Author name: dwright@welia.org

The Employee Wellness Committee is sponsoring a new challenge:  No Treat Fridays!  Give up your typical treat on four Fridays starting November 24th – December 22nd for a chance to win a piece of All-Clad cookware!  And watch for promotion of healthy snacks in our cafeteria.

The purpose of this is to encourage healthy snacking during a time filled with an overabundance of festive treats. So, enjoy the holidays but don’t forget to sneak in that healthy snack too!

NO TREAT FRIDAYS

Celebrate Halloween by learning how to tighten up those BATWINGS

Our breast cancer awareness efforts continue by wearing PINK on Fridays in October. 

Please wear PINK tomorrow, Friday October 27th!  This is your last chance to ‘get caught’ by a member of the wellness committee to receive a little prize.

The American Cancer Society’s estimates for breast cancer in the United States for 2017 are:

• About 252,710 new cases of invasive breast cancer diagnosed in women.
• About 40,610 women will die from breast cancer.

Facts on breast cancer from the American Cancer Society:

• Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in women (only lung cancer kills more women each year).
• The chance that a woman will die from breast cancer is about 1 in 37.

BUT…there is good news!  Death rates from female breast cancer dropped 39% from 1989 to 2015.  Since 2007, breast cancer death rates have been steady in women younger than 50, but have continued to decrease in older women.

These decreases are believed to be the result of finding breast cancer earlier through screening and increased awareness, as well as better treatments.

Time to get checked!

Congrats to these ladies for consistently visiting the employee gym!

Cider Flats, out of Hinckley delivered our apples today for the Great Lakes Great Apple Crunch this Thursday at NOON.

The four varieties we have are:

• Honeycrisp – the Minnesota State Fruit.  Larger apple, crisp and juicy with a well-balanced flavor.
• Sweet Sixteen – crisp and juicy with a sweet, unusual cherry candy-like flavor, creamy red in color.
• Frostbite – a small to medium-sized apple, crisp, darker red in color, with a blended tropical flavor of sugarcane and pineapple.
• Sweet Tango – larger apple, a cross between Honeycrisp and Zestar, which is a sweet-tart flavor.

Get your apple at NOON this Thursday October 12th in the cafeteria and clinic break rooms until they are gone. 1 per person please.

FirstLight employees will take part in the Great Lakes Apple Crunch on Thursday, October 12th at 12:00pm.

Healthcare organizations, schools, businesses and other community groups throughout Minnesota and surrounding states will all crunch into a juicy, locally or regionally grown apple at the same time – at NOON! 

Apples will be available in the dining room and Mora, Hinckley, Pine City, and Eye Clinic break rooms.  If you want to be part of the fun and try one of several varieties of locally grown apples, meet at 11:55am in the hospital dining room or break room at your clinic.  In Mora we will take a group photo as close to NOON as possible. Selfies and group photos from satellite staff are encouraged!

This event encourages healthy eating, as well as partnerships with local growers.

Watch for a calendar invite and more info to come next week!

Sponsored by the Employee Wellness Committee

This is real life.  Busy schedules and social commitments can set us up for energy imbalance.  Instead of looking for the newest fads in weight loss, consider a more sensible approach to managing your weight.  Try the simple step of reducing 50 calories here and there versus making major dietary changes.

According to the National Institutes of Health, consuming just 150 calories more a day than you burn can lead to an extra 5 pounds over 6 months.  That’s a gain of 10 pounds a year. 

If you don’t want this weight gain to happen, or you want to lose the extra weight, you can either reduce your ENERGY IN or increase your ENERGY OUT. 

Here are some practical ways to cut 150 calories (ENERGY IN):

• Drink water instead of a 12-ounce regular soda
• If you love french fries, order a small serving instead of a medium, or order a salad with dressing on the side
• Eat an egg-white omelet (with three eggs), instead of whole eggs
• Use tuna canned in water (6-ounce can), instead of canned in oil
• Choose a low fat dressing instead of high-fat creamy ones
• If you love your ice cream, try some of the products with no sugar added
• Choose grilled instead of crispy chicken

Here are some practical ways to burn 150 calories (ENERGY OUT), in just 30 minutes (for a 150 pound person):

• Shoot hoops
• Window washing
• Walk two miles
• Kayaking
• Do yard work
• Go for a bike ride
• Dance with your family or friends

Remember that a combination of both is the best way to achieve and maintain a healthy body weight over the long haul.

Energy balance is another important part of maintaining a healthy weight.  When this balance is out of equilibrium, then weight gain or weight loss occurs.

The goal is to balance energy intake with energy expenditure, and maintain a healthy weight.

Energy intake occurs in the form of calories consumed by what we eat and drink.  Energy expenditure occurs by day-to-day activity, exercise, and what we burn in resting calories (respiration, digestion, etc).  Eating just 150 calories more a day than you burn can lead to an extra 5 pounds over 6 months.  That’s a gain of 10 pounds a year.

The healthiest way to balance your calorie budget is a combination of healthy eating and physical activity.  Your calories in should equal your calories out.  Of course there are other pieces of the puzzle that may contribute to energy balance in some cases.  Talk with your doctor about what may be affecting your lifestyle budget.

To see what your daily calorie allowance is, use the chart below.  This is a good first step in helping become better acquainted with your lifestyle budget.

STAY TUNED!  Next week learn tips on energy balance in real life.

Kids are spending more and more time in front of a screen these days.  Increased screen time is a risk factor for childhood obesity.  It’s safe to say that technology is here to stay, so finding a healthy balance between screen time and active time is a good goal for your family.

Here are some tips from the National Institutes of Health on how to go from screen time to lean time:

• Talk to your Family. Explain to your kids that it’s important to sit less and move more in order to stay healthy.  Tell them they’ll have more energy, and it will help them develop and/or perfect new skills, such as riding a bike or shooting hoops.
• Set a Good Example.  You need to be a good role model and limit your screen time to no more than two hours per day, too.  If your kids see you following your own rules, they’ll be more likely to do the same.
• Make Screen Time = Active Time.  When you do spend time in front of the screen, do something active.  Stretch, do yoga, or lift weights.  Or, challenge the family to see who can do the most push-ups, jumping jacks, or leg lifts during TV commercial breaks.
• Set Screen Time Limits.  Create a house rule that limits screen time to two hours every day or an amount works for your family.  More importantly, enforce the time limit.
• Create Screen-free Bedrooms.  Don’t put a TV or computer in your child’s bedroom.  Kids who have TVs in their room tend to watch about 1.5 hours more TV a day than those that don’t.  Plus, it keeps them in their room instead of spending time with the rest of the family.
• Make Meal Time = Family Time.  Turn off the TV during meals.  Family meals are a good time to talk to each other.  Research shows that families who eat together tend to eat more nutritious meals.  Try to make this a priority at least two to three times a week.
• Provide Other Options.  Watching TV can become a habit, making it easy to forget what else is out there.  Give your kids ideas and/or alternatives, such as playing outside, getting a new hobby, or learning a new sport.
• Don’t Use TV Time as Reward or Punishment.  Practices like this may make TV seem even more important to children.
• Understand TV Ads & Placements.  Seeing snack foods, candy, soda, and fast food on television affects all of us, especially kids.  Help your child understand that because it’s on TV-or your favorite TV characters/actors/sports stars eat or drink it-doesn’t mean a food or drink is good for you.  Get your kids to think about why their favorite cartoon character is trying to get them to eat a certain brand of breakfast cereal.

Here is an example of how kids can earn screen time.  Although fall is here, one, some or all rules can still apply.

Information source: National Institutes of Health