Our Joe can get you fit

Now more than ever, you need The N&O's Joe Miller.

During the holidays, most of us ate too much and exercised too little. On top of the annual gluttony and inertia, we're in a recession, when many of us eat more cheap junk food and cancel memberships to health and diet clubs.

Want to get healthy?

Go to Joe.

Joe knows health and fitness. That's his beat. Like the best beat reporters, he's passionate and knowledgeable about his subject.

Miller works out every day. Biking, running, hiking, climbing, snowboarding, kayaking, rafting -- there's almost nothing that he hasn't done. And written about. "It makes it easier to tell readers what the experience is like," said Miller, 52, who is 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighs 167 pounds.

Miller typically writes for Tuesday's Life, etc. section and throughout the week on his "Get Out! Get Fit!" blog at newsobserver.com.

He tries new activities and encourages readers to do the same. That keeps you from getting bored, he said, and helps work your body in different ways.

The Triangle is home to a large community of outdoor exercisers, partly because of the weather and geography. "This area is such a gem," said Miller, who grew up in outdoors-crazed Colorado.

The Triangle's terrain is good for hiking and mountain biking. With the proximity of the beach and the mountains, Miller said, "I can't think of anything you can't do within a day's drive of here."

Miller has worked at The N&O since 1992. He edited in business and features and started writing about health and fitness in 1996.

At first, he wrote mostly about the die-hards. The Triangle, for example, is a hotbed of triathletes, who tend to be high achievers drawn by our universities and companies in Research Triangle Park.

But he realized he was reaching only some of our readers. Some want to run marathons; others want to walk 20 minutes a day.

A story that motivates someone to get started exercising might be just as valuable as a story that starts someone else toward a 100-mile bike ride.

Recently, Miller wrote about support groups in which members encourage one another to exercise and eat healthy. He described an online group, Too Sexy For This Fat, and gave information on how to find Internet, face-to-face and even virtual support groups.

Miller's work is widely read. In August, he wrote about Nordic pole walking, which uses "an exercise gizmo that marries cross-country skiing with a strider." He included information on pole-walking workshops to be held by the Raleigh Parks and Recreation Department. That prompted 250 phone calls to the city, which added sessions.

If you are serious about getting healthier in 2009, read Joe Miller.