A campaign that began this week on Martin Luther King Jr. Day by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services is aimed at helping Missourians become healthier.
One aspect of the recently-launched campaign is to educate people about the risk factors for each of the leading causes of death in the state. DHSS Spokeswoman Lisa Cox says they’ll also focus on changes Missourians can make to improve their long term health outcome.
"Obviously, there are some big things you can change," she said, "but there are a lot of little things that feel very feasible, very tangible that people can do that would actually make a big difference overall."
She said simple things like cutting back on sugar and salt can have a significant impact on a person’s health.
"We have doctors that we partner with all the time that say they have patients just cut out soda or just cut back on soda and, you know, massive amounts of weight loss and medications they're coming off of, things like that, just by cutting back on the sodas, the sweet teas and all that," said Cox.
And she encourages people to get active because she said "we don't move enough,"
The campaign will continue through the end of the year and is funded by a grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But Cox hopes to be able to continue it at least another two years.
Find out more at healthylivingMO.com.