Donny Osmond: Start! Walking
Aired on Lifetime Television
May 4 and June 15, 2008
Show 511
Donny Osmond - teen hearthrob, singer and entertainer - is now a grandfather. How does he stay young and keep his heart healthy? By walking, and he's now a passionate spokesperson for Start!, the American Heart Association's new initiative to get people out of the chair, off the couch, and start walking for at least 30 minutes a day. The initiative is very personal for Donny, since the Osmond family has a strong history of heart disease. He lost his father to heart complications and his mother suffered a massive stroke. "It was a horrible thing to go through," Donny says. So now, "the call to action is just to get up and walk. It's a simple as that. Find 30 minutes in the day." While heart disease and stroke are number one and three killers of Americans, studies reveal that for every hour of exercise, you gain two hours of life. As life advances, Donny notes that healthy aging is all up in the mind. "If you act old, you'll be old; if you think old, you'll be old," he says. Forthose who aren't getting their 30 minutes of walking in per day, Donny has some advice: "You've got only one body – you've got to get involved in changing your lifestyle."
