Nor is there a pill that will cure what physical activity can, said Russ Pate, chair of the National Physical Activity Plan and a professor of exercise science at the University of South Carolina.

"We've got to shift the social norm around us, and reestablish a physically active lifestyle as the way we live," Pate said.

Pate was one of eight speakers from across the state and nation who addressed about 200 health professionals, educators and project leaders Thursday at West Virginia's first ever Physical Activity Symposium.

The two-day symposium at the Embassy Suites in Charleston is based on the National Physical Activity Plan released in May.

The plan looks at eight societal factors, including transportation, land use, community design, education, business and mass media. It also charges each state with implementing its own grassroots effort.

West Virginia is the "pioneer" in establishing its own statewide plan to increase physical activity and fight obesity, said Jacqueline Epping of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"It will serve as a model in many ways for the rest of the nation," Epping said.

Pate and a seven-member panel from West Virginia, Washington, D.C., California, Montana, Maine and North Carolina discussed efforts they are leading to increase physical activity and decrease obesity.

The media can do its part through campaigns that advertise West Virginia as a place to which families, businesses and industry can relocate, said Bray Cary, president and CEO of West Virginia Media. 

Mass media is in part responsible for the rate of obesity and lack of physical activity across the state, Cary said -- not because of the "endless hours" of television shows, movies and games available, but the image of West Virginia it has helped create, he contends.

"We need to get our state to look like North Carolina, California and Ohio," Cary said.

There is a direct correlation between poverty and obesity, Cary said.  "I believe to end obesity, we have to somehow end poverty or cut into it," he said.

"If you'll help us end poverty, we'll help make you guys look like magicians and end obesity," Cary said.

Phil Bors of Active Living by Design encouraged communities to look at their environment and what trails, sidewalks, parks and green space are available to residents and how safe the area is.

Communities with walking trails, sidewalks and parks improve quality of life and the area's appearance, Bors said. They can also help communities reduce their carbon footprint.

The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans recommend that adults get 150 minutes of moderate exercise -- or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise -- a week. 

Children should exercise about 60 minutes a day, according to the guidelines.

"The percentage of people following these guidelines is pretty low," Pate said, adding that today's culture encourages a sedentary lifestyle.

"We're swimming upstream. And have lost ground because the culture has changed," he said.

On average, very young children are reasonably active, but that drops as people get older, he said.

"If physical activity was a pill, it would be the most prescribed medication," said Dr. Robert Sallis, a California physician and chair of Exercise is Medicine.

The health-care system has "missed the boat" on physical activity, Sallis said.

He questioned why he can refer his patients to specialists for treatment, but cannot partner them with health nutritionists or fitness professionals.

Ralph Gains, CEO of beBetter Health, works with businesses to incorporate plans to increase their workforces' physical activity.

"Health is a good economic policy," Gains said, explaining that an unhealthy work force decreases productivity and increases absentee days and health-care costs.

He encouraged employers to look for ways to create exercise groups or competitions that offers incentives for employees to exercise, but on their own time. 

The symposium will wrap up today, and will feature guest speaker Jared Fogle, known as "The Subway Guy," who will tell how a healthy diet and exercise changed his life.

Shannon Miller, the most decorated American gymnast in history, will also talk about the efforts of The Shannon Miller Foundation to promote prenatal health and fitness and fight childhood obesity, heart disease and cervical cancer.

For more information about the West Virginia Physical Activity Symposium, visit www.wvphysicalactivity.org. For information about the National Physical Activity Plan, visit www.physicalactivityplan.org. ;;