News & Events

Community Members Turn Out to Learn What They Can Do To Combat Obesity

January 17, 2013

As part of an effort to help combat the obesity epidemic in Western North Carolina (WNC), the N.C. Center for Health and Wellness at UNC Asheville (NCCHW) and numerous WNC community partners hosted a screening of the four-part HBO documentary Weight of the Nation and provided attendees the tools to help create a healthier county. Mayor Terry Bellamy was the keynote speaker for the evening, which brought over 250 health and wellness professionals, UNC Asheville students and community members from across Western North Carolina to UNC Asheville. "I am doing this for my daughter and everyone like my daughter. It has to be a lifestyle change in our community,” Mayor Bellamy said regarding Asheville’s fight against obesity. The event was also the official rollout of the 5-2-1-Almost None program's new logo and website run by WNC Healthy Kids.

In the United States, 68 percent of adults age 20 and older are overweight or obese, while 31.7% of the nation’s children and adolescents ages 2 to 19 are overweight or obese. Obesity contributes to 5 of the 10 leading causes of death in America, including heart disease, type-2 diabetes, cancer and stroke.

 “It’s especially important for students to take part in this event because even though UNC Asheville is a pretty healthy campus, sometimes people forget about the health of the rest of the county. If students learn more about 5-2-1-Almost None and how to incorporate that message into their own lives, they can spread that message through their jobs, through their internships and also spread that message to their families,” said UNC Asheville senior Carolyn Bacchus.

The Weight of the Nation and the 5-2-1-Almost None messages also reached over 8,500 social media users through live Twitter updates throughout the evening through the use of the hash tag #WONBC13. “It was exciting and energizing to see and hear so many community members rally around the common theme of better health and to share solutions and take the 5-2-1 Almost None pledge,” said Dr. David Gardner of the NCCHW. “We are truly fortunate to live in a community that values health and enthusiastically comes forward to take on an issue like obesity that threatens the collective quality of life.”

For more information on 5-2-1-Almost None please visit their website at  http://www.wnchealthykids.net/our-programs/521-almost-none