Employee Wellness

Could you write an article for a gourmet magazine describing the meal you ate last night? Do you even remember the meal you ate last night?

In addition to focusing on WHAT we eat and WHY we eat, mindful eating includes paying attention to HOW we eat. Do you think you are a fast eater? Do you finish most meals in less than ten minutes? Try slowing down while eating. Put your fork or spoon down between bites, savor the flavor of each forkful and pay particular attention to the texture, taste and aroma of the foods you are eating.

Is your typical mealtime filled with distractions? Do you eat while watching television, reading emails or catching up on FaceBook? When distracted, our attention is not focused on the flavor of the foods we are eating, but instead we mindlessly stuff our mouths with food and might even be surprised when our plate is empty. Turn off the tv, put down the phone and eat at a table to help you practice mindful eating.

March is National Nutrition Month and the theme “Savor the Flavor” is a healthy reminder to slow down when eating and avoid distractions at mealtime. I bet you could write amazing articles about your meals if you did.

Test your Nutrition Knowledge! Complete the attached puzzle and return it to Danna or Melissa by March 31^st. Those with the correct answers will be entered into a drawing for great prizes!

~ Danna Woods

Download Nutrition Puzzle

This year’s theme for National Nutrition Month is “Savor the Flavor of Eating Right”. It encourages mindful eating which is something I enjoy talking to my patients about and helping them discover what that means for them. Mindful eating is a large topic and cannot be covered in this WOW tip, but I would like to focus on one aspect of mindful eating and that is this need to clean our plates.

For most of us this “rule” was ingrained into us as a child. You might have been scolded for “wasting food” and that leaving food on your plate was not fair to starving children in the world. This rule is one of the toughest habits to overcome when trying to eat right and lose weight now that we are older.

There are two reasons to eat:

    1.  To fuel your body.

2. To appreciate flavors.

When fueling your car, you would not keep pumping after the tank is full, spilling the fuel on the ground. That would be wasting gas! So why would you do that with your body? A new way to look at that old “rule” of cleaning your plate is that every time you eat food your body doesn’t need, you are wasting it! So now you have a choice. You can get rid of leftover food by throwing it away or by eating it. Either way, it’s wasted.

How I encourage my patients to stop cleaning their plates is to have them leave a bite or two on their plate and then throw it away or leave it for another meal. This trains your mind and your stomach to gradually need less and become mindful of how much you are eating and need.

~ Melissa Merrick

Mid-point weigh-in is almost here!

Mora:  weigh-in week of March 7th-11th.  Slips due by Monday March 14th to Deb, Melissa or Danna.

• *Location of scales during MID-POINT weigh-in:
• Cardiac Stress Testing room in the clinic
• WellnessFirst office (at the end of the HR hallway)
• Storage room across the hall from the dietitian’s office (#2758) or in the dietitian’s office

Pine City: all weigh-ins will occur one week later than Mora

• Weigh-in March 16th – Melissa Merrick will bring the scale.  Slips due by Monday March 21st to Deb, Melissa or Danna.

Hinckley:

• Weigh-in March 8th – Danna Woods will bring the scale.  Slips due by Monday March 14th to Deb, Melissa or Danna.

*We will try to have the scales available as much as possible but there will be times when they are moved for patient care so please be aware of that.  They will eventually make it back to their designated spot. Thanks for your understanding!  An example of this is Tuesday March 8^th – cardiac brings the scale to rehab in the a.m. and Danna will be taking their scale to Hinckley.

Fruit and Veggie Challenge ends Sunday March 6^th!  Turn in completed log sheets to Deb Wright by Tuesday March 8^th!

If you are treating yourself to a meal out, here are some tips to help make it a dining experience that is both tasty and good for you!

Will the restaurant:

• Leave all butter, gravy or sauces off a dish or on the side?
• Serve salad dressing on the side?
• Serve fat free (skim) milk rather than whole milk or cream?
• Use only olive or canola oil when cooking?
• Provide a carry out container so that at the start of your meal so you can set aside half of your meal to take home?
• Accommodate special requests?

Select foods which are:

• Steamed
• Garden fresh
• Broiled
• Baked
• Roasted
• Poached
• Lightly sautéed or stir-fried

Adapted from Eating Healthy When Dining Out, a tip sheet by The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute in cooperation with the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health.

Matters of the Heart lunch and learn

Any weight loss challenge participant who weighs in starting TODAY through NEXT FRIDAY FEBRUARY 19TH and turns in their printout to Deb will be entered into one drawing for a piece of awesome FirstLight gear! (see below). Printout must be received by end of day Monday February 22nd.  Winner will be drawn on February 23rd.

Satellite staff: I understand the challenge of getting to a scale at the satellite clinics so if you absolutely cannot get to one of the three Tanita scales during this timeframe you can use any scale at your clinic to get your weight, write it on a sheet of paper, and have someone initial it as a witness.  No home scales please. 🙂

Don’t forget to add your name and date you weighed on the printout! 

This weigh in will not count toward any points in the challenge; it is only to help keep people on track and aware of how they are doing.

Turn in your slips to Deb Wright in Wellness.

Location of  Tanita scales:  Wellness Office, Cardiac Stress Testing Room at the Mora Clinic, Dietitian’s office or in the storeroom kitty-corner from their office.

Okay…..GO!

It’s hard to know how much sodium we take in every day unless we make a conscious effort to do a little research, such as reading food labels or asking for the sodium content in a food when eating out.

Learn how excess sodium increases a person’s risk for high blood pressure, which can lead to heart disease and stroke by reading this flyer from the American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association.

Go Red sodium flyer

The weight loss challenge is in full swing!  I have heard much chatter around healthy eating, am witnessing employees using their breaks, lunch hours or after work time for exercise, and see people utilizing the scales for regular weigh-ins.  Great effort everyone!  Keep encouraging one another and ask for support if you need it.

Couple of reminders:

• Continue to utilize the scales for routine weigh ins if you like!  The next required weigh in isn’t until the week of March 7th so you are encouraged to weigh in on your own to keep track of your progress.
• The first BONUS CHALLENGE-The Fruit and Veggie Challenge-starts on Monday February 8th (not Feb 5th-sorry about the misprint on the original form).  Start tracking your consumption of ONE fruit and ONE vegetable each day, 6 out of 7 days each week.  This should be attainable for most since our recommendation is 5 a day. 🙂 The grid for the bonus challenges is attached for those that need it.  IF YOU ARE IN THE WEIGHT LOSS CHALLENGE, YOU ARE AUTOMATICALLY IN THIS CHALLENGE (BUT IT IS NOT REQUIRED), NO SIGN UP NEEDED.

Remember that every healthy effort matters.

Weight Loss Challenge 2016