Extension
It Starts With Us
Making Healthy Lifestyle Choices
Nutrition, Health, and Well-Being
Comer & Hamilton
Making Healthy Lifestyle Choices (general)
Fit Blue/Get Moving KY
Plate It Up! Kentucky Proud
The obesity epidemic threatens the quality and years of life of Kentuckians. Obese individuals are at increased risk for many chronic health conditions, including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and some types of cancers. The obesity rate in Kentucky increased 90 percent over the last 15 years. Thirty percent of individuals in the Commonwealth report no leisure-time physical activity. Increased consumption of unhealthy food, stress, and built environments that promote physical inactivity are largely responsible for the obesity epidemic. As a result, Kentuckians are dying from heart disease and cancer at higher rates than all Americans and they have a lower life expectancy, 75.5 years, compared to 78 years for Americans. Minorities and individuals residing in Appalachia bear a heavier brunt of the obesity and chronic disease burden. The goal of the Making Healthy Lifestyle Choices Initiative is to reverse these trends by working with various organizations, agencies, and groups to promote the health and wellness in all Kentuckians.
•A decrease in the number of obese and overweight children, youth, adults and elderly
•Increase in the practice and promotion of physical activity and healthy eating daily
•Improvement in the built environment to promote physical activity and healthy eating
•Improvement in the mental health and well-being of Kentuckians
•Manage and prevent the risk, debilitation, and premature death related to diabetes, cancer, heart disease, stroke and hypertension
•Increase the estimated health savings in dollars for chronic disease.
•Increase policies that address obesity, physical inactivity and promotion of poor nutrition
•Practice healthy food choices and strengthen individuals’ ability to build healthy eating plans and patterns.
•Maintain appropriate calorie balance during each stage of life: childhood, adolescence, adulthood, pregnancy and breastfeeding and older age
•Practice of physical activity in families and communities and decreased time spent on sedentary behaviors
•Community members advocate for policy
•Changes related to obesity, physical activity and healthy eating.
•Strengthen community coalitions or partnerships to address obesity, physical inactivity and chronic disease.
•Practice healthy lifestyle decision-making that strengthen individuals’ ability to cope with normal life stressors.
Change in awareness, knowledge, opinions, skills, and attitudes needed to make informed choices regarding:
•Healthy lifestyle choices
•Childhood and youth obesity
•Adult weight management
•Healthy aging
•Practice and promotion of daily physical activity
•Policies that that reduce the level of obesity
•Reduction of chronic disease
Outcome: Participants will increase physical activity and consumption of fruits and veggies
Indicator: Number of individuals who make lifestyle changes to improve personal health
Method: Pre-post surveys, online surveys, number of people visiting Farmer’s Markets, activity logs
Timeline: Beginning and End of Program
Outcome: Participants will decrease the number of times they abuse drugs and alcohol
Indicator: Number of individuals who reduce drug/alcohol use as well as number of individuals who utilize resources
Method: Pre-post surveys, online surveys
Timeline: Beginning and End of Programs
Outcome: Participants will experience weight loss
Indicator: Scales at extension office
Method: Weekly Weigh-Ins
Timeline: Beginning and End of Programs – 8-10 week period
Audience: Youth
Project or Activity: physical activity promotion
Content or Curriculum: LEAP
Inputs: Agents, CES publications and resources, Health Department
Date: Fall, Spring
Audience: General public-farmers market customers
Project or Activity: Plate It Up! Ky Proud- Tuesdays at the Market
Content or Curriculum: Plate It Up
Inputs: recipe cards, facilitator guides, press releases, local resources, volunteers, paid staff, extension facilities, farmers market vendors
Date: July-June
Audience: General public
Project or Activity: Summer Food and Fun
Content or Curriculum: EFNEP, SNAP, other as needed
Inputs: press releases, local resources, volunteers, paid staff, church facilities
Date: June-July
Audience: General public
Project or Activity: Montgomery County Weight the Reality
Content or Curriculum: Weight the Reality
Inputs: Wellness Coalition, volunteers, paid staff, Coalition and Extension resources
Date: 9 week series-July-August
Author: Charles Comer
Major Program: 4-H Family and Consumer Science Core Curriculum
Montgomery County 4-H Culinary/Junior Chef team is a state champion again in two different cooking contests in August 2019: State 4-H Culinary Contest and the Kentucky State Fair/Department of Agriculture Farm-to-School Junior Chef Contest. From a 4-H volunteer leader’s perspective as the mentor or coach who has provided guidance to teams of 3-5 teen members each year since 2013, it is a journey with each team she enjoys. Recently, she took time to reflect about the members of this year&rs
Author: Gary Hamilton
Major Program: Healthy and Safety for Ag Producers/Workers
With farming being ranked one of most dangerous occupations, there is always a need to remind our clients of this in an effort to avoid tragedy. Through a group effort between County Extension, Farm Bureau, Farm Credit Mid-America and the Cattlemen's Association, a Farm and Home Safety Program was planned and conducted for Montgomery County and hosted at the Montgomery County Extension Education Center. Dr. Mark Purschwitz an Agricultural Safety and Health Specialist with the University
Author: Charles Comer
Major Program: 4-H Family and Consumer Science Core Curriculum
“Make half your grains whole” –it’s a simple message but a more challenging habit to incorporate in our diet every day without the knowledge of whole grains and their value in our diet. But according to The Whole Grain Council we are making progress. In a 2015 survey conducted by the Council, nearly two-thirds (64%) of Americans have increased whole grain consumption “some” or “a lot” in the last ?ve years. Almost one-third of res
Author: Sarah Congleton
Major Program: Making Healthy Lifestyle Choices (general)
Growing educational information through online resources has been a goal for Montgomery County Extension for several years. With the COVID-19 pandemic in play, this was the perfect time to expand our resource via social media sites. The Family and Consumer Sciences program merged to meet the needs of the community by offering take home programs and offered various resources of information, podcasts, zoom trainings, etc. online. The FCS program also offered short cooking demonstrations that famil
Author: Sarah Congleton
Major Program: Accessing Nutritious Foods (general)
People are facing numerous challenges because the COVID-19 pandemic has spread across Kentucky so quickly. The Governor has restricted access to various locations throughout Kentucky that are labeled nonessential and has issued a stay at home order. The result of the stay at home order means that people have shuffled their schedules and daily tasks immensely and are now either working remotely or not working at all. As weeks pass, one of the challenges that people are seeing is how to entertain
