Lifestyle of Leoni

Ed Leoni preaches with the intensity and conviction of an evangelist, determined to turn everyday folks from the modern evils of too much caffeine, television and chocolate.

And students at Southeast Missouri State University are ready to convert, waiting up to two years to take his lifestyle enhancement class. The 51-year-old Jackson cancer survivor has embraced fruit, a soft-drink-and-alcohol-free life and enthusiastic workouts. He urges his disciples to do the same.

"I have 2,700 minutes to fix the screwed-up person that you are," he told students on the first day of his current four-week summer session.

Take Quentilla Kimbel, a 26-year-old senior from Jackson. At Leoni's urging, she's given up caffeine, chocolate and television in the same week. Of those, going without television has been the hardest. "That was a major form of my recreation," she said.

But without it, Kimbel has turned to reading more magazines and listening to music.

Changes like that please Leoni.

Cancer survivor

A nearly constant smile adorns his bearded face as he gazes at the students over the top of his reading glasses. He quickly moves from his podium to his chair to his dry erase board, jotting key points in broad, bold strokes.

His easy style might belie the deadly seriousness of his subject matter. Leoni is a testicular cancer survivor who monitors America's health trends with increasing alarm.

Two-thirds of adults in America are overweight.

Heart disease is the No. 1 killer in America. More than 2,600 Americans die of cardiovascular disease each day, an average of one death every 33 seconds.

At least 61.8 million people nationwide suffer from some form of heart disease.

An estimated 17 million Americans or 6 percent of the population have diabetes. By 2050, the number is expected to have grown to 45 million or 50 million.

The numbers can seem staggering. Leoni has a more down-to-earth approach with his students.

To help them understand the importance of lifestyle changes, the students' first big assignment is a soul-searching trip to local cemeteries.

Leoni grew up in Chicago. As a 19-year-old college freshman, he visited a Buddhist monk in that city in search of enlightenment, but what he refers to as his "wake-up call" happened much later.

At age 39, he found out he had cancer. He was training for a marathon, but had to stop running because the pain was so intense.

He already was a marathon runner at the time, but the cancer, he said, gave him a new perspective on life.

"I began to see that there is a big picture. If I continued to rush through my life, I would get to the end," he said. "I thought maybe I should slow down, smell the roses, spend more time with parents and friends."

He'd already made some changes in his life before the cancer. He quit drinking alcoholic beverages when his first son was born 23 years ago.

He says his aversion to alcohol isn't out of religious conviction. "I believe I have been given all the chemical I need to maintain my happiness," he says. "Your brain is the perfect tranquilizer."

But after his bout with the disease, treated through surgery and radiation, he gave up all caffeine, including his morning cup of coffee and his lunchtime soda. At restaurants, he asks for a pitcher of water.

And perhaps the biggest change: Leoni started the lifestyle enhancement class 10 years ago to take his message to the masses, at least the captive ones in his classroom.

Cemetery questions

As part of the course, Leoni requires his students to visit a cemetery and write a two-page paper answering questions about what they've accomplished in life, where are they headed in life, how they define success and what they would like others to say about them.

Leoni says the tombstones list birth and death dates, separated by a dash. "The dash is what our life is all about," he says.

Student James Dashner walked through rows of neatly aligned graves at Memorial Park Cemetery in Cape Girardeau last week, taking note of the dates inscribed on the granite stones.

"A lot of these people were younger than me when they died," he said.

The 22-year-old advertising major from House Springs, Mo., showed up at the cemetery to fulfill a class assignment. He came away with a realization about his own mortality.

He sat on a concrete bench next to a grave decorated with ceramic angels, picked up his spiral notebook and began writing a two-page essay about his past accomplishments and his future goals.

"Any of these people would trade places with us in a second," said Dashner, who lives in Cape Girardeau and works two jobs. "That really makes you step back and look at your life."

Five areas to change

Leoni requires his students to change their behaviors in five areas: Spiritual, physical, emotional, vocational and social and detail those changes in their journals.

He encourages his students to exercise, but requires them to specify how often and for how long they will exercise and keep track of it. Many Americans talk about exercising, but never do it, he says.

"You sit down until it goes away," he tells them.

Leoni even exercises while watching the Super Bowl, perhaps the American event most associated with beer and fatty snacks.

Leoni has turned shopping into an opportunity for a good walk. When he visits the Wal-Mart store in Cape Girardeau, he parks across the busy street at the Target store and walks to his destination.

People, he says, waste gasoline while they drive around a store parking lot looking for the closest space to the front door.

He suggests students prepare a meal at home rather than eat out all the time. Leoni usually brings his lunch, typically a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. He regularly takes his lunch even when he's eating out with colleagues.

He tells students to quit abusing credit cards and save a little money.

Leoni's lessons have taken hold with Tami Jakel of Cape Girardeau, who took the course in the spring semester.

She now recycles items. "I never throw away a plastic Coke bottle anymore," said Jakel, who will graduate in December. "I used to let the water run when I brushed my teeth. I don't do that anymore."

She makes frothy fruit smoothies to drink using Leoni's recipe. She has one every day. "I love it," said Jakel, who also drinks at least 64 ounces of water daily.

A criminal justice major, she said Leoni's class has been her favorite. "He makes you want to be like him."

100 Hawaiian shirts

A husband and father of two sons and a daughter, Leoni says he is content with his life. That includes his collection of 100 Hawaiian shirts. He routinely buys new shirts while giving away a few to students in his class.

To Leoni, there's reason to smile every day. He tells his students so.

"Let's just smile," he says on the very first day of class . The students oblige. Leoni cracks a joke and the smiles grow bigger.

Staff writer Callie Clark contributed to this report.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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