Here are Fittest State in the Nation's two measurable goals. We will track progress
via the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's state-by-state
measurements.
Goal #1. By the year 2020, Minnesota will rank 1st in the nation in the
percentage of adults who are moderately physically active. (Current [2005] rank: 19th)
How is "moderately physically active" defined? It simply means accumulating
at least 30 minutes of physical activity that raises your heart rate on most days,
in segments of 10 minutes or more.
Goal #2. By the year 2020, Minnesota will rank 1st in
the nation in the percentage of adults who eat the recommended minimum of five servings
of fruits and vegetables each day. (Current [2005] rank: 18th)
There are many ways to improve our eating. Research supports eating more
fruits and vegetables, more whole grains, less fat, and smaller portions.
Daily intake of fruits and vegetables is the metric that will be used to
measure yearly progress, but it is only one marker of healthy eating.
Efforts by FSIN partners to focus on other aspects of diet are also
important to the overall goal of encouraging healthy eating.
Making Minnesota healthier is the right thing to do. It's also the smart thing to do to maintain
or improve the state's productivity and help contain health care costs.