{"id":17724,"date":"2026-03-13T19:04:38","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T23:04:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/?page_id=17724"},"modified":"2026-03-13T19:06:36","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T23:06:36","slug":"the-rappahannock-rapidan-health-districts-says-healthy-choices-can-build-a-healthier-community","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/public-relations-contacts\/2026-regional-news-releases\/the-rappahannock-rapidan-health-districts-says-healthy-choices-can-build-a-healthier-community\/","title":{"rendered":"The Rappahannock-Rapidan\u00a0Health Districts Says Healthy Choices Can Build a Healthier Community"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>March 13, 2026<br \/>\n<strong>Media Contact:<\/strong> Dr. Zelalem Attlee, <u><a href=\"mailto:Zelalem.Attlee@vdh.virginia.gov\">Zelalem.Attlee@vdh.virginia.gov<\/a><\/u>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>The Rappahannock-Rapidan\u00a0Health Districts Says Healthy Choices Can Build a Healthier Community<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>March is National Nutrition Month in Virginia<\/em><\/p>\n<p>WARRENTON, Va. \u2013 One in four people are obese in the United States. In Virginia, it\u2019s closer to <u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/obesity\/data-and-statistics\/adult-obesity-prevalence-maps.html\">one in three<\/a><\/u>\u00a0(32%). 2024, approximately 32% of Virginia adults were classified as obese. March is <u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eatright.org\/national-nutrition-month\">National Nutrition Month<\/a><\/u>, and the Rappahannock-Rapidan\u00a0Health District wants to remind you that nutrition plays a crucial role in your overall health and well-being. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), only about 12% of adults reported eating the recommended 5 or more servings of <u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/brfss\/brfssprevalence\/index.html\">fruits and vegetables<\/a><\/u>\u00a0per day.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNational Nutrition Month reminds us that small, healthy choices made every day can have a powerful impact on the well-being of our entire community,\u201d said Rappahannock-Rapidan Health District Director J. Carr, M.D. \u201cBy choosing nutritious foods and building balanced habits, families across the Rappahannock-Rapidan region can strengthen their health and set a positive example for the next generation. Our health district is committed to supporting residents with the information and resources they need to make those healthy choices easier.\u201d<em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Eating healthier can change your health outcomes. The Rappahannock-Rapidan Health District has implemented a variety of programs to address nutrition and food security across the state. The Rappahannock-Rapidan Health District offers programs, such as the nutrition education and counseling, supplemental nutritious foods, breastfeeding support, health screenings and referrals, immunization referrals and monitoring, WIC, farmers market nutrition program (FMNP) , to provide access to nutritious foods, nutrition education, and health services to thousands of Virginians each year.<\/p>\n<p>The Rappahannock-Rapidan\u00a0Health District wants you to consider these five tips for proper daily nutrition:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><u><a href=\"https:\/\/realfood.gov\/\">Eat a Variety of Foods<\/a><\/u><\/strong><strong>: <\/strong>Include a mix of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, and healthy fats in your daily meals to ensure a broad spectrum of nutrients.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Choose <\/strong><strong><u><a href=\"https:\/\/wholegrainscouncil.org\/whole-grains-101\/whats-whole-grain-refined-grain\">Whole Grains<\/a><\/u><\/strong><strong>\u00a0Over Refined Grains: <\/strong>Whole grains (like brown rice, quinoa, and whole wheat bread) provide more fiber, vitamins, and minerals than refined grains.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Limit Added <\/strong><strong><u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.emro.who.int\/nutrition\/reduce-fat-salt-and-sugar-intake\/\">Sugars and Salt<\/a><\/u><\/strong><strong>: <\/strong>Reduce intake of sugar-sweetened beverages, desserts, and salty snacks, and check nutrition labels for hidden sugars and sodium.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Stay <\/strong><strong><u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncoa.org\/article\/10-reasons-why-hydration-is-important\/\">Hydrated<\/a><\/u><\/strong><strong>: <\/strong>Drink plenty of water throughout the day, aiming for at least 6\u20138 cups unless your healthcare provider directs otherwise.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Practice Portion Control and <\/strong><strong><u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/diabetes\/php\/toolkits\/new-beginnings-mindfulness-strategies-diabetes-distress.html\">Mindful Eating<\/a><\/u><\/strong><strong>: <\/strong>Be aware of portion sizes, eat slowly, and listen to your body\u2019s hunger and fullness cues to avoid overeating.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Throughout March, Rappahannock-Rapidan\u00a0Health District encourages you to take this opportunity to learn more about nutrition, explore local resources, and adopt healthier eating habits.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Find an accountability partner to keep you on track.<\/li>\n<li>Start with small practices and build your plan of healthier habits.<\/li>\n<li>Try new, healthier practices at your favorite <u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart.org\/en\/healthy-living\/healthy-eating\/eat-smart\/nutrition-basics\/dining-out-doesnt-mean-ditch-your-diet\">restaurant<\/a><\/u> and be mindful of the decisions you make to stay on track.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Visit <u><a href=\"http:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/healthy-communities\/healthy-food-environments\/\">www.vdh.virginia.gov\/healthy-communities\/healthy-food-environments\/<\/a><\/u> for nutrition resources or contact the Rappahannock-Rapidan Health District at <u><a href=\"http:\/\/www.rrhd.org\">www.rrhd.org<\/a><\/u>\u00a0for more information.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"># # #<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>March 13, 2026 Media Contact: Dr. Zelalem Attlee, Zelalem.Attlee@vdh.virginia.gov. The Rappahannock-Rapidan\u00a0Health Districts Says Healthy Choices Can Build a Healthier Community March is National Nutrition Month in Virginia WARRENTON, Va. \u2013 One in four people are obese in the United States. In Virginia, it\u2019s closer to one in three\u00a0(32%). 2024, approximately 32% of Virginia adults were [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":444,"featured_media":0,"parent":16853,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[1527,71],"class_list":["post-17724","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","tag-healthy-eating","tag-nutrition"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Rappahannock-Rapidan\u00a0Health Districts Says Healthy Choices Can Build a Healthier Community - Newsroom<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/public-relations-contacts\/2026-regional-news-releases\/the-rappahannock-rapidan-health-districts-says-healthy-choices-can-build-a-healthier-community\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Rappahannock-Rapidan\u00a0Health Districts Says Healthy Choices Can Build a Healthier Community - Newsroom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"March 13, 2026 Media Contact: Dr. Zelalem Attlee, Zelalem.Attlee@vdh.virginia.gov. The Rappahannock-Rapidan\u00a0Health Districts Says Healthy Choices Can Build a Healthier Community March is National Nutrition Month in Virginia WARRENTON, Va. \u2013 One in four people are obese in the United States. In Virginia, it\u2019s closer to one in three\u00a0(32%). 2024, approximately 32% of Virginia adults were [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/public-relations-contacts\/2026-regional-news-releases\/the-rappahannock-rapidan-health-districts-says-healthy-choices-can-build-a-healthier-community\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Newsroom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-13T23:06:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/news\\\/public-relations-contacts\\\/2026-regional-news-releases\\\/the-rappahannock-rapidan-health-districts-says-healthy-choices-can-build-a-healthier-community\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/news\\\/public-relations-contacts\\\/2026-regional-news-releases\\\/the-rappahannock-rapidan-health-districts-says-healthy-choices-can-build-a-healthier-community\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Rappahannock-Rapidan\u00a0Health Districts Says Healthy Choices Can Build a Healthier Community - Newsroom\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-13T23:04:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-13T23:06:36+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/news\\\/public-relations-contacts\\\/2026-regional-news-releases\\\/the-rappahannock-rapidan-health-districts-says-healthy-choices-can-build-a-healthier-community\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/news\\\/public-relations-contacts\\\/2026-regional-news-releases\\\/the-rappahannock-rapidan-health-districts-says-healthy-choices-can-build-a-healthier-community\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/news\\\/public-relations-contacts\\\/2026-regional-news-releases\\\/the-rappahannock-rapidan-health-districts-says-healthy-choices-can-build-a-healthier-community\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Newsroom\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"2026 Regional News Releases\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/news\\\/public-relations-contacts\\\/2026-regional-news-releases\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"The Rappahannock-Rapidan\u00a0Health Districts Says Healthy Choices Can Build a Healthier Community\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"Newsroom\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Rappahannock-Rapidan\u00a0Health Districts Says Healthy Choices Can Build a Healthier Community - Newsroom","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/public-relations-contacts\/2026-regional-news-releases\/the-rappahannock-rapidan-health-districts-says-healthy-choices-can-build-a-healthier-community\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Rappahannock-Rapidan\u00a0Health Districts Says Healthy Choices Can Build a Healthier Community - Newsroom","og_description":"March 13, 2026 Media Contact: Dr. Zelalem Attlee, Zelalem.Attlee@vdh.virginia.gov. The Rappahannock-Rapidan\u00a0Health Districts Says Healthy Choices Can Build a Healthier Community March is National Nutrition Month in Virginia WARRENTON, Va. \u2013 One in four people are obese in the United States. In Virginia, it\u2019s closer to one in three\u00a0(32%). 2024, approximately 32% of Virginia adults were [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/public-relations-contacts\/2026-regional-news-releases\/the-rappahannock-rapidan-health-districts-says-healthy-choices-can-build-a-healthier-community\/","og_site_name":"Newsroom","article_modified_time":"2026-03-13T23:06:36+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/public-relations-contacts\/2026-regional-news-releases\/the-rappahannock-rapidan-health-districts-says-healthy-choices-can-build-a-healthier-community\/","url":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/public-relations-contacts\/2026-regional-news-releases\/the-rappahannock-rapidan-health-districts-says-healthy-choices-can-build-a-healthier-community\/","name":"The Rappahannock-Rapidan\u00a0Health Districts Says Healthy Choices Can Build a Healthier Community - Newsroom","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2026-03-13T23:04:38+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-13T23:06:36+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/public-relations-contacts\/2026-regional-news-releases\/the-rappahannock-rapidan-health-districts-says-healthy-choices-can-build-a-healthier-community\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/public-relations-contacts\/2026-regional-news-releases\/the-rappahannock-rapidan-health-districts-says-healthy-choices-can-build-a-healthier-community\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/public-relations-contacts\/2026-regional-news-releases\/the-rappahannock-rapidan-health-districts-says-healthy-choices-can-build-a-healthier-community\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Newsroom","item":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"2026 Regional News Releases","item":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/public-relations-contacts\/2026-regional-news-releases\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"The Rappahannock-Rapidan\u00a0Health Districts Says Healthy Choices Can Build a Healthier Community"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/","name":"Newsroom","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/17724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/444"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17724"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/17724\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17727,"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/17724\/revisions\/17727"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}