Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Be Well Utah ends with nutrition fair | The Daily Utah Chronicle

by: Anna Drysdale on September 10, 2012

Chris Reeves

Matthew Kim and Leo Smart perform a memorized, self defense routine of Soo Bahk Do Moo Duk Kwan martial arts at Rice-Eccles Stadium during the Family Health Fair on Saturday.

The Utes opened the carefully guarded field at Rice-Eccles Stadium to an army of families Saturday for the Family Health Fair, an annual event designed to encourage families to develop healthy lifestyles.

The fair was the culmination of Be Well Utah, a weeklong series of events sponsored by Utah Health Care. This year, it focused on improving health in Utah by raising awareness in three areas: nutrition, activity and screenings.

The concourse at the stadium was lined with tables offering free health screenings. Workers helped participants calculate their body mass index, took blood pressure and tested cardiovascular fitness.

Heather Johnson represented Peak Health and Fitness at the U, which offers services ranging from nutrition consultations to personal training. She said testing regularly is key for many people who come to Peak to learn more about fitness.

?People like numbers,? she said. ?They like to see that they?re improving.?

Some of Peak?s patients drive from as far as Logan to check in with the fitness program.

?The biggest thing is just moving,? Johnson said. ?For adults younger than 65, it?s just 30 minutes a day.?

Kids hula-hooped and played games on the football field and rollerbladed on a chalk path drawn beneath the Olympic torch. The event also included a 5K run and a ?Walk and Wag? event, which encouraged people to exercise with their pets.

A build-your-own snack station with fruits and vegetables inspired kids to ?eat the rainbow? while chef demonstrations offered healthy alternatives to favorites such as macaroni and cheese.

Gaining weight is much easier than it seems, said Jennifer Stark of Regence Blue Cross Blue Shield, who worked at one of many booths promoting healthy eating.

Stark pointed to a five-pound mass of fat at least a foot long. A person can gain that amount of fat in just one month if they drink 16 ounces of soda and eat one candy bar a day, she said.

There were also fatty molds of hamburgers and hot dogs. The molds, only slightly smaller than the actual food items, represented the fat content in each. Vials filled with sugar revealed how much sugar processed foods and drinks contain. An average glass of lemonade, for example, contains more than 15 teaspoons of sugar.

?Real food is usually what our brains prefer,? said Rachel Jones, a dietitian and assistant nutrition professor.

Jones said she encourages her students to carry a water bottle with them everywhere as a step to help improve brain activity.

Related posts:

  1. Be Well Utah encourages prevention
  2. Health fair raises funds, awareness
  3. Nutrition director champions healthy school lunches
  4. U Health Sciences Library holds info fair
  5. Wellness Fair enlightens students on all areas of health

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