March 1 marks the beginning of National Nutrition Month®. National Nutrition Month® is a nutrition education and information campaign created annually in March by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND). The campaign focuses attention on the importance of making informed food choices and developing sound eating and physical activity habits. The 2012 theme is Get Your Plate in Shape! Check back often as we explore the nutrition messages in this theme.

To kick off National Nutrition Month®, Live Well Lawrence County will begin on March 3! Live Well Lawrence County is an 8-week, county wide wellness challenge that encourages the Lawrence County community to take a step (or steps) towards living a healthy lifestyle. The main goal of this program is to provide support through a variety of health screenings and educational programs to help participants make positive lifestyle changes. This program starts by encouraging people to form a team and set personal nutrition and fitness goals all while having some fun and learning a lot along the way!

This year's program will run Sunday, March 4th through Saturday, April 28th. The kick-off event for Live Well will be Saturday March 3rd in the main room of the Comfort Inn. Participants will receive baseline evaluations and instruction from IU Health Bedford and St Vincent Dunn, as well as instruction from various local fitness instructors. This year there will be two types of teams. Competitive Team Challenge members pay an entry fee of $25 and will receive a t-shirt, a pedometer, free weekly health checks, and have a chance of winning $500. Participating Team Challenge and Youth Team Members are free and have a chance to win $100.

Each Tuesday evening throughout the 8 weeks a different program will be presented at the Bedford Chamber of Commerce meeting room, featuring a health and wellness speaker and a healthy cooking demonstration. This Tuesday, I will be giving a presentation telling you "How to Get Your Plate in Shape". Healthy snack foods will be available to taste!