“It’s an opportunity to really engage and enrich the lives of our faculty, staff, students and their families through health improvement, health enhancing programs,” Director of Health Promotion and Wellness Rebecca Kelly said.
Kelly, along with the Office of Health Promotion and Wellness, is implementing a nationwide campaign called the 5-2-1-0 challenge. Participants are challenged to eat five fruits and vegetables a day, limit looking at screens to two hours a day, participate in at least one hour of physical activity a day and to consume zero sugar sweetened drinks.
Dabney Powell, a senior majoring in nutrition, is an intern at the Office of Health Promotion and Wellness as well as a market manager for ?wHomegrown Alabama.
“You have a whole month to pick one or two goals,” Powell said. “We suggest just to pick one or two, not all four, because that is a lot of habits to try and change in a short amount of time.”
The program is designed for family involvement. Ellen Pate, who has worked at the Career Center for nine years, did C25K and Strive for Five, two of the past wellness programs.
“They have been a really good experience,” Pate said. “With this one, I like the idea that it incorporated my whole family. I have two kids, and my husband, and [I like] just to be able to work towards a ?goal together.”
The kick-off Wednesday, June 25, was a pool party where participants picked up their starter kits. The starter kits included a calendar of events, a plate planner with healthy food ideas, recipes, trivia questions about fruits and veggies, charts to keep up with their progress, a Frisbee and sunscreen. Bingo games, bean bag tosses, snake and turtle petting and Greek yogurt were available to the families at the pool.
“Our goal is just to basically be more mindful of what we are putting in our bodies and making sure we are taking care of ourselves, and setting a good example for our daughter,” Colette Demonte, clinical researcher in the psychology department, said. “We can definitely tell the difference when we get off track and start eating more processed foods and not moving around as often. When we start doing the healthier things we feel much better.”
At the end of the four weeks, families are encouraged to write a few sentences describing their transformation. Their stories will be judged, and the winner will receive a free one-year family membership at the University’s Student ?Recreation Center.
“This is trying to instill a lifestyle change and not just trying something for a little while and not sticking to it,” said Meredith Foster, an intern and senior majoring in exercise science. “It’s really trying to implement a way of life. I think having it over a four week period really promotes making it a habit because it’s on your mind.”
Participants are also encouraged to visit the Homegrown Alabama Farmers Market on Thursdays from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Canterbury Episcopal.
“We are going to partner with Homegrown for a few things and do a farmers market scavenger hunt,” ?Powell said.
Throughout the next four weeks, families will be able to take stadium tours, visit the Bryant Museum, rock climb at the recreation center and participate in a field day before wrapping it all up with a closing pool party.
“This is our sixth year to do this, and it really is such a wonderful opportunity just to get engagement of not only our faculty and staff but their families,” Kelly said.
