“I want to tell people, this is possible.”/ You can prevent, control diabetes

Dannie Cunningham, 61, cut his soaring sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol down to normal range and dropped 56 pounds by working longterm with a diabetes counselor.

Nebraska school district slims kids by 13 percent / Can West Virginia schools do it too?

Starting in 2005, within five years a Nebraska school chopped the obesity rate of its grade school students by a stunning 13 percent. How did they do it?

EDITORIAL: When kids are active, they do better in school, period.

Kanawha Elementary gets kids active, having fun, during the half-hour before school when they would otherwise be sitting on bleachers. A great idea, proven by research to help kids focus and concentrate. School should look for such opportunities.

RESOURCES: Great physical activity links and research for teachers and older adults

Here are first-rate resources for teachers, parents and anybody who works with children, plus research on health and fitness.

W.Va. slammed with sugar: Deadly epidemic ‘exploding in front of us’

This disease causes heart attacks and leads to strokes, blindness, arm and leg amputations, nerve damage, kidney failure, liver failure. It kills people early. It’s starting to attack children. And it’s everywhere in West Virginia./

Everette’s story: It doesn’t have to be that way

Everette Ray Roberts of Mingo County is one of an estimated 69,000 West Virginians who have diabetes, but don’t know it. He was lucky he was diagnosed in time and luckier to have found a counselor who could help him bring it under control.

“You’re an inspiration, Benji!” / With town’s support, teen runs off 100 pounds

The treadmill is a tight fit in his Ripley, W.Va., living room, but16-year-old Benji Willis has used it to lose 102 pounds in six months.

Learning to deal with setbacks / Nine-year-old and grandparents determined to hold off diabetes

Lexi Winnell, 9, is insulin resistant, a red-flag sign of diabetes risk. Swimming, walking and exercising, she and her grandparents are determined to bring down her risk of diabetes. “We want her to have a long, healthy life,” grandmother Kelly Winnell said.

Mud River women part 3: 1 year, 555 pounds, 555 balloons

Faced with diabetes and heart problems, determined Lincoln countians have walked the back roads together each morning for a year, exercising and dancing in the fire hall in the evenings. They’re celebrating losing a total of 555 pounds.

Marple urges collaboration on obesity, teen pregnancy and hunger

State School Superintendent Jorea Marple challenged state wellness conference  attendees to find collaborative ways to tackle three heart-wrenching problems she said are “too big for schools to handle alone”: teen pregnancy, obesity and child hunger, which keep many young West Virginians from learning effectively,