is a fast food nation, people are stressed out running from here to there and as a community, we don’t take time for ourselves. As doctors, haven’t been trained to do anything substantial to address it. We might tell our patients to watch what they eat and to exercise, but the medical profession simply is not armed with techniques that create long lasting, significant results.”

Dr. Hawthorne has spent the past 1½ years studying obesity and is a member of the American Society of Bariatric Medicine.

“That’s why I Chrysalis was created,” Dr. Hawthorne explained. “I wanted to offer my OB-GYN patients — and the community – something that works. At Chrysalis, we offer a comprehensive program to lose weight safely and permanently.”

Like other weight loss centers, Chrysalis offers a personalized diet plan and encourages regular exercise. But the thing that sets Chrysalis apart is that they also offer a personal trainer and an on-site gym, as well as life coaches to empower patients get to the core of why they overeat.

“We all know that it’s not about the food. At Chrysalis, we create a space where our patients can take a deeper look at what triggers them to overeat, to not create the time to exercise” Dr. Hawthorne explained. “We teach patients how to calm, nurture and energize themselves so that they don’t turn to food to do it for them. We give them the tools to shift their perspectives so they can see different possibilities in life than the way they’ve been doing it.”

Patients attend one-on-one sessions with a life coach, as well as weekly group empowerment sessions. “This equips them with the skills they need to make permanent lifestyle changes and frees them from the baggage that ties them to food,” she said.

And the cost? For only $25 per week, patients receive one-on-one time with a weight management nurse, a weekly empowerment classes, two sessions with a personal exercise trainer and 6 one-on-one life coaching sessions. “We are proud to offer all that we do at a price most anyone can afford,” says Dr. Hawthorne. “Many patients need in-depth medical attention and may need lab screenings and/or an EKG, so cost runs more for them. And, we highly recommend meal replacement items to support our patient through their weight loss journey. But, at only $1.75 per meal, you can’t eat much cheaper.”

For more information on Chrysalis Weight Management, please call 423-798-THIN.

If the image staring back at you when you look in a mirror doesn’t accurately reflect the image you’ve been dreaming of, it’s time for you make a commitment to do the things necessary to make you the person you’ve been dreaming of becoming. Just as it’s true that you can’t spend money like there’s no tomorrow and wake up with untold riches, you can’t pay $79.95 (plus shipping and handling) for a magical pill, potion, or lotion that will mysteriously melt away all evidence of the kinds of unhealthy habits that are slowly eroding any chance you have of living a dynamic, active life.

While it is technically possible for one of these quick fixes to gloss over a problem and give you fleeting results that can convince you’re getting somewhere in your quest to remake the person you’ve become one bite at a time, keep in mind these high-priced solutions are only temporary. They will only work for as long as you’re willing to shell out your hard-earned money to look the part. The real you will still be just under the surface, struggling to get out.

To further aggravate the problem, these quick fixes have absolutely no positive impact on your health. So if you insist on eating unhealthy food without a corresponding change in your lifestyle, you may look great because of the pills you pop to look the way you do, but your internal organs will still be suffering silently because of the poor choices you’re making on an on-going basis. Eventually your body will surrender to the constant onslaught and you’ll suffer the consequences of your bad behavior.

In the meantime, if you fall on hard economic times and you can no longer afford the “magic” pills, the perceived benefits will go away as quickly as your “friends” would after squandering your winnings from a lottery jackpot. Real lasting benefits are going to take a change of mind, a change of heart – a change of lifestyle.

Instead of sacrificing your health, your well being, and your prospects of a long life by making poor dietary decisions, you can embrace a new, healthier you by eating properly, exercising regularly, and making a small series of positive changes in your daily routine that will have a dramatic impact on your health.

What kinds of changes am I talking about? First of all, I’m not asking you to sacrifice your first-born child at some Altar of Sound Nutrition. I’m talking about cutting some saturated fat and over-processed foods from your diet. Upping your protein intake, while decreasing the number of carbs you eat. While you’re at it you can start getting some exercise. You don’t have to run a marathon race or enter an Iron Man (or Woman) Competition. Take a brisk walk once in awhile. Get off the couch, pitch the remote and the bowl of Dorito’s out the window and do something – anything. It really doesn’t matter if you go for a bike ride, walk a trail while you commune with nature, or even have an argument with your spouse on your cell phone while walking. Actually, that last idea has a world of potential! While you’re busy arguing you won’t be thinking about what you’re doing – and it might even help you to pick up your pace!

Your life is literally in your hands. An oblong metal instrument that weighs just a few ounces will help determine your ultimate destiny – or fate. The decisions you make when you finish this article could determine whether you’re around to see your children grow up – or to help influence the kinds of parents they’ll become. Start today by putting the fork down and adopting a lifestyle that can help ensure that you’re around to help influence your children’s decisions for many years to come.

R. Buckminster Fuller offered the following challenge in the form of a question…”If success or failure of this planet and of human beings depended on how I am and what I do, HOW WOULD I BE? WHAT WOULD I DO?”

Just considering that question makes me pause and offer the same invitation.  How would you be?  What would you do?

Would you be sitting in front of the TV, eating a bag of chips?  Would you continue to not forgive for the sake of not forgiving?  Would you still be blaming others for not providing you what you think you need?  Would you continue to believe that your efforts or your life really doesn’t matter?  If your answer is “of course not” – are you sure?  Why must this question be posed to us- to wake us up to the realization that we are numbing ourselves to life – whether thru food, alcohol, sex or drugs.   As a society, we are tremendously overweight, we are tremendously over medicated, we are tremendously prone to blame others.

And, I ask myself:  What would I do?  I would do everything within my power to wake everyone up to the growing epidemic of obesity.  We, as a society, are eating ourselves to death.  Our lives are being shortened, the years we have are not lived fully and saddest of all, our children and their children will suffer if WE don’t stop that cycle.

I have a Chrysalis Challenge – what one thing can you do today to create a healthier, more fulfilling life?  Now, go do that one thing.

Not from the Greeneville area?  We are beginning a 12 week tele-class to address the emotional and physical weight we carry.  Call for details:  423-798-8446