The University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food and Environment recently launched a mobile fitness app to help Kentuckians improve their health.

The family and consumer sciences extension mobile app, FitBlue, takes a holistic approach to health. The app has a fitness tracker, nutrition tracker and unique features that include a farmers market locator, food bank locator and workout plans and videos for all ability levels. Users will also have the opportunity to enter physical activity challenges with others and can opt to receive push notifications for Plate It Up! Kentucky Proud recipes and other educational materials developed by UK specialists.

“By giving people access to educational information on their smart phones, we are keeping extension relevant to them while broadening our client base at the same time,” said Natalie Jones, UK extension specialist for family health.

The app began in the UK Department of Dietetics and Human Nutrition as part of a grant UK received in 2014 from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention to help lower obesity rates in counties where more than 40 percent of the adult population was considered obese.

Soon, UK family and consumer sciences extension agents across Kentucky will begin a FitBlue KY program to teach the concepts of healthy eating, physical activity and mindfulness to their clients. The program will use the mobile app as an educational component.

The app is compatible with Fitbit fitness trackers, but users can manually enter their steps from other fitness tracking devices.        

FitBlue is available for free at the Apple App Store and on Google Play.