Borough Mayor Nelson Vaughan has launched the Chatham Borough Mayor's Healthy Lifestyle Challenge as part of the New Jersey Mayors Wellness Campaign. After the success last year with the Toxic Waistline campaign, the Mayor has started the new summer challenge in conjunction with the Farmers' Market, which opened June 26.

The challenge was introduced at the Farmers' Market, and will launch on July 10. Within a few hours at the opening day of the Farmers' Market twenty people signed the Pledge for the Challenge. "The goal of this challenge is to have the citizens of the Borough "Know Your Numbers" and reduce critical health indicators including resting heart rate, BMI, blood pressure, waist circumference and cholesterol," said Vaughan.   

The Chatham Borough Mayor's Wellness Committee, chaired by Chatham internist Tobi Ippolito, has worked diligently to pull this challenge together.

"As a committee, we felt that our challenge this year needed to extend beyond weight loss and truly target those health indicators that dramatically impact a person's health. We want our community exercising more, eating properly and living healthier more active lifestyles and we want them to know and understand their numbers," said Ippolito.

"We are proud to partner with the Mayors Wellness Campaign to increase opportunities for New Jersey residents to participate in daily physical activity with a long-term goal of reducing personal and health care costs secondary to obesity," Vaughan said. "Obesity rates, particularly among our children, and the resulting incidences of diabetes, heart disease and hypertension are rising at alarming rates for all New Jerseyans, but this trend could be reversed with changes to diet and exercise regimens."

All residents are encouraged to join the challenge and sign up by July 10, 2010. The three people who make the largest positive point change in their report cards will each win a one-month gym membership. To sign up, stop by the Chatham Borough Farmers' Market Mayor's Wellness Campaign Committee Booth or download the forms online and drop the pledge at the Mayor's office. 

For more information, call Vaughan at 973-701-6811.