By Sarah Green
KHI News Service
TOPEKA, March 20
When it comes to eating fruits and vegetables, most Kansans know they”re supposed to do better.
Less than 20 percent of Kansans report that they eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables every day, according to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. More than 50 percent say they don”t eat right but know they should.
Representatives from KDHE announced the “Fruits and Veggies
More Matters” campaign Tuesday morning at the Dillons store at 29th and Urish in Topeka. Launched nationally on Monday, the campaign asks consumers to focus less on the number of servings and to simply eat more fruits and vegetables. It replaces the “5 A Day” campaign used to remind shoppers to pick up the appropriate amount of produce to meet national guidelines.
“The “5 A Day” campaign ran for 15 years, and it increased awareness but not consumption,” said Jennifer Church, nutrition and physical activity program manager for KDHE. “The “Fruits and Veggies
More Matters” is about the action involved, to get people to consume what they”re supposed to.”
Guidelines updated by the CDC in 2005 recommend between 4 and 13 servings of fruits and vegetables each day,
depending on age, gender and exercise level
.
The campaign is also a component of the Healthy Kansas initiative, which asks Kansans to sign a pledge to increase physical exercise, reduce tobacco use, and to eat more fruits and vegetables.
Fruits and vegetables have been linked to reducing risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease and preventing obesity, Church said.
Instead of pushing numbers of servings, the “More Matters” campaign encourages adding vegetables to daily menus adding chopped vegetables to meat loaf or replacing high-fat, high-sugar snacks with fresh or dried fruits and vegetables.
“It”s easier to understand that more does make a difference,” Church said.
Lisa Regnier, a mother of three young children, spoke at the event. When her oldest child was born, she knew it was important for him to eat fruits and vegetables, but realized she wasn”t doing the same.
“It”s very helpful to have programs and initiatives like this for mothers and families,” Regnier said.
Young mothers and their children typically don”t eat enough fruits and vegetables, Church said. Organizers of the campaign hope the brightly-colored signs and accompanying literature and Web sites will remind moms to add more fruits and vegetables to their shopping baskets.
-Sarah Green is a staff writer for KHI News Service, which specializes in coverage of health issues facing Kansans. She can be reached at
sgreen@khi.org
or at 785-233-5443, ext. 118.