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“I am excited about how much more conscious I am about my diet, exercise, and overall wellness” – Ramona

by Madi Johnson

Below is a testimonial from a recent Eat Smart, Move More, Prevent Diabetes participant, Ramona. Way to go, Ramona!online dpp

“I wanted to share my testimonial about participating in the Eat Smart, Move More, Prevent Diabetes course.  I was not super excited to start this class, however, almost one year later, I am excited about how much more conscious I am about my diet, exercise, and overall wellness.  I gained valuable information from participating in the course and my diet has improved as a result.  I am still working towards my weight loss goal, but I did get my AC1 level down and I am drinking much more water and consuming much less refined sugar.  I am thankful for the information that was shared.”

 

Chickpea, Tomato and Avocado Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette

by Emily Sawyer

Looking for a delicious salad on a warm summer day? This salad from Spend with Pennies is perfect when it’s too hot to turn the stove on and it’s a great way to take advantage of fresh summer produce. This chickpea salad is loaded with protein, vegetables, and incredible flavor. It can serve as a side salad, a main entree, or lunch (make a big batch on Monday and portion it out for the rest of the week). This easy, three step dish can be enjoyed by the whole family and it’s my favorite summer go-to salad.

Ingredientshealthy side dish

  • 1 avocado
  • 1 can chickpeas, drained (19oz)
  • 1/4 cup sliced red onion
  • 2 cups grape tomatoes, halved
  • 2 cups diced cucumber
  • 1/2 cup fresh parsley
  • 3/4 cup diced green bell pepper

Dressing

  • 1/2 fresh lemon
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
  • 1/2 teaspoon cumin
  • salt & pepper

Directions

  1. Cut the avocado into cubes and place in a large bowl. Add the remaining salad ingredients and toss to combine.
  2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the dressing ingredients. Pour over salad and toss.
  3. For best results, refrigerate at least one hour before serving.

Recipe adapted from http://www.spendwithpennies.com/chickpea-salad/.

 

How to Make Healthy Deviled Eggs

by Cathy Thomas

I heard one of our team members raving about the deviled eggs on our new MedInsteadofMeds.com website so decided it was my duty as a good colleague to try them out. Oh my gosh. They are my new fav. On busy work days when everything seems to be a whirlwind, you need a quick (and healthy!) lunch option.  When you pull these eggs out of your lunchbox (with a cooler pack of course) your day is made. 

As you will see in the recipe preface, the olive oil and mustard combo is the secret. Secure them in a small sealed container in your lunch box for no mess, ideally, if they are packed tight together they are less likely to roll around. Believe me, trust me, just make this recipe. Well worth the prep and truly delicious.

deviled eggs no mayo

Ingredients:

  • 1 dozen boiled eggs, peeled
  • 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
  • 1 teaspoon white vinegar (you can use white wine or just plain white vinegar)
  • 1/3 cup extra virgin oil oil
  • Paprika (optional)

Click here to see the full recipe: No-Mayo Deviled Eggs

Why Employees Participate in Corporate Wellness Challenges and Activities

by Sarah Myer

Employees participate in wellness challenges for a lot of different reasons. A strong wellness program or challenge should include components that incorporate many of those reasons.

Provide Opportunities to Make Healthy Changes

Screenings, wellness challenges, wellness fairs, and disseminating health-related information via company networks are good starting places to help employees be more aware of their health and have concrete steps to take to improve it. Healthy changes could be personal, environmental, or policy changes. WorkWell NC does a great job of outlining the CDC Scorecard tool, which can be a helpful starting point for identifying and implementing wellness initiatives.employee wellness

Insurance Premium Reduction or Wellness Points

Insurance reductions are a strong incentive for employees to participate in certain wellness activities.

Team Building or Social Connections

Most wellness challenges and activities have a team or group component because many employees thrive when given opportunities to interact or participate in team building activities. Wellness challenges can include racing challenges, team points, and game-simulations where your team can virtually turn other teams into zombies if they don’t move enough. There are team and individual competitions, races, and challenges that exist or you can create one of your own. Eat Smart, Move More, Weigh Less uses Racery as a Walking Race for our annual Holiday Challenge.

Certificates, Discounts, and Swag

Employees love being recognized for their efforts and hard work. The motivation of a certificate, discount, or reward is enough to get people to participate in a day event or program. Eat Smart, Move More, Weigh Less awards each participant who completes the program with a certificate (in addition to their completion incentive determined by employer). Those who have gone above and beyond by attending all 15 classes receive a free t-shirt. I am not a certificate person but our team won our most recent walking challenge and there is a trophy we get to keep for the next 3 months. I have already scheduled the week it will be sitting on my desk.

 

How to Reward Yourself Without Using Food

by Surabhi Aggarwal, RD, LDN

We all have moments when we want to reward ourselves with something or it may be an event that needs to be celebrated. Many times, this celebration or reward revolves around or involves some type of food. There is nothing wrong with this approach as long as we can be mindful of our choices.  Each goal and milestone deserves to be celebrated, just think outside the realm of food.non food rewards

As we adopt healthy eating behaviors, one strategy is to think about non-food rewards and celebrations. A reward can be anything that makes you happy, something you enjoy doing; it doesn’t always have to be a food item. For example, I enjoy photography and using my camera gives me immense pleasure but I do not get to do it “for fun” often. On my birthday, I am happier taking pictures with my family vs. going out for dinner. I would rather have a simple meal at home if it meant I could spend more time taking pictures. While on vacations, I can pass on the dessert, buffets, or food-related activities if that means I can take more pictures! Food isn’t necessary to make an occasion special for me; my camera is. Other activities that serve as rewards for me are hiking and shopping.

Think of activities you enjoy but aren’t able to do on a routine day. These can be used as a reward or on special occasions. It can be gardening, taking a nap, going out for a movie, calling a friend you haven’t spoken to in a while, etc. Keeping a list of some of these activities is a great way to pick something when you need to without falling back on a food-related reward because you couldn’t think of anything else in the moment. Print out our Non-Food Reward List to get you started.

What makes you happy when you need to reward yourself or celebrate? Share your ideas below.

182 More Steps a Day: A Participant’s Story of the NC Wellness Challenge

by Sarah Myer

Participating in team wellness challenges has been a great way to help me to remember to move before, during, and after the work day. Our walking team (Shamrock n’ Roll) recently won the latest NC Wellness Miles for Wellness walking challenge in the Super Hare division.  Each person walked 182 steps more a day than the members of the 2nd place team. That doesn’t seem like a lot of steps does it? But when I look back on where we started 1 1/2 years ago I realize that it was a lot more than 182 steps a day.

The first challenge our team participated in we placed 105th in the Super Hare Division. (Super Hare team members average 70,000 to 105,000 steps a week.)  We walked a total of 6,006,614 steps or 3,003 miles.

  • I walked 556,461 steps this challenge which averaged out to 9,900 steps a day.
  • I started to try to get in 2,000 steps a day at work. I took walking breaks. I emptied my recycling bin every day. I would walk to people’s desk to have conversations rather than respond via email. I tried to take the stairs more or take the long way back to my work space from a meeting.
  • My highest day was 23,420 steps when we helped my brother and his family move-in.
  • It only takes 131 steps to make cupcakes but it takes 7,500 steps to run around a playground with nieces/nephews for 2 hours.
  • My favorite steps from this challenge was a kayaking trip we did near Beaufort, NC. This walking challenge uses conversions for activities that are not walking. Activities such as gardening, biking, kayaking, and yoga convert into a pre-set amount of steps that the spreadsheet automatically calculates.

The second challenge our team placed 23rd in the Super Hare Division. Our team walked a total of 6,869,258 steps or 3,435 miles.

  • I walked 760,120 steps and averaged 13,574 steps.
  • I tried to get in at least 3,000 steps a day at work.
  • Highest step count was 23,959 steps. I spent 1 1/2 hours gardening/weeding and then spent the day packing and getting ready to spend Thanksgiving out of town.
  • I tried hot yoga during this challenge. That converted to a lot of steps and I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would.

This most recent challenge. Our team walked 8,398,687 steps. That’s approximately 4,199 miles!

  • I walked 802,740 steps this challenge and averaged 14,335 steps a day.
  • I tried to make sure I had hit 4,000 steps at work during the day.
  • There was one Saturday/Sunday where I walked a combined 49,532 steps. I was pretty tired by Sunday night from a hike, helping my parents move, helping neighbors with their landscaping/weeding, and walking our hound dog.
  • One of the reasons my step count for the most recent challenge was so high was I recently started adding at least 60 minutes of weight training to my exercise routine each week. That converted to a lot of steps. There was one day I hit 10,000 steps by 9am because I had done 60 minutes of weight training and walked the dog 2 miles before work!

If you are an employee of the State of North Carolina, the 17th Miles for Wellness walking challenge sign-up will start on August 28th. The 2017 Holiday Challenge will also be featuring another Racery virtual walking race this year. Looking forward to seeing you on the virtual trail!

An experiment: Fruit and Center

by Kelly Nordby, RD, LDN

PROBLEM:  Summertime boredom is definitely setting in at my house!  And that means grabbing whatever is quick and easy.  Most often this means choosing the less healthy, pre-packaged choices from the fridge or pantry.  I noticed this happening more and more with my family as there is a significant amount of mindless roaming-grabbing-eating-repeat happening, for sure! healthy snack

PURPOSE:  To try to encourage healthier choices, I decided to try a little experiment with my family by implementing one of the strategies to increase fruit and vegetable consumption covered in both the Eat Smart, Move More, Weigh Less and Eat Smart, Move More, Prevent Diabetes curriculums.  The title of this experiment is called “Fruit and Center” (a play on “Front and Center”)

METHODS: I embarrassingly had to clear out all of the onions and garlic cloves that had been migrating into the “fruit” bowl and replaced them with eye-catching seasonal fruit, like peaches, nectarines and red plums.  I then made the fruit bowl the star of the show on the counter so that the bowl was the only visual food item as you entered the kitchen.

RESULT:  Miraculously, when the kids came in from outside, hot, tired, and hungry, my daughter grabbed the first item that she could see, which was a peach.  Very shortly after, my son was enticed and selected a plum.  After “ooohs” and “aaaahhs” (ok, maybe it was more like a mouthful mumble resembling, “this is good, Mom”, but I’ll take it) about how delicious the fruit was, my husband and I joined the party!  I have had to replenish the bowl already once this week and I happy to report that the Cheese Itz box in the pantry remains unopened ?

CONCLUSION:  Making the healthy choice front and center to make it the easy choice encouraged the entire family to eat the fruit first before choosing other less healthy choices.  SUCCESS!!

 

 

 

How I Found the JOY in Being Active – By Riding a Bike Again

by Cathy Thomas

I have not many bought many bikes. I was recently faced with a couple of aging bikes at my parents house. They live in an area where biking is really easy with bike lanes and neighborhood streets. I decided to go to a nearby famous retail store to purchase new bikes. After making two fine selections, I pulled them out of the rack. I pushed the bikes from the back of the large store to the front to pay. The trip through the store was a great journey. I had the opportunity to meet and briefly chat with at least 10 strangers elderly-couple-riding-bicycleswho all wanted to comment on the bikes. Faces lit up and big smiles appeared. One lady came up as if we had been long lost friends to not only touch the bike but talk about how pretty is was and how she knew it would be great to take home. One salesperson exclaimed that she fully intended to buy one next spring. Persons would just gaze and smile hugely about the sight of a bike. Some folks said how lucky I was to have just purchased such a pretty bike. I should tell you that these bikes were the cheapest on the rack – nothing special. The sheer joy that I encountered was not due to any cutting edge fancy bike, but the plain Jane cruiser bike with no gears or air brakes.

What is it that resonates with all of these people that I encountered? I came to the conclusion that it brought back the joy of what it means to have a bike. We all remember that first experience of jumping on our bike as kids to be free and feel the wind in our face. Remember the freedom you felt of being able to ride with the wind.

You may remember this feeling from your youth. If so, go out and get yourself a bike and hop on, nothing comes back as easy as riding a bike. If not, it is never too late to relive your childhood. Find places in your community to ride such as trails, bike lanes or greenways. If you have children or grandchildren, take them with you. Grab your helmet and go!

 

My Favorite Green Smoothie Recipe

by Carolyn Dunn, PhD, RD, LDN

Google green smoothie and you will find multiple recipes for this green concoction. Green smoothies are a blend of fruits and vegreen-smoothie-300x300getables with a heavy dose of green leafy vegetables usually kale or Swiss chard.

My favorite recipe:

  • 1 pear
  • 1 cucumber
  • 1/8 of a fresh pineapple
  • 2 cups of raw kale

Be creative with your fruit and throw in your favorites like grapes or strawberries. You need a heavy blender (Vitamix) to pulverize this into a drink. This recipe makes 4 servings and is about 50 calories per serving.

Is it magical, no, but it is a great way to get a serving of greens. It is also easy to take on the go. I have one in my lunch box right now. If you have a strong blender, give them a try.

 

How to EASILY Meal Plan – My Attempt to Become a Simplified Meal Planner

by Madi Johnson

My husband and I used to fly by the seat of our pants when it came to weeknight dinners, often asking ourselves at 7pm “hmmm what’s for dinner” and most likely resorting to take-out. For the sake of our wallet and our waistlines,Cook this buy that chart I knew we needed to eat at home more and that meant having a plan ahead of time. So I took it one step at a time and slowing started meal planning. I began with just one dinner a week. Easy enough and laid the foundation. I got used to grocery shopping with a list– a list! and sticking to it. With that one meal, we would make a little extra and have leftovers for lunch the next day. Bam – two meals planned for the week. Then I increased it to planning two nights a week, and then three nights, and so on and so forth.

So what does this look like in real life? On Sunday evenings I spend 30 minutes max writing down our meals. I start with nights we already have plans- Tuesday we have a friend’s birthday dinner? No problem, cross off Tuesday. We both won’t be home until late on Thursday? That will be a crock pot meal. Then I fill in the gaps. I start with tried and true recipes that I know will be easy to throw together on a weeknight and I mix it up from chicken dishes, meatless dishes, and fish at least once a week. Sometimes it’s as simple as “chicken and veggies on the grill”.  I also try to incorporate ingredients we already have or use “overlapping” ingredients. For example, I know we won’t use a whole package of 3 romaine lettuce hearts for these Korean chicken lettuce wraps, so I plan to make a taco salad later in the week to use the rest.  I love finding and testing new recipes so I try to add in at least one new recipe per week. This new “Cook This, Buy That” meal planner/shopping list combo makes it super easy write it all down and keep it organized!

How do I find or remember recipes? Pinterest. I keep a “tried and true” board to help me remember dishes we have enjoyed. And I have created specific boards to easily find what I am looking for such as “Meatless Mains”, “Seafood”, and “Mexican-Inspired”. An important thing to remember about Pinterest, just because something claims it’s “healthy” does not always mean it is – make sure you read the ingredient list before pinning to your board. I also follow a few healthy bloggers, my favorite being Gina from Skinnytaste and I pull from her weekly emails as well as from her cookbook, Skinnytaste Fast & Slow.

Boom! No more than 30 minutes, honestly sometimes it takes 5 minutes, and our meals are planned for the week. The amount of money and calories this has saved us is astonishing. And it’s not always perfect, you never know what will pop up during the week, but it certainly helps us overall. I also try to keep it as e-a-s-y as possible, having fun with new recipes, and keeping a plan B in my back pocket just in case. If all else fails, we always have eggs in our fridge and that makes for a super quick dinner – just scramble and throw in spinach and/or any other veggies.

So there you have it! A little glimpse into the Johnson home and my meal planning ways. How do you like to meal plan? Favorite go-to recipes? Share below.