Get Healthy Utah is a collaborative effort aimed at reducing obesity through improved healthy eating and active living. Nationally, nearly 17% of children and more than 30% of adults are currently considered obese — putting them at heightened risk for a wide range of health problems. In Utah, the rate among adults is slightly less (25%). However, without significant changes in our approach to addressing obesity, the rate is projected to increase to 46% by 2050. That is 1.7 million Utahns!
Currently, obesity is one of the biggest healthcare cost drivers — adding up to billions of dollars in preventable spending each year in the United States. In Utah the projected cost for diabetes could increase to $1.8 billion by 2050 if we don’t take action to reverse the trend.
According to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, if we fail to change the course of the nation’s obesity epidemic, the current generation of young people may be the first in American history to live shorter, less healthy lives than their parents. No one group or organization can successfully address this problem alone. It will take the work of individuals, families, communities, faith-based groups, schools, workplaces, health systems - all of us - to build a healthy Utah. Get Healthy Utah is working to build public will, align activities, and engage Utahns as a community to improve health and quality of life.
The SNAC marketing competition will be held in conjunction with the 2018 Higher Education Food Summit. Students will develop a marketing campaign that utilizes the results of the Utah Health Values Study and emphasizes the importance of fruit and vegetable consumption in maintaining and improving health. The Utah Health Values Study found that Utahns are […]
READ MORE >>
Mental well-being is not just the absence of disease or mental illness. It is feeling good and functioning properly. It is being happy, feeling optimism, and having self-esteem. Good mental health also plays a role in our physical, social, and our economic well-being. In Utah in 2015, only 29.8% of adults reported eating fruit two […]
READ MORE >>In the December 2016 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, David Asch and Roy Rosin make a compelling argument for the role of friends and family in healthcare and behavior change. They discuss 5 levels of social engagement strategies. “This model reveals opportunities to advance health by taking advantage of naturally occurring social […]
READ MORE >>
