I can’t believe we’ve turned the calendar to a new month. Where has the time gone? March kicks off Walk Kansas 2013. The eight-week, team-based healthful lifestyle program is in its 12th year in Kansas and Osage County, and its 11th in Franklin County.

The program is based on the 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans recommended by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. You need a minimum of 2½ hours of moderate and/or vigorous intensity activity each week for good health. Moderate intensity activity involves activity at a level where you can barely talk, but not sing. Vigorous intensity activity is activity where you can only say a few words without stopping to catch your breath. Working toward a combination of moderate and vigorous activity is good.

I can’t believe we’ve turned the calendar to a new month. Where has the time gone? March kicks off Walk Kansas 2013. The eight-week, team-based healthful lifestyle program is in its 12th year in Kansas and Osage County, and its 11th in Franklin County.

The program is based on the 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans recommended by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. You need a minimum of 2½ hours of moderate and/or vigorous intensity activity each week for good health. Moderate intensity activity involves activity at a level where you can barely talk, but not sing. Vigorous intensity activity is activity where you can only say a few words without stopping to catch your breath. Working toward a combination of moderate and vigorous activity is good.

New to the program this year is a third challenge. Challenge 3 encourages the team to log six hours of moderate/physical activity per week. Collectively, the team would walk 1,200 miles, which is the distance around the perimeter of the state. Challenge 1 and 2 also are options. If you are new to Walk Kansas and are setting a goal to move from being sedentary to some activity, you might want to choose Challenge 1. Each participant reaches the minimum goal for physical activity — 2½ hours of moderate/vigorous activity per week. Collectively, the team would walk 423 miles, which is the distance across Kansas. Challenge 2 is for those teams who want to increase the amount of physical activity they participate in on a weekly basis. Each participant logs 5 hours of moderate/vigorous activity per week. At the end of the eight-week program, the team would collectively walk — 846 miles — the distance across the state and back. Other forms of physical activity can count, as long as they are performed for at least 10 consecutive minutes. Fifteen minutes of moderate/physical activity counts as one Walk Kansas mile.

Participants also are encouraged to log the cups of fruits and vegetables they consume. The health benefits of physical activity are greater when you also follow a healthful eating plan. Most Americans do not consume the recommended amount — 4 to 5 cups a day — of fruits and vegetables.

For the second year now, team members will earn 15 bonus minutes per week for breaking each hour of sitting, at least six days per week. New research shows that prolonged sitting might be a health risk for many types of chronic disease. If you sit for more than one hour at a time at work, home, while driving or traveling, take a one- to two-minute break. Just standing for a few minutes every hour will make a difference.

Registration information (captain and participant packets) is available at Frontier Extension District No. 11 offices in both Lyndon and Ottawa. It also is posted on our website, www.frontierdistrict.ksu.edu. The team registration fee is $15. Participants will receive newsletters each week that include tips for more active living, nutrition advice, a recipe, stress management ideas and healthful living on a budget. Walk Kansas T-shirts (long- and short-sleeved) also are available for an additional cost.

So, grab your family members, co-workers, friends and join Walk Kansas today.

Rebecca McFarland is the family and consumer sciences extension agent for Frontier Extension District No. 11, which serves Franklin County. For more information or questions about food safety, call her at (785) 229-3520 or email rmcfarla@ksu.edu