CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- If we all behave like cold germs, could we infect each other to better fitness and health?

Here is one of the most tantalizing ideas. Back on West Virginia Day, local PR guy Jason Keeling asked his blog readers to discuss solutions to the state's problems. Skip Lineberg, co-founder of Maple Creative in Charleston, chimed in with a "fragment of an idea." He posted it on Twitter:

"Let's make a Fitter West Virginia using tipping point tactics to overcome obesity."

Lineberg was inspired by Malcolm Gladwell's work on tipping point theories -- the phenomenon often seen among infectious diseases or social ills. One kid comes to school with the flu, and the next day a few more are infected. The next thing you know, half the school is home sick. Kind of like the way one day you had never heard of Twitter, and the next day it seemed to be everywhere.

Could West Virginians intentionally use this phenomenon to effect a more desirable change? Instead of giving each other the croup, could we, as Lineberg suggested on his blog, tweet our workouts, use Facebook to note fitness efforts, start conversations about the subject, support leaders who support fitness, encourage each other?

People responded, posting short notes on their workouts, hikes and meals.

As if they read our minds, or our Twitter posts, researchers at the federal Centers for Disease Control last month released "Recommended Community Strategies and Measurements to Prevent Obesity in the United States." It reads as bad as it sounds, but it's full of jewels.

The CDC did all the research and evaluation work, so individual communities don't have to. They assembled a group of people with experience in urban planning, nutrition, physical activity, obesity prevention and local government. The group reviewed a couple years' worth of research, evaluated various tactics and settled on 24 recommendations. For each one, the CDC summarizes the evidence behind it and suggests ways to measure progress. Communities should:

1. Make healthier food and drinks available in public places. Schools are key, but think also of after-school programs, child care centers, parks, playgrounds, swimming pools, city and county buildings, prisons and juvenile detention centers.

2. Make healthier food more affordable in those public venues. Lower prices, provide discount coupons or offer vouchers for healthy choices.

3. Improve the availability of full-service grocery stores in underserved areas. One study of 10,000 people showed that black residents in neighborhoods with at least one supermarket were more likely to consume the recommended amount of fruits and vegetables than those in neighborhoods without supermarkets. Residents consumed 32 percent more fruits and vegetables for each additional supermarket in their census tract.

More supermarkets also raised real estate values, economic activity and employment and lowered food prices.

4. Provide incentives to food retailers -- supermarkets, convenience stores, corner stores, street vendors -- to locate in underserved areas or to offer healthier food and drinks. Incentives can be tax benefits and discounts, loans, loan guarantees, start-up grants, investment grants for improved refrigeration, supportive zoning and technical assistance.

5. Make it easier to buy foods from farms.

6. Provide incentives for the production, distribution and procurement of foods from local farms.

Did you know that the United States does not produce enough fruits, vegetables and whole grains for every American to eat the recommended amount of these foods? Dispersing agricultural production throughout the country would increase the amount of available produce, improve economic development and contribute to environmental sustainability.

7. Restrict availability of less healthy foods and drinks in public places.

8. Offer smaller portion options in public places.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- If we all behave like cold germs, could we infect each other to better fitness and health?

Here is one of the most tantalizing ideas. Back on West Virginia Day, local PR guy Jason Keeling asked his blog readers to discuss solutions to the state's problems. Skip Lineberg, co-founder of Maple Creative in Charleston, chimed in with a "fragment of an idea." He posted it on Twitter:

"Let's make a Fitter West Virginia using tipping point tactics to overcome obesity."

Lineberg was inspired by Malcolm Gladwell's work on tipping point theories -- the phenomenon often seen among infectious diseases or social ills. One kid comes to school with the flu, and the next day a few more are infected. The next thing you know, half the school is home sick. Kind of like the way one day you had never heard of Twitter, and the next day it seemed to be everywhere.

Could West Virginians intentionally use this phenomenon to effect a more desirable change? Instead of giving each other the croup, could we, as Lineberg suggested on his blog, tweet our workouts, use Facebook to note fitness efforts, start conversations about the subject, support leaders who support fitness, encourage each other?

People responded, posting short notes on their workouts, hikes and meals.

As if they read our minds, or our Twitter posts, researchers at the federal Centers for Disease Control last month released "Recommended Community Strategies and Measurements to Prevent Obesity in the United States." It reads as bad as it sounds, but it's full of jewels.

The CDC did all the research and evaluation work, so individual communities don't have to. They assembled a group of people with experience in urban planning, nutrition, physical activity, obesity prevention and local government. The group reviewed a couple years' worth of research, evaluated various tactics and settled on 24 recommendations. For each one, the CDC summarizes the evidence behind it and suggests ways to measure progress. Communities should:

1. Make healthier food and drinks available in public places. Schools are key, but think also of after-school programs, child care centers, parks, playgrounds, swimming pools, city and county buildings, prisons and juvenile detention centers.

2. Make healthier food more affordable in those public venues. Lower prices, provide discount coupons or offer vouchers for healthy choices.

3. Improve the availability of full-service grocery stores in underserved areas. One study of 10,000 people showed that black residents in neighborhoods with at least one supermarket were more likely to consume the recommended amount of fruits and vegetables than those in neighborhoods without supermarkets. Residents consumed 32 percent more fruits and vegetables for each additional supermarket in their census tract.

More supermarkets also raised real estate values, economic activity and employment and lowered food prices.

4. Provide incentives to food retailers -- supermarkets, convenience stores, corner stores, street vendors -- to locate in underserved areas or to offer healthier food and drinks. Incentives can be tax benefits and discounts, loans, loan guarantees, start-up grants, investment grants for improved refrigeration, supportive zoning and technical assistance.

5. Make it easier to buy foods from farms.

6. Provide incentives for the production, distribution and procurement of foods from local farms.

Did you know that the United States does not produce enough fruits, vegetables and whole grains for every American to eat the recommended amount of these foods? Dispersing agricultural production throughout the country would increase the amount of available produce, improve economic development and contribute to environmental sustainability.

7. Restrict availability of less healthy foods and drinks in public places.

8. Offer smaller portion options in public places.

9. Limit advertisements of less healthy foods and drinks.

10. Discourage people from drinking sugar-sweetened beverages.

11. Support breastfeeding, which appears to provide some protection from obesity later in life.

12. Require physical education in schools.

13. Increase the amount of physical activity in school PE programs. Modify games so that more students are moving at all times, or switch to activities in which all students stay active. Improving phys ed improves aerobic fitness among students.

14. Increase opportunities for extracurricular physical activity.

15. Reduce screen time in public settings. TV and computer time displaces physical activity, lowers metabolism, increases snacking and exposes children to marketing of fattening foods.

16. Improve access to outdoor recreational facilities, such as parks, green spaces, outdoor sports fields, walking and biking trails, public pools and community playgrounds. Access also depends on how close such places are to homes and schools, cost and hours of operation.

17. Support bicycling. Create bike lanes, shared-use paths and routes on existing and new roads. Provide bike racks near commercial areas. Improving bicycling infrastructure can increase how often people bike for utilitarian purposes, such as going to work and school or running errands.

18. Support walking. Build sidewalks, footpaths, walking trails and pedestrian crossings. Improve street lighting, make crossings safer, use traffic calming approaches. Walking is a regular activity of moderate intensity that a large number of people can do.

19. Locate schools within easy walking distance of residential areas.

20. Improve access to public transportation to increase biking and walking to and from transit points.

21. Zone for mixed-use development, including residential, commercial, institutional and other uses. This cuts the distance between home and shopping, for example, and encourages people to make more trips by foot or bike.

22. Enhance personal safety in areas where people are or could be physically active.

23. Enhance traffic safety in areas where people are or could be physically active.

24. Participate in community coalitions or partnerships.

I know where you can find at least one loose coalition of people doing their best to spread the fitness germ. They've formed a Twitter thread identifiable by the tag #fitwv. 

Miller, the Gazette's editorial page editor, can be reached at d...@wvgazette.com.