Cabot® Challenges You to 'Get Up and Mooove!'

CABOT, Vt., June 2 /PRNewswire/ -- With more than 50% of the United States' population being overweight or obese*, you'd think that more Americans would exercise.  But hectic work schedules and constant demands on attention often mean exercise falls low on the priority list.  Fortunately, there's an easy, fun way to make exercise and health a top priority and involve your family and friends.  That's why the Farm Family owners of Cabot® Creamery Cooperative want everyone to "GET UP AND MOVE!"

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Cabot Creamery Cooperative's partnership with the web-based exercise site "Get Up and Move" (GUAM), officially launches at the nationally recognized Strolling of the Heifers festival in Brattleboro, Vermont on June 4-5, 2010. During the Festival, Cabot Creamery Cooperative staffers will be strolling the grounds to challenge attendees to "Random Acts of Fitness," a wide range of simple exercise challenges that boost bone and physical health and self-esteem. GUAMMIES (as challengers are known) will also have a chance to win great prizes from Cabot Creamery, best known as "Makers of the World's Best Cheddar."

"Get Up and Mooove" is a social game that challenges you and your friends to small acts of movement -- "micro-fitness" -- that can be easily done at any time, in any place. Examples include short spurts of walking, pushups, and even grating Cabot cheese for 15 minutes.  It's that easy. By logging on to the Cabot Creamery Community "Get Up and Mooove" page http://getupandmove.me/cabot, Cabot GUAMMIES have an opportunity to declare fitness challenges on friends and family members as often as they like. What's more, participants' "micro-fitness" challenges and user statistics are tracked on the "Get Up and Mooove" individual page!  Through user-feedback from Cabot GUAMMIES and others, the website is continuously adding features that foster friendly fitness challenges and healthy incentives.  

Jen McCabe, Get Up and Move/Contagion Health's co-founder and President, notes that Cabot's participation and support go a long way to encouraging people to lead healthier lives.  

"We're thrilled to work with Cabot Creamery to build this very special community encouraging healthier choices for moms, kids and cooks. The farm family coop has a long history of taking care of both farmers and consumers and continually supports programs and activities that lead to healthier lifestyles. This makes Cabot the perfect partner for building a 'contagious' campaign spreading small random acts of fitness through social sites."

According to the National Center for Health Statistics, only 33.5% of adults in the United States engage in regular leisure-time physical activity*. Most people offer any number of excuses for not exercising, the most common being "lack of time."  With "micro-fitness," excuses for lack of time are eliminated and the fun can begin.

Regan Miller Jones, Cabot's National Nutrition Communications Manager and Registered Dietitian, says, "The Get Up and Mooove challenge is a great way for people to interact with family and friends while promoting a healthy lifestyle. It only takes a few minutes a day to do 'micro-fitness' activities but the results can be amazing."

Anyone interested in participating in "micro-fitness" challenges can visit Cabot's Random Acts of Fitness page at http://getupandmove.me/cabot and can also access additional Cabot health and fitness information at Cabot Health.

"It's fascinating how a little exercise can go a long, long way to promoting friendly competition and better health," says Jones. "All you have to do is get up and mooove!"

ABOUT CABOT CREAMERY COOPERATIVE

Cabot Creamery Cooperative has been in continuous operation in Vermont since 1919, and we make a full line of cheeses, yogurt, sour cream, cottage cheese, and butter. Best known as makers of "The World's Best Cheddar," Cabot is owned by 1200 dairy farm families located throughout New England and upstate New York. For additional information on Cabot Creamery, visit http://www.cabotcheese.coop

ABOUT CONTAGION HEALTH

Contagion Health is a software startup that designs and builds applications using social media services and mobile technologies to encourage healthier daily behaviors, or "microchoices."  Contagion's first product (http://getupandmove.me) is a bartering platform based on a simple social promise,  "I will if you will," that allows users to harness the motivational power of their existing social graph by sending challenges through Twitter and Facebook. Contagion has also built  "hands2gether," a mood boosting, mapping, and sharing mobile health application for the iPhone, in partnership with Humana's (HUM) Innovation Center. "hands2gether" is available now for free in the iTunes store. 

*Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics, 2010

Available Topic Expert(s): For information on the listed expert(s), click appropriate link.

Regan Jones, RD - https://profnet.prnewswire.com/Subscriber/ExpertProfile.aspx?ei=89781

SOURCE Cabot Creamery Cooperative