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5210 Let’s Go! Comes to Oxford County

5-2-1-0. It’s a simple message and it will make us all feel better.

Five. Eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables per day. For adults a serving is a whole fruit the size of a tennis ball, or half a cup of chopped fruit or vegetables, or a cup of raw, leafy greens, or half a cup of dried fruits. For kids one serving is the size of the palm of their hand.

Two. Limit recreational screen time to no more than two hours a day (and none before age two). Aside from potential health effects on your brain it that screen time keeps you from doing things that are healthy, like playing with your kids, or your parents, or going outside and playing with your friends, or going for a walk, or a bike ride or a snowshoe. This brings us to…

One. Get at least one hour of physical activity every day. You can achieve the goal throughout the day. Join a walking group. Take the stairs at work. Run from your boss. Dance in the copy room while you’re waiting. It all adds up.

Zero. No sugary drinks. No soda and no sports drinks. Water or low fat or nonfat milk instead. You can throw in one four ounce serving of 100 percent fruit juice a day if you must but your body or your child’s body would prefer the whole fruit. Thanks to 40 years of corporate marketing, soda and sports drinks have become an ingrained part of our culture. Water is actually the best thirst quencher. It’s healthy and it’s free.

5-2-1-0 – a simple message for a healthier community. It’s part of 5210 Let’s Go!, a program developed at Maine Medical Center (www.letsgo.org), and it’s spreading across the state and the country. You’re going to start seeing that message all around the Oxford County. Maybe we can help each other. 5210 Let’s Go! We’ll all feel better.

Carl Costanzi is the 5210 Let’s Go! program coordinator for Western Maine Health. He operates out of the Healthy Oxford Hills building, but is also working closely with the River Valley Healthy Communities Coalition. 5210 Let’s Go offers programs to schools and child care centers Oxford County. For more information, call 890-6102 or costanzica@wmhcc.org.