Street chews the fat with Oprah

Talk show host Oprah Winfrey has sampled numerous fad diets and newfangled exercise regimes while attempting to shed off those extra pounds. And her latest weapon for fighting fat is none other than Philadelphia's own Mayor John Street. Yesterday Street appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show in an episode entitled "Turn Your Health Around 2000," an hour dedicated to helping viewers improve their health and wellness. "This time next year, we are going to be a healthier, fitter city," Street pledged on yesterday's show, which was taped last Wednesday in Chicago. Street's five-minute segment outlining his goals for a fit, fat-free city kicked off the program, which also included Surgeon General David Satcher and Christine Northrup, a physician who spoke about stress reduction and weight management. Right away, Street was asked to address the notorious January issue of Men's Health that labeled Philadelphia as the most rotund of America's big cities. "Why do you have such a fat city?" Winfrey demanded of the newly inaugurated Philadelphia mayor. "Because we eat great," Street jokingly replied. But Street used this question as an opportunity to tell the television show's national viewing audience what he's doing to help Philadelphians shed the pounds -- and shed the title given to them by the magazine. First and foremost, Street promised to "create a movement" devoted to making Philadelphia a healthier city. The mayor asked all Philadelphia residents to take several small steps towards reaching a healthier lifestyle, urging them to drink water, eat fruit and exercise several times a week. Included in his other plans for the city's out-of-shape citizenry are a World Wide Web site on health and fitness, a city-wide club for those trying to lose weight and the appointment of a "health and fitness czar." According to Street, the "sole and exclusive responsibility" of the fitness czar will be to whip Philadelphians into shape. Street said yesterday afternoon that though no final decision has been made as to who that person will be, he hopes the search will end before the close of January. "San Diego, watch out," Street said in reference to the California city's current status as Men's Health magazine's fittest city. Street also detailed for Winfrey his own battle with weight loss. Approximately 32 years ago, the 5'9" Street weighed over 250 pounds. "Oprah, I just blew up," the mayor explained to Winfrey and the studio audience. So the younger -- and heavier -- Street put himself on a stringent diet and regimented workout routine, losing almost a pound a day until he reached his current weight of 193 pounds. "I weigh the same thing I weighed when I graduated from high school," Street noted of his current frame. But being mayor hasn't meant that Street has had to leave his diligent workout routine behind. "I cross-train, I run and I ride," Street explained in a press conference after The Oprah Winfrey Show aired. "I'm doing five days a week." And it's this devotion to physical activity that Street hopes to transmit to what he dubbed a "sedentary" city. "We're not asking people here to do the impossible," Street told the press yesterday afternoon. "I don't expect that we will one day wake up and a quarter of a million people in the City of Philadelphia are now going to start doing the Philadelphia distance run. But I think people will walk." The show wasn't just an opportunity for Street to unveil his strategy for leading Philadelphians towards a healthier lifestyle -- it was a chance to showcase Philadelphia to America. Aside from Street's interview with Winfrey, a small portion of the show was taped in Reading Terminal Market. "I think virtually anything? where we get a chance to talk about our city and the good things that are happening here is great for us," he said yesterday afternoon. "We're going to do some things during the course of the year that I think people are going to like."

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