Durham, NC—May 12, 2009—The Coronary Health Improvement Project (CHIP) is coming to Durham in June to help address increasingly prevalent lifestyle diseases. A recent report, "State of Durham County's Health Report 2008," produced by Partnership for a Healthy Durham, shows that leading causes of death and chronic illness in Durham include heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, and diabetes. Hospital emergency rooms are seeing younger and younger people, ages 35 to 55, coming in with major lifestyle events like heart attacks, stroke, and high-blood pressure.

Widely known in the western U.S. and Canada, CHIP is relatively new to North Carolina, but nationwide over 40,000 graduates have, in just 30 days, dramatically reduced their chances of heart disease by lowering cholesterol an average of 17%, with some drops up to 40%, significantly reducing tricglycerides and blood pressure. Diabetics have actually reversed their disease, often decreasing, or eliminating, in consultation with their physicians, their need for insulin. Weight losses average 7 pounds, with losses as high as 29 pounds. Participants almost always lose weight, sleep better, and have increased energy.

The Durham CHIP program offers complete before and after blood tests, health risk screening, lifestyle evaluations, and 16 evening sessions featuring lively video lectures by Dr. Hans Diehl, cardiovascular epidemiologist and founder of CHIP, former director of research and education for the Pritikin Institute, and present director of the Lifestyle Medicine Institute in Loma Linda, California. The evening sessions also include nutritional training, complete with tasty natural food samples, development of individual exercise programs, counseling by local health professionals and lots of peer support.

Roy Terretta, facilitator of the Durham CHIP program, says the June sessions will have many features of very expensive live-in lifestyle modification programs. "CHIP participants will learn new approaches to natural diet and exercise at a fraction of the cost, while putting them into practice right at home, increasing the chances of sticking to their new habits after the end of the month. We believe that prevention of disease by a healthy lifestyle is so much better, and cheaper than relying on chemical or surgical treatment after the fact."

The public is invited to any one of four free introductory information sessions: Sunday, May 17 at 3:00 pm or Wednesday, May 20 at 6:00 pm at 14 Consultant Place, Suite 220 in Durham next to the Wynnsong Theaters on Martin Luther King Blvd; Sunday, May 17 at 5:30 pm at Immanuel Temple, 2104 S. Alston Ave in Durham; and Thursday, May 21 at 6:30 pm at the Durham Main Public Library 1st floor auditorium, 300 N. Roxboro St, Durham. Call (919) 697-5666 or email info (at) durhamchip.org for more information or to have a brochure mailed to you.

Related Links

1. http://chiphealth.com