Womack awarded $20,000
to help combat childhood obesity

WAMC

Obesity is widely recognized as a serious health problem in the United States with an estimated 64 percent of the adult population and 17 percent of the pediatric population ages 2 to 19 years being overweight or obese.

Overweight children make up nearly 15 percent of the overall statistic, and approximately 11 percent are considered obese.

Diet and exercise practices greatly impact body composition and health. Unfortunately, many Americans, no matter the age, find making healthful choices and time for exercise increasingly difficult, resulting in more weight gain.

In response to this growing problem, Womack’s Nutrition Care Division has an anti-obesity program, Fort Bragg Fit Families, to help impact the pediatric military population.

Nutrition Care Division has recently been awarded grants to support its anti-obesity program. These grants will help fund the division’s efforts toward fighting the battle of obesity in our community.

Fort Bragg Fit Families is a family-oriented, nutrition education program targeting children and adolescents around the Fort Bragg community. It runs over a five-week period, meeting each week after school hours. Sessions are conducted at one of Picerne’s neighborhood centers. Fit Families is comprised of five sessions that last about 90 minutes each. The program focuses on improving healthy lifestyle behaviors by involving the entire family in nutrition education and physical activity.

The program began in 2004, and over the past two years, has been awarded the General Mills Champions for Healthy Kids grant. 

The Champions for Healthy Kids initiative is a partnership of the General Mills Foundation, the American Dietetic Association Foundation and the President’s Council on Physical Fitness.
For more information on Fit Families and other programs offered at Womack’s Nutrition Care Division, call the Nutrition Clinic at 907-7387 or 907-3438.