Kate Long

More than one in four West Virginia fifth-graders are now obese. One in four already has high blood pressure. What's their future going to be?

Journalist Kate Long explores West Virginia's epidemics of chronic disease and obesity and the efforts to reverse them.

About 125,000 diabetics live in West Virginia, according to Gallup Healthways. Another estimated 125,000 are near-diabetic, but can still head it off. Less than half have ever talked with anyone who could show them how to prevent or control "sugar" through physical activity, what they eat, and medication management, according to a federal Centers for Disease Control survey.

Journalist Kate Long explores a community's effort to create diabetes education programs in her series on West Virginia's epidemics of chronic disease and obesity and the efforts to reverse them. The series is called "The Shape We're In."

Journalist Kate Long offers diabetes resources in her examination of West Virginia's epidemics of chronic disease and obesity and the efforts to reverse them.  Her series is called "The Shape We're In."

Kate Long looks at the laundry list of problems that extra body fat can cause, including Alzheimer's Disease, sleep apnea and incontinence. This story is part of a Charleston Gazette series called "The Shape We're In."

This story is part of Kate Long's fellowship project where she explores West Virginia's epidemics of chronic disease and obesity and the efforts to reserve them. The series is called "The Shape We're In."

Eighty cooks from 15 West Virginia counties recently packed the Cabell Midland High School kitchen for healthy-cooking boot camp. The state's school superintendent believes serving healthy meals to kids will help with the state's obesity and chronic disease problems.

<p>&nbsp;</p><p>In the Mud River Volunteer Fire Department, 26 adults and children were sending balloons up in the air to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the Mud River Pound Punchers, one balloon for every pound they have lost.</p><p>&nbsp;</p>