'Subway guy' to talk on healthful eating

Jared, the Subway sandwich guy who made it big by becoming small, is coming to a Granite District elementary school to gab about gobbling.

Jared Fogle will appear Monday at William Penn Elementary in Holladay to kick off Subway of Utah's elementary school healthy lifestyles campaign: "Food Feud: Where Food and Fitness are Fun."

Principal Ted Williams believes the campaign's assemblies will reinforce healthful habits that kids learn in class, including hand-washing and nutrition.

The sandwich chain hopes to help stem growing childhood obesity rates in Utah, where a Utah Health Department survey found one-fourth of kindergartners through eighth-graders are at an unhealthy weight and almost 12 percent are obese.

"I've been a fat kid all my life . . . I didn't know what to eat when I was a kid," said Subway of Utah market board chairman Robert Sherwood, who recently lost 65 pounds on the "Jared diet" of low-fat subs, two meals a day. "All I knew is I liked Twinkies, I liked cupcakes. Maybe we can help some of those kids who were a fat kid (to) be more healthy and conscious about what they are taking in."

The Utah Subway campaign evolved from Sherwood's school visits preaching healthy habits. It is separate from the "Jared School Tour," the restaurant's national childhood obesity prevention initiative, said Paul Gadd, who does public relations for Subway of Utah.

In Utah, students will learn about exercise and nutrition through assemblies including a game show, a sub-building relay race and other activities, Gadd said. Some 40 elementary schools in 15 school districts in the Logan, Ogden, Salt Lake, Provo and St. George areas will participate in the assemblies, which run through the first week of March.

Sorry, starry-eyed students: Only William Penn gets Jared himself in the deal.

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E-mail: jtcook@desnews.com