Food Day - Keeping it Real...

The Emporia Area Local Food Network encourages you to make your own Food Day pledge.

On Wednesday, October 24, communities across the nation will be celebrating Food Day, and Emporia will be one of them. We are inviting you, your business, or community group to make a Food Day pledge and share it with us.

Did you know?

•  Annual medical costs for diet-related diseases are over $100 billion.
• More than 2/3 of American adults and one in three children are overweight or obese.
•  About 46% of adults’ added sugar intake comes from sugary drinks.
• 1 of 3 children born after 2000 will develop diabetes in their lifetime.
• Children ages 2-17 see, on average, 4,400-7,600 commercials for food products each year.

How do you make a food day pledge?

That’s the beauty of it. We recognize that every individual and group faces their own challenges and priorities. That’s why we are asking you to create your own Food Day pledge rather than prescribing a pledge for you.

Just to get you going, we’d like to suggest that your pledge fall somewhere within or along the lines of at least one of the following Food Day priorities:

• Get Active,

• Eat Real Every Day,

• and Encourage Families and Children to Develop Healthy Lifestyles.

You are welcome to keep your Food Day pledge to yourself, but we would like to encourage you to share the fun and see how many Food Day pledges we can get in. You are invited to make your pledge public, share your goal, or issue a challenge on the Celebrate Food Day Emporia Facebook page, or drop it off at the Emporia Farmers Market. 

Sample pledges:

•  I will eat fresh fruit or vegetables instead of junk food for snacks through the month of October.
•  I will start each day in the month of October with a walk around the block and eliminate sugary drinks.
•  I will invite my friends to a “Local Only Feast” to celebrate Food Day on October 24.
•  I will shop the farmers market twice each week through the month of October and try a vegetable that is new to me every week.
•  I will challenge my co-workers to eliminate junk food from the break room.
•  No labels on the table! This week I will eliminate meals prepared from a box