Discover alli Event Empowers African Americans in Chicago to Start the Journey Towards a Healthier Lifestyle

Celebrity Fitness Guru AJ Johnson, Spoken Word Artist Georgia Me and Chicago Chef Wilbert Jones Join Panel of Nutrition and Healthy Living Experts

Pittsburgh (October 5, 2007) – Today, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare introduces Discover alli, a free, interactive 4-day event, designed to educate and inspire overweight African American adults to redefine the way they approach eating and thinking about weight loss and physical activity. Discover alli taps a nationally renowned team of African American nutrition, healthy living and physical activity experts who teach strategies for gradual weight loss and lifestyle change. The Discover alli event features special 3-hour power sessions and a daily multi-media exhibit, open to the public. Discover alli premieres at Chicago Place, located at 700 North Michigan Avenue,  where the public can walk through the interactive venue on Thursday, 10/4, 10am-5pm; Friday, 10/5, 11am-7pm; Saturday, 10/6, 10am-6pm; and Sunday, 10/7, 12pm-5pm. In 2 weeks, Discover alli opens in Atlanta.

Currently in the U.S., approximately 65 percent of African American adults are overweight or obese.   Cultural factors related to dietary choices, physical inactivity and acceptance of excess weight among African Americans appear to play a role in interfering with weight loss efforts. Research indicates that overweight and obesity are associated with an increased risk of serious conditions, such as heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure.

“We expect the Discover alli experience to educate and challenge African Americans who are overweight to begin a personal journey towards healthier living,” says Steven L. Burton, Vice President, Weight Control, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare. “Discover alli gives the educational tools needed to move past theusual hype about weight loss and embrace, instead, a realistic approach to healthy eating and gradual weight loss.”

To underscore its commitment to helping the African American community make informed and healthier eating decisions, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare – makers of alli (60 mg orlistat), the only FDA approved over-the-counter weight loss product – is offering local Chicago-based non-profit organizations free educational materials, ranging from menu planning and recipe booklets, to culturally relevant fact sheets on overweight and obesity.  The company also is hosting a VIP reception for community leaders, urging their support of healthy living and giving them the opportunity to meet the Discover alli team of experts and to preview the Discover alli multi-media exhibit.

Celebrity fitness trainer AJ Johnson, along with spoken word artist Georgia Me, Chef Wilbert Jones, physician Niva Lubin-Johnson, MD, and dietician Lena Beal, introduce new skills in the educational power sessions.  The power sessions require on-line registration at www.myalli.com/Discoveralli.  The experts will help participants change the way they cook, look at food and view physical activity. 

“We’ve heard all the excuses about why you can’t lose weight. Now, let’s start something new: An open, honest dialogue about getting healthy,” notes AJ Johnson,  “Now’s the time for you to gain new skills; learn how to change your eating habits gradually; look in your shopping cart with an eye toward health; and incorporate exercises into your daily life routine. I’m so pleased to be on the Discover alli team, bringing both challenge and powerful tools for healthier living to the African American community.”

Specifically, the educational power sessions consist of:

• Cooking demonstrations that will teach how to prepare delicious low-fat dishes
• Break-out groups to learn about portions, label reading and fitness
• Conversations with doctors, chefs and real alli™ users, who show how a healthy lifestyle is possible, when armed with information and the support of alli

“Discover alli helps people learn they can cook the Southern-style food they love, by actually showing them how to use reduced-calorie, low-fat options that still pack flavor,” states Chef Jones, author of The New Soul Food Cookbook. “It’s exciting to be able to arm people with skills for cooking nutritious food that’s also tasty.”

To learn valuable tips about living healthier, consumers can visit the Discover alli multi-media interactive venue that is open to the public. The venue features a walk-through exhibit, divided into five zones:

Zone 1: You enter a passageway filled with clutter that conveys how African Americans feel about losing weight. “You can’t fix greens without fatback.” “I’m not giving up my mama’s cooking.”
Zone 2: You leave the clutter and walk towards a doorway leading to the Discover alli experience. “Are you ready to change the way you think about food and diet?”
Zone 3: You view empowering messages for inspiration about embracing your inner self: “This is about you being you.”
Zone 4:  You see a larger-than-life sized dinner plate, with delicious foods that are healthy meal options and contain less than 15g of fat.  Interactive kiosks and flat-screen TVs display the “my alli plan” video.
Zone 5:  You journey past a virtual pantry to a virtual refrigerator filled with fresh fruit, low-fat dairy products, vegetables and protein.  You then see a sign that says, “You can’t just try alli, you have to commit to it.”

“Discover alli sets the record straight: Even modest weight loss can add up to large health benefits. I make sure to tell that to my overweight patients who want to make some lifestyle changes, “says Dr. Lubin-Johnson, Senior Attending Physician, Mercy Hospital and Medical Center.

VIP Reception for Community Leaders
At the VIP reception, Georgia Me serves up one poem, created and commissioned exclusively for Discover alli. The poem conveys inspirational messages for moving past the excuses, and challenges members of the community to share knowledge of healthier living with family, friends and neighbors, communitywide.

For information about Discover alli and the alli program, go to myalli.com/discoveralli. 
About alli™
alli is the only FDA-approved weight-loss product available to overweight adults, 18 years or older, without a prescription. It combines a clinically-proven product with a comprehensive individualized action plan. The alli program encourages modest, gradual weight loss, known by experts as the best way to lose weight. alli (60 mg orlistat capsules) is safe and effective when used as directed.

About GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare
GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare is one of the world's largest over-the-counter consumer healthcare products companies. Its more than 30 well-known brands include the leading smoking cessation products, Nicorette®,  NicoDerm® CQ and Commit® as well as many medicine cabinet staples, including Abreva®, Aquafresh®, Sensodyne,® Tums® and Breathe Right®.

About GlaxoSmithKline
GlaxoSmithKline -- one of the world's leading research-based pharmaceutical and healthcare companies -- is committed to improving the quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better and live longer.  For company information visit:  http://www.gsk.com. 
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