Letter to the Editor - ‘Freg Up’ utilizing social media

Studies show one third of New Year's resolutions will be broken by the end of January. The good news is, if you can stick to it until February, you might have actually made lasting change.

With that in mind, WELLWVU's Office of Wellness and Health Promotion has created a social networking site just for WVU students that will help them be more successful at keeping the popular resolution to eat healthy.

The site, tweatWELL, can be found at www.tweatwell.com. It is a fun way to eat healthier and track how many fruits and vegetables, or "freggies," a person consumes each day. Students can use tweatWELL, whether they have a Twitter account or not, to track their freggie consumption, accumulate points and win prizes.

The tweatWELL program encourages students to check in and post foods they are eating on the home page.

Alternatively, students can update their information using texting or Twitter that will automatically update the tweatWELL page.

Students can earn points through a variety of other fun features on the site and can compete to become professors, deans and presidents of different fruits and vegetables.

Prizes will be awarded throughout the program to participants and include a stay in Rocky Gap Lodge in Md., a white water rafting package, a dog sled experience and much more.

The site also posts recipes and daily tips on freggie preparation so that students can learn new ways to "Freg Up" and add more freggies to their diet.

The daily recommended number of servings of fruits and vegetables each day is between five and nine, but a study conducted last year shows that WVU students are eating fewer than three servings.

TweatWELL provides the accountability, incentives and education to see that students eat better.

Increased fruit and vegetable consumption is not only critical to promoting good health, but is also important for reaching and maintaining a healthy body weight.

The program will run through the end of the semester, so students are encouraged to sign up now for tweatWELL and begin the New Year healthy, well and full of freggies.

Cairna Bode is a graduate student at WVU studying Speech and Language Pathology