It’s Healthy Texas Week, y’all! Now in its third year and running from April 29th through May 5, Healthy Texas Week inspires Texans across the state to SHOP healthy, SWEAT more, and SHARE their healthy activities on social media to inspire others toward greater health. Schools are invited to participate by sharing morning health announcements, engaging in Healthy Texas Week dress up days, and providing students with a healthy checklist for the week. We heard about this valiant effort and the stellar nonprofit behind it, It’s Time Texas (ITT), through fellow JBG-er, Hector (learn more about his journey with food here), who is one of the health coaches at ITT, and thought, now there’s an organization with a mission that we can get behind! With lots of preventative health measures in the ITT arsenal, we think that our CSA is the perfect tool and catalyst for a burgeoning healthy lifestyle, but, more on that later.

Photo by Scott David Gordon.

It’s Time Texas is a local nonprofit that goes to impressive lengths to inspire, support, and challenge Texans to ameliorate their lifestyle choices, with a special focus on diet and exercise. ITT’s mission is fueled by a health crisis that we face in America. “In the last 30 years, the number of overweight/obese kids in the U.S. has tripled, and one-third of all American kids born in the year 2000 are projected to develop type 2 diabetes in their lifetime. Even more alarming, this generation of U.S. children represents the first in more than 100 years to likely have a lower life expectancy than their parents.” With these societal circumstances at play, this nonprofit seeks to instill skills that ensure a long and healthy life for all Americans, young or old. ITT offers a wide-ranging gamut of gratis services for Texans to jumpstart and improve their health regimens.

Photo courtesy of the ITT website.

“Our free programs, tools, and services leverage innovative technology and harness the collective power of Texas’ leading agencies, institutions, organizations, and companies to empower Texans to lead healthier lives and build healthier communities. Simply put, we make healthy easier in the Lone Star State.”

ITT offers free and confidential health coaching conducted online or on the phone as well as tutorial videos (a favorite being how to shop healthily on a budget!). A Choose Healthier app outlines free and/or low-cost healthy activities happening in one’s community. The ITT Teach Healthier app outlines lesson plans and activities that teachers can utilize in the classroom to reinforce students’ healthy decisions. ITT offers an after-school program and no shortage of resources to improve pre-existing School Health Advisory Councils. Finally, the Work Healthier initiative challenges employers to pledge to improve the well-being of employees in the workplace and offers all kinds of resources to uphold said pledge. Each of these services focuses on making changes little by little. There’s no upheaval in one’s lifestyle, ITT makes lifestyle recommendations and a plan tailored specifically for each person.

Photo courtesy of the ITT website.

So, in light of Healthy Texas Week and It’s Time Texas, let’s all pledge to improve our health decisions throughout the year! Instead of grabbing that bag of chips, grab some carrots! Instead of taking the elevator, run down the stairs! With our CSA veggies in your fridge, you’re one step ahead of the game. A good diet is the cornerstone of a long, healthy life. CDC researchers have found that only 13 percent of US citizens get their recommended dose of fruit, and less than 9 percent consume the suggested amount of their daily vegetables (more on that here). So, there's definitely no harm in tossing an extra handful of greens on that pizza. Plus, if you get your children in the kitchen understanding why you use certain ingredients, you can also chat about the benefits of said ingredients as well. This preps kiddos for the future and sets them up for good habits of cooking and eating that they’ll tap into for the rest of their lives!

Photo by Casey Wiggins Degman.

See you at markets this weekend!