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For immediate release: November 24, 2009
Contact: Olivia Belter - (716) 857-6312

Buffalo, NY--Former Buffalo Sabre, Rob Ray visited Elma Primary School today to talk with second graders about the importance of making healthy food choices as part of Univera Healthcare's Fun 2B Fit program. Rob also sampled some healthy recipes with the children.

Fun 2B Fit is a school-based initiative encouraging children in grades two, three and four and their families to make healthier food choices by trying new foods, increasing their level of physical activity, grocery shopping and preparing healthy meals together. This is the fifth year Elma Primary has participated in Fun 2B Fit.

Seven out of 10 upstate New York adults eat fewer than five servings of fruits and vegetables daily, according to a report commissioned by Univera Healthcare in 2009. Fruit and Vegetable Fact Sheet

Obese youth are more likely to have risk factors for cardiovascular disease, such as high cholesterol or high blood pressure, are at greater risk for bone and joint problems, sleep apnea, and social and psychological problems such as poor self-esteem. Obese young people are more likely than children of normal weight to become overweight or obese adults, and are at increased risk for associated adult health problems. www.cdc.gov Healthy lifestyle habits, including healthy eating and physical activity, can lower the risk of becoming obese and developing related diseases.

Fun 2B Fit is based on recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the New York State Learning Standards.

For second graders, Fun 2B Fit offers a taste testing program called It's Fun 2Try Healthy Foods where students try a different healthy recipe weekly for 12 weeks. Students receive laminated recipe cards to take home so they can make each recipe with their family and also a lime green, kid-sized chef apron to encourage them to cook with their parents and help with food preparation. Schools can then incorporate the children's favorite choices from the taste testing onto the school breakfast, or lunch menu. Parents can also receive a portion control plate for their child for completing a pre and post survey.

Third grade students can participate in a physical activity lesson entitled Why it's Fun 2B Fit. The students, along with a fitness instructor from Body Shaping by Sandy, take part in a 45-minute workout developed especially for kids that incorporates easy, fun dance moves and stretches. During the workout, students learned various muscles of the body and their function, and discussed the importance of physical activity and how these activities can be done at home with family members.

Parents of all students participating in Why it's Fun 2B Fit receive a backpack full of tools to help them make healthy choices for their families. Each tool kit contains a magnetic grocery pad for the refrigerator with pre-printed healthy items on each tear-off page, a magnet with everyday tips on how parents can keep their kids healthy, a Healthy Family Pledge to be signed and displayed in the home, and the tool kit itself is a sling-style backpack that can be reused as a gym bag, or to take on family outings.

The final program component is a shopping and food preparation food tour to a local Wegmans store. Fourth grade students participate in the Wegmans Eat Well. Live Well. Tour. It is an interactive 2-hour tour of Wegmans based on the Food Guide Pyramid. The tour is intended to be the first step in developing good eating habits by introducing children to a variety of healthful foods in a fun and interactive way.

More than 23,000 Western New York students at 100 schools have participated. Fun 2B Fit is being offered to local schools after a successful pilot program was conducted in 2005. www.fun2bfit.univerahealthcare.com

The final program component is a shopping and food preparation food tour to a local Wegmans store. Fourth grade students participate in the Wegmans Eat Well. Live Well. Tour. It is an interactive 2-hour tour of Wegmans based on the Food Guide Pyramid. The tour is intended to be the first step in developing good eating habits by introducing children to a variety of healthful foods in a fun and interactive way.

More than 23,000 Western New York students at 100 schools have participated. Fun 2B Fit is being offered to local schools after a successful pilot program was conducted in 2005.  www.fun2bfit.univerahealthcare.com

In 2008, Univera Healthcare's Fun 2B Fit program received the prestigious Community Leadership Award from America's Health Insurance Plans. The Community Leadership Award showcases an organization that demonstrates excellence in community outreach by identifying a specific problem in their community, establishing creative paths to address the problem, and successfully leading community partnerships toward collaborative solutions.

Fun 2B Fit program partners include Wegmans Food Markets, Inc. and Body Shaping by Sandy.

Univera Healthcare is a nonprofit health plan based in Buffalo that is part of a family of companies financing and delivering health services for about 1.8 million upstate New Yorkers.  To learn more, visit www.univerahealthcare.com

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