Mobile teaching kitchens roll out in West Virginia to fight state's high obesity rate
In an appearance on "Fox & Friends First" on Wednesday morning, the governor discussed West Virginia Health Right's mobile teaching kitchens.
The nonprofit "clinics on wheels" will travel across the state to demonstrate healthy cooking tips, share nutrition information with residents and conduct health exams such as blood pressure readings and body mass index checks.
The governor opened his home, inviting West Virginians to the mansion to allow families to see how to practice healthy habits on their own.
"People came by and learned that you can eat very [healthily] for a very reasonable price," he said.
"And it's not that hard to cook [this food] and have it taste really good as well," he added.
West Virginia has the highest childhood obesity rate in America, at over 42%.
That's according to the State of Childhood Obesity organization.
I was pleased to join WV Health Right to unveil their Mobile Teaching Kitchen to help educate West Virginians on how to prepare healthy meals at home. Making healthy food choices is important to making West Virginia healthy again. pic.twitter.com/07twEO0JFb
"Here in West Virginia, we're trying to make West Virginia healthy again," Morrisey said.
"Because unfortunately, we've led the way [on] a lot of the disease states that have really hurt our state, whether obesity or diabetes or stroke or many other items."
He added, "We want to make sure that we reverse those bad trends and you have to start one step at a time or one good bite at a time."
Morrisey shared that the program is just another step in his four MAHA pillars for the Mountain State.
The state has defined the pillars as the following: clean up the food; find purpose, find health, move your body; change your life; and reward healthy choices.
"We've encouraged people to get out and exercise and I'm trying to lead by example, you know, every day trying to walk over 10,000 steps and just encourage people to go out and walk," said Morrisey in part.
The state plans to designate official "Mountaineer Mile trails" in its 32 state parks that have hiking trails.
"We're getting a lot of traction with our Mountaineer Mile, and everyone knows the importance of getting out and working and walking," Morrisey previously told Fox News Digital.
"That's really starting to gain a lot of strength in West Virginia."
Another day, another #MountaineerMile, and some relaxation, in one of our many beautiful lakes and state parks. #WVStateParks #StonewallResort pic.twitter.com/UsN0LFq6hy
Getting Americans healthy again requires a multipronged approach to reducing rates of obesity, diabetes, stroke and congestive heart failure, according to the governor.
"You're taking the crap out of the food, you're incentivizing people to eat good food … making sure people are working and have purposeful lives, and then we're also encouraging people to go out and exercise," Morrisey previously told Fox News Digital.
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