With Thanksgiving around the corner, now is the time to put your health on the front-burner.

Four informational sessions will be held in Lebanon this month on the Coronary Health Improvement Project, or CHIP program, which helps participants lower blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol and more.

The free sessions are scheduled for 2 p.m. on Sept. 10 at the Lebanon center of Linn-Benton Community College, room 218; 3 p.m. on Sept. 12 at the hospital, conference room A; 7 p.m. on Sept. 16 in conference room B; and at 7 p.m. on Sept. 22 at the Seventh-day Adventist Church gym, 690 S. 10th St. in Lebanon.

The sessions will give prospective students insight on what they will be learning if they sign-up for the month-long class.

CHIP was developed by Dr. Hans Diehl, doctor of health science, master of public health and director of Lifestyle Medicine Institute in California.

"One of the big benefits is the class cuts your food bill by about 40 percent because we teach people how to eat well, but using food as grown. It makes their food budget really drop," said Patricia Clarkson, who will help lead the class.

She will help lead the class, as well as Dr. John Bailey.

"Also, the average person will drop about seven or eight pounds during the month if they need to. If you're already thin you don't lose, but if you are a bit heavier you lose about seven pounds - plus it lowers cholesterol and reduces the risk of a heart attack," Clarkson added.

Clarkson credits the interaction between students with making the program successful. "Plus the video presentation from Dr. Hans Diehl makes it special," she added.

The CHIP program has received critical acclaim from medical professionals across the globe. "It's fun to have people into health saying, 'What you're doing is making a difference in the health of thousands of people,'" Clarkson said.

"I went for CHIP training in 1998 and held the first CHIP program in the State of Oregon in Tualatin," Clarkson said. Since then, the class has spread throughout the Portland metropolitan area. "This is the only class for the Willamette Valley," she said.

Outside the U.S., the class is offered in Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.

Terry Deacon took the class last February and plans on taking it again this time around as a refresher course. Deacon has a master's degree in nutrition from Oregon State University, yet still learned something new at every CHIP class.

"It was so interesting, every night of it," he said. "It changed a lot of my lifestyle. I thought I was bulletproof from things like high cholesterol and blood sugar because of the exercise, but because I wasn't eating as well as I could have, it made me vulnerable to those things," he explained.

Deacon is the owner and personal trainer for Fitness and All Sports Training (FAST) and took the class because he had clients who were taking it as well.

"I thought it would be good to know what was expected of them," he explained.

"I have a chart of the people who took the class, and there was a wide spectrum of ages, gender, social background and lifestyles. The results across the board are just amazing," he said. All students experienced a drop in their cholesterol, blood pressure and decreased biomarkers for heart diseases. Deacon said on average, the students lost eight pounds during the class.

"I found it had dramatic results in my blood tests, and also in my [running] performance. I don't remember the exact numbers, but I know when I'm running, I'm now running faster and longer," he said.

The classes will be held at Samaritan Lebanon Community Hospital on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. beginning Sept. 26 and ending Oct. 27. This is the third time it's been offered in Lebanon. The previous classes had an average of 30 students. Organizers expect a larger class this time around.

Cost for tuition is $190 per person and $290 per couple, and $50 for alumni. The tuition includes two heart health screenings, textbooks, food and other tests.

The other CHIP

If the acronym CHIP sounds familiar in connection with Samaritan Lebanon Community Hospital, it's probably because this CHIP - Coronary Health Improvement Project - isn't the only one at the hospital.

The other CHIP is Community Health Improvement Partnership, a multi-faceted effort to improve health care in East Linn County. This other CHIP includes Healthy Active Lebanon (HAL) and Build Lebanon Trails (BLT).