For Release: IMMEDIATE
Date: September 20, 2006

Counties receive Eat Smart, Move More grants to increase opportunities for physical activity and healthier eating

RALEIGH – Eighteen projects to create opportunities for increased physical activity and healthy eating are being funded through special grants to local health departments across the state.

The community grants, totaling $300,000, come from the N.C. Division of Public Health in support of the Eat Smart, Move More…North Carolina initiative and North Carolina’s newly released five-year plan, Eat Smart, Move More: North Carolina’s Plan to Prevent Overweight, Obesity and Related Chronic Diseases.

Local health departments in the following counties and health districts were selected to receive the grants:
Alexander County, Appalachian Health District, Buncombe County, Caldwell County, Chatham County, Davie County, Graham County, Guilford County, Henderson County, Hertford County, Iredell County, Martin-Tyrrell-Washington Health District, New Hanover County, Orange County, Person County, Rockingham County, Rutherford-Polk-McDowell Health District, and Wake County.

Through the competitive Eat Smart, Move More Community Grants program, local health departments and their community partners are supported in their efforts to develop policy and environmental changes in their communities that make it easier for North Carolinians to become more physically active, make healthy food choices and achieve a healthy weight.

Applicants were encouraged to either implement interventions that have proven effective or to be innovative and evaluate a new approach to increasing healthy eating and physical activity. The proposed projects ranged from a program encouraging people to get out and walk with their dogs, to walking trails and community gardens. Projects must be sustainable after the year of funding has ended. Complete descriptions of each funded project can be found on the Eat Smart, Move More…NC Web site: www.eatsmartmovemorenc.com.

Poor diet and physical inactivity account for an estimated 14 percent of all preventable deaths in North Carolina and are known major contributors to obesity and its related chronic diseases. Obesity is increasing in all age groups, races, ethnicities and genders in North Carolina and across the U.S. A recent national report ranked North Carolina as the 14th heaviest state in the nation, with 62.7 percent of the population either overweight or obese. The growing epidemic of obesity in youth and adults, if not reversed, could wipe out the gains made in reducing heart disease, diabetes, cancer and other chronic health problems, according to the national Department of Health and Human Services.

For more information on the Eat Smart, Move More…NC initiative or to find out how your community can promote healthy eating and physical activity, visit the Eat Smart, Move More Web site at www.eatsmartmovemorenc.com.

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