By Rachel Letcher
Jokingly calling herself the health fascist of her household, Melissa Himelein, 49, sits
smiling in her office in Carmichael Hall at UNC Asheville, takes a mid-morning break from
teaching psychology. Her red free weights rest on her filing cabinet ready for some in-betweenclasses work-out routines.
If it was up to her, she would only buy healthy snacks for her 11-year-old twin girls Emma
and Kenzie, Luckily for the pre-adolescent girls, her husband, more laid back in the snack
department, furnishes their cupboard with the classic cheese spread and peanut butter cracker
packs.
Mom and dad enjoy a filet of tuna, edmame and bok choy. Emma and Kenzie have their
own meal of cheesy rice, carrots, apples and bread for dinner on a typical family weeknight in
between school and soccer practice at the Himelein house.
"Ironically, my daughters are terrible eaters – completely unadventurous," she said
laughing.
"My kids make fun of my health focus but grudgingly put up with it. Besides, I'm a softy
on sweets, as long as it's just once per day," Himelein said.
With her personal health passion of participating in triathalons while in grad school in
Kentucky, Himelein shares her passion with the Asheville community with the establishment of
her Family GIFT Program (Getting Into Fitness Together) to facilitate awareness about the rising
problem of childhood obesity.
North Carolina ranks five out of the 50 states for the highest rate of obesity in children ages
10-17, according to the 2003-2004 National Survey of Children's Health Data. Almost 20 percent
of adolescents are obese in North Carolina, more alarming than the national average as a whole.
Himelein's dedication to the GIFT program gives lower income families in the Asheville
community the opportunity to educate themselves about the obesity issue and work together with
UNCA students to maintain a healthier lifestyle.
In 2004, while reading an article in Sports Illustrated, on the lack of physical activity in
children and adolescents sparked her interest in childhood obesity. She said the article told the
facts about childhood obesity. She ran upstairs to tell her husband about her idea of establishing
a program where her psychology students could get involved in teaching the program.
"Obesity got more interesting to me when I had children because I really had an up close
and personal experience of how hard it is environmentally to fight the culture. If left to their own
devices, I have no doubt that my kids would drink soda, eat doughnuts, sit on the couch and
watch TV and play as many computer games as possible," she said. " I was stunned at how much
effort a parent would have to make to fight against that cultural requisite."
Always interested in personal health and health promotion, Himelien participated on the
cross country and track team at Brown University all four years of college. Later in graduate
school at the University of Kentucky, she completed several triathlons. Even growing up in the
small town of Gowanda, N.Y., she says her parents were more health conscious than most at the
time. As the youngest of five children Himelein's siblings, four of them completing marathons,
grew up on meat and potatoes.
Himelein's determination to produce the GIFT program at UNCA reached many of her
psychology students and influenced their habits of maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
Junior psychology student, Angela Kelly participates in the GIFT program. Last year she
said her excellent experience taught her about managing kids and the issue of childhood obesity.
Himelein made the program worthwhile, according to Kelly.
"She knows how to relate to people. She is really good at getting down to your level and
making exercise seem fun and something you want to do," Kelly said. "It helps especially with
her participating, playing games with everyone for the families to see that she is doing so they
are encouraged by that."
James Cathers, a non-traditional UNCA senior psychology student , said the GIFT class
ranks high on his list of best classes.
"If you haven't gotten grass stains on your pant legs in a while, it felt so good to just play,"
he said. "And Dr. Himelein obviously loves doing this. You can just kind of see that of how she
approaches the GIFT program itself. "
Of course challenges arise with any program, but for Himelein her most difficult moments
so far include not enough time.
"It's really time consuming. I sometimes get worried that I am going to get too old," she
said. "My dream is if there were a permanent non-profit organization that I worked with and
what I did was train the students and the organization drummed up all the logistics, because that
stuff gets really complicated."
As GIFT approaches its third year from March 17 to May 5, Himelein assures herself
every year gets better and better.
"It has been a really valuable teaching experience. Where else are you all wearing T-shirts
together, screaming with your professor?" she asks laughing. "It is wonderful for me as
community service as well as for the course that I teach."