Mike Huckabee is seen in this file photo.For Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor who became a health celebrity after losing 110 pounds upon being diagnosed with diabetes, getting America fitter isn’t going to happen on the back of government edicts.
“What we need is a very gradual, positive shift. … Rather than tell people what they can’t do, make it easier for them to do the right thing,” the author of “Quit Digging Your Grave with a Knife and Fork” told more than 100 listeners at Southern Adventist University’s first Wellness Summit in a presentation titled, “Journey of Wellness.”
The timing for Huckabee was significant, as he noted that 10 years ago, when he weighed around 300 pounds, he was told by his doctor that, unless he cleaned up his act, he was entering the last decade of his life.
He explained the current health crisis by discussing older, successful ways in which the American government helped its citizens become safer and more responsible, namely the anti-smoking, anti-littering, seat belt and anti-drunken driving campaigns.
Legal change, like legislation to limit high-calorie food, can only occur after societal norms change, Huckabee explained, and change happens in four distinct steps.