Today’s column serves as an excellent opportunity to share information about one of the UAF Cooperative Extension Services programs. It is called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistant Program Education (SNAP-Ed), which has job openings that can be found at careers.alaska.edu.

SNAP-Ed is a nationwide nutrition education and obesity prevention program funded by the United States Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service. Why do we have such programs? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people who are overweight or obese — compared to those with a healthy weight — are at increased risk for many serious diseases and health conditions such as high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes, stroke, gallbladder disease, sleep apnea, coronary heart disease, mental illness such as clinical depression, anxiety and other mental disorders, many types of cancer, and all causes of death (mortality).