The N.C. Cooperative Extension Office in Jackson County is offering a 12-week series and two workshops designed to help make fitness and healthy eating a part of the new year.

The series, “Wellness Works,” will be held during the lunch hour from 12:10 to 12:45 p.m. starting Tuesday, Jan. 10, at the conference room of the Community Service Center located behind Harris Regional Hospital. Programs will include a brief educational program on nutrition, health or physical activity. Walking will be emphasized.

Cost for the series is $15. Participants should call the Extension Office at 828.586.4009 by Friday, Jan. 6, to register.

The first of the Extension’s two workshops, “Fruits and Vegetables Are Yummy, Not Yucky!” will be held from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 10 in the conference room of the Community Service Center, located behind Harris Regional Hospital. Patsy Holley, family and consumer sciences age with the Swain County Cooperative Extension Center, and Carol Grise, outreach services librarian with Fontana Regional Library will lead the workshop. Participants will learn strategies for healthy eating, see examples of age-appropriate books for motivating children to try new foods, learn about portion sizes and go over the revised food pyramid.

The second workshop, “Movin’ and Groovin’,” will be held from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 19 at the Webster Child Development Center. Grise, outreach services librarian with Fontana Regional Library, and Cheryl Beck, family and consumer sciences agent with the Jackson County Extension Office, will lead the workshop. Participants will learn strategies to motivate children to get up and move, learn easy indoor and outdoor physical activities, and see examples of age-appropriate books to encourage physical activity.

To register for either of these workshops, contact the Extension Office by Monday, Jan. 9.