Healthy eating, ‘Jared style’

Pineview Elementary students received an all-star pep talk about the benefits of good nutrition and physical fitness Wednesday from one of the country’s most visible faces of healthy living.

Jared Fogle — more commonly known as Jared the Subway Guy — was the featured guest at the Lexington 2 school as he shared his message of playing more, eating right and pushing away from the TV and computer screens.

Those words are at the heart of a series of P.E.P. talks the widely known Subway spokesman is sharing with students nationwide, as he prepares to run in November’s new York City Marathon.

Fogle was in the area to help kick off the Subway Fresh Fit Video and Poster Competition, which invites students ages 5-14 to show how they are fighting obesity.

“I expect you guys to be the role models for the other kids in the area,” Fogle said. “You want to make sure that from this point forward you make the best health decisions that you possibly can.”

Pineview students listened intently Wednesday as Fogle shared his experiences as an obese child and the turnaround that led to his miraculous weight loss.

He said his journey to obesity started when he was a child and was fueled by too much television, Internet, junk food and video games, the latter of which, at one point, was consuming several hours a day.

“the part that I started cutting out the most was the exercise,” Fogle said. “I wasn’t making healthy choices whatsoever.”

Those choices continued into his college years. by that time, he said, he had reached 425 pounds.

“this was the old me,” he said, holding up the now famous size 62 pants he once wore.

Fogle said it was while studying at Indiana University that he decided to change his eating and exercise patterns.

He credited his well-publicized Subway diet, along with less junk food and soft drinks, with helping him drop more than 90 pounds in the first three months.

Today he wears size 34 pants and is about 230 pounds below his peak weight.

His hope is to encourage more students to avoid the route that he took, and that message appeared to take hold with many Wednesday.

“it helped me know that playing video games and eating junk food is OK sometimes, but you need to exercise too,” said Pineview fourth-grader Taylor Giles.

Principal Cindy Stiltner said Fogle’s visit was part of the school’s ongoing fitness emphasis, which is led by P.E. teacher Karen Keatley.

“our school promotes so much of the health and fitness,” Stiltner said. “this was just another level added to it. it takes everyone, and I think Jared sharing is just a part of our program.”

Pineview Elementary was Fogle’s only school stop during his visit to the Columbia area.

After his talk, the Subway hero spent time walking with Pineview students around the school track.

Fogle said he has a special affinity for that age group, because his early weight gain started when he was in the fourth grade.

“to me, it’s the most important thing that I do,” he said. “It’s a unique position to be in and one that I’m humbled to fill.”