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The message from Tennessee's health commissioner is simple: get moving, and the sooner the better.

Susan Cooper, who has held that position since January of last year, was in Maryville Thursday to promote a new health campaign for Tennesseans and to recognize Clayton Homes for its commitment to healthier living.

Cooper presented Chief Executive Officer Kevin Clayton and Chief Financial Officer John Kalec with certificates on behalf of Gov. Phil Bredesen. Clayton Homes has a wellness program that includes an in-house gym with fitness classes, several wellness education programs and a cafeteria that features a wide variety of healthy menu choices.

Get Fit Tennessee is the statewide awareness program developed in 2006 by Bredesen whose aim is to get residents of this state to move a little more and make good nutrition choices. The Web site, www.getfittn.com, has lots of helpful information, success stories and a Fitness Tracker to help keep track of daily exercise and even issue challenges to others. Nutrition tools can also help monitor food intake. There is no charge to participate.

Cooper, who is the first nurse to hold the position of state health commissioner in Tennessee, said the state's statistics make this Get Fit in Tennessee campaign more urgent than ever.

Numbing statistics

Today's young children are the first generation in history who are not expected to live longer than their parents, she pointed out. And with obesity mostly to blame, one of its offshoots -- diabetes -- will affect one in three children who were born in 2000. In the African-American and Hispanic populations, that number is a staggering one in two.

"If that doesn't stop you in your tracks ... " Cooper said. "Not on my watch. Not on my watch."

Diabetes is a leading health problem in the state, with an estimated 542,000 adult residents living with the disease. Tennessee was ranked 48th when it comes to healthy states, Cooper said, but we are now up to 46th, moving in the right direction but with a long ways to go.

Recent reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that more than 30 percent of adults in Tennessee are considered obese.

"That number is for those that are obese, not just overweight," the health commissioner said. "If we don't change and transform the way we look at health by the year 2030, the prediction is that a majority of Americans will be overweight or obese."

On your mark

Cooper's intentions are not to equip and train every Tennessean to run a marathon, but simply to get each of us to look at our health from a long-term standpoint and to get active now. She said Get Fit Tennessee is designed to help people succeed because it doesn't set people up to fail like some other programs.

"It's really about starting where you are," Cooper explained. "If you are not moving today, let's all get up and move for five minutes. And then five minutes becomes 10 and 10 becomes 20 and before you know it, you are up to the recommended 30 minutes a day of regular activity."

That person then becomes a health ambassador who affects his or her own family, the community and ultimately the state.

It is so much easier, Cooper said, to build good behaviors than try to break bad behaviors which makes it all the more urgent to teach children the basics of healthy living.

"We spend a lot of money on health care, taking care of people who are already sick," Cooper said. "But we know that a large proportion of chronic diseases are related to four behaviors -- physical inactivity, poor nutrition, tobacco use and risky alcohol use. I would say for the health of children and for the health of this country, we have to start this minute."

From the ground up

It was not a magical marriage that occurred between Clayton associates and the world of exercise. Kevin Clayton said when the corporate headquarters was built nine years ago, people weren't lining up to get into the workout room.

"The old saying, 'If you build it they will come,' is not true at all," the CEO said. "Nobody used it. Nobody came."

What Clayton did to turn things around was eliminate every excuse people used for not exercising. The company built locker rooms, started providing towel services, added classes with certified instructors and made fitness fun with a series of challenges and rewards. Clayton has had one of the largest teams for the Knoxville Marathon in the past couple of years, team members who months before wouldn't have given the idea a second thought.

Clayton said about 65 percent of the 1,400 Clayton employees make use of some component of the wellness initiatives there. Roughly 300 people a day check into the program.

Each of them has the opportunity to get a blood analysis done every six months that will provide a print out telling them their body age compared to their numerical age. Clayton said many who find out after starting a fitness routine that they are a 50-year-old living in a 30-year-old body, can't help but brag a little.

His wake-up call came at the age of 35. Clayton said he thought he was doing the right thing by following a low-fat diet, but that wasn't enough. Coupling a good diet with plenty of exercise has been the key to a happier and healthier life.

Being able to provide Clayton associates with a full-time wellness staff, state-of-the-art fitness equipment and other related programs has not been cheap. It has been worth it.

"The Wellness Council of America says any money you spend on wellness will have a five to one return on investment," Clayton said. "I didn't believe it at first. I know it to be true now."

If you sit, stand. If you watch television, get moving during commercials. Park further away from your workplace. Dance to music. Play with the kids. Walk the dog. Eat less.

And hopefully that will translate into living more, Cooper said.