Doctor hopes president-elect serves as role model for healthy lifestyles

Local family physician Dr. Thaddeus Bell, who has served primarily African-American patients for 28 years, often tells them to exercise. And he has heard the same excuse thousands of times:

"I don't have time to work out," they say.

Now he's got the perfect comeback.

"Are you busier than the president?"

Among the many reasons Bell is overjoyed with the election of Barack Obama as president of the United States is that he thinks Barack and Michelle Obama will serve as role models for physical fitness, especially for the black community, which tends to have high rates of obesity, diabetes and other lifestyle-related diseases.

"Historically, we have not had role models showing that being healthy is important," says Bell, a former world-class masters sprinter. "Most of the men I treat had fathers who didn't work out or eat healthy food. They don't appreciate the importance of health until something devastating happens."

The Obamas make health a priority, carving time out of busy days to work out, and the effects of that are rippling out already.

Read more in Monday's Your Health section.