Slow Food is the New Fast Food - Menu Makeover

Each year C2 Your Health LLC conducts a cooking class for the American Heart Association Go Red for Women Michiana BetterU Makeover Challenge which will be held this year May 8th. The Challenge is a 12 week program guiding 12 women through the struggles and successes as a result of developing strategies that work to lasting healthy behavior change for themselves and their families. This year the BetterU Challenger hail from Elkhart General Hospital.

The goal of a cooking class is to demonstrate fast food does not only exist at the drive through window. I am not so sure fast food is really that fast.  Think about this for a minute. Be the time you decide where to go to pick up food, get in your car, drive to the restaurant, order, then be served and drive home 30 – 45 minutes has passed. In the same amount of time you could have enjoyed a relaxing home cooked healthy meal with your family. 

The Michiana BetterU Challengers learned how to fight fast food with slow food (home cooked natural) by participating in an interactive healthy cooking class. You may have heard of the Slow Food Movement designed to combat the thinking that fast food is the only choice. 

The Slow Food Movement, like the American HeartAssociation focuses on choosing healthier food options. There is confusion about what healthy food is and where it comes from. To add to the confusion is media messages telling us home cooking is it is more expensive, takes too much time and has the same level of nutrition as manufactured foods. This is simply is not true. 

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 Your partner in health,

Cindy Cohen RN
Certified Health Coach
Wellness Consultant
C2 Your Health LLC
Health-E 4 Life Worksite Wellness

Healthy Life - Derailed?

According to Statistic Brain 45% of you made New Year’s Resolutions and by the end of January 71% of you have already forgotten about them.  Those of you who did make resolutions 85% of the resolutions included a resolution to improve health.  In fact the top 10 resolutions included losing weight, stay fit and healthy and quit smoking.  I am sure you have already noticed it’s easy to get derailed from your healthy life goals. So what derailed you?

Getting derailed from your goals generally happens with the occurrence of any big life change.  The more challenging the event the more thrown off track you become.  Perhaps a wedding or divorce has derailed your healthy eating plan. Maybe the birth of a child or a death in the family has thrown you off course. A major move to a new house or city may have derailed your from your fitness schedule.  The truth is that nearly everyone occasionally gets derailed.    

The first step is to notice you have become derailed.  Until you notice what’s happening you will continue to move further and further away from your goals.  Once you notice you are derailed you must get back on track as soon as possible. Being thrown off track for even a week or a month is certainly easier to recover from than unhealthy habits that go on for years. The second step is to forgive yourself.  Life happens!  It’s never too late to refocus and start fresh. 

Whatever the reason you became derailed, take the steps to get going in the right direction again. Remember you are your business. You don’t want your health to become your Number 1 priority because when it does, your business takes the back seat.  Just like you plan for success in your business you need to plan for success in your health and wellness. 

Take a few minutes to answer these critical questions to help get back on track: 

• What is the problem? How did I get derailed from my healthy lifestyle habits?
• Moving forward what is the most important course of action to take?
• Taking small steps towards my personal health goals what is a reasonable timeline? 
•  Who do I know who can help me develop strategies to stick to my plan?

As with all journeys this is about choices - you can CHOOSE to eat healthy and be fit which is best for you, or you can choose unhealthy behaviors that cause you to continue feel stressed, tired and eventually too sick to work.

To tackle the challenges consider the following:

• Anticipate challenges and plan for them. 

• Make a routine and follow it.  Routines become habits. The healthier your habits become the closer you will come to vitality.

• Schedule success. Mark your calendar the days you will be meal planning and your fitness routine.

• Be mindful. Keep your healthy life goals right in front of you.  Post on your refrigerator the new ChooseMyPlate.gov eating guidelines, refer back to it when choosing foods to eat.

• Let yourself off the hook.  Forgive yourself and move forward.

• Most importantly stay the course.  Developing healthy habits is a process not a onetime event. You are in it for the long haul. Just think, if you could make just one healthy life change and do it every day that will equal 365 healthy habits over 1 year. 

Seeking help from a health and wellness expert will take the guesswork out of healthy life planning. Most importantly hiring a health coach will help with accountability and strategizing for success. 

It's important not to get derailed by poor health experienced by you, a family member or an employee. No matter what size your business is, you can't afford it.

Your partner in health,

 

Cindy Cohen RN

Certified Health Coach

Wellness Cosultant

C2 Your Health LLC

This article was first published in Small Biz Forward magazine. To follow click here

Job Stress and Heart Disease

February is American Heart Month bringing into focus all things about heart disease. One question I have not heard answered is "Can my job stress cause me to have a heart attack?" The short answer is "Yes". Surprised? Let's take a quick  look at why that is. This question of is stress at work was explored in February's edition of  Wellness Wednesday Getting Healthier Every Week where experts weighed in about job stress and health.

WebMD published Is Your Job Wrecking Your Heart? How job stress may affect your heart's health, and what you can do about it where they reported since the U.S. unemployment rate high, most people today are happy just to have a job and a regular paycheck. Add to this the 2013 State of the American Workplace Report who estimates 70% of Americans are disinterested and unhappy at work.

The Right Management, a subsidiary ManpowerGroup,  released a snapshot survey that underlines the dissatisfaction among American workers including feeling stuck in their jobs and unable to consider a career move even if they’re unhappy.

In fact, the American Psychological Association’s 2010 Stress in America Survey found that work is cited as 1 of the top 3 contributors to stress, second only to worries about money and followed closely by fear about the state of the economy.  

You might be asking yourself "What does all this stress have to do with heart disease?" 

 

Job stress puts pressure on the heart by raising blood pressure, heart rate, and even cholesterol levels. When you are under job stress you may have the tendency to reduce your attentiveness to healthful lifestyle choices, increasing likelihood of risky behaviors like over eating, smoking, drinking alcoholic beverages and sleeplessness, which all exacerbate known risk factors for cardiac disease. These unhealthy behaviors leads to obesity and type 2 diabetes.When you have diabetes, you are at least twice as likely as someone who does not have diabetes to have heart disease or a stroke.

 

What can you do?

 

When it comes to stress the answer is very individual. It's a trial and error until you find the strategy that works for you. Here is what WebMD has to say:

• Add cardiovascular exercise, such as running, biking or brisk walking.
• Try yoga, tai chi, massage and / or meditation.
• Change your point of view, take a fresh look.
• Focus on healthy behaviors such as eating heart healthy and stop smoking.

To read the full article click here

Your heart will thank you.

Your partner in health,

 

 

Cindy Cohen RN, BS BA

Certified Health Coach

Wellness Consultant

C2 Your Health LLC

Health-E 4 Life Worksite Wellness

Dispite Research Belief Remains Workplace Wellness Does Not Save Money But They Are Wrong

The conventional believe continues to be workplace wellness programs do not save company's money despite what the current research demonstrates. Many believe the return on investment is very low if at all. In fact the belief is it takes as long as 3 years to demonstrate any savings or employee health improvements.

Where does this belief come from? It was true in the past, but not any more. Why was it true?

It was true based on how wellness programs were delivered. In past the focus of wellness programing had been on trying to get the sick people healthy. This is known as disease management and not easy to do. To provide a disease management service requires persistent monitoring from a health coach, a close relationship with the primary care physician, medical specialists, medical testing, and pharmaceutical intervention. This requires a great deal of time and expense.

Previously when wellness programing was offered to the entire employee population improved health had not been required. These programs are fun, some get healthy but most do not.

Despite popular belief there is a good return on investment for wellness programs.  A recent study published February 2014 by Digital Access Harvard Review (DASH) Workplace Wellness Programs Can Generate Savings demonstrates this in their report:

•  medical costs fall about $3.27 for every dollar spent

• absentee day costs fall by about $2.73 for every dollar spent

The environment is changing. Results oriented wellness programing is available, although according to Wellness Councils of America only 5% of companies in this country is results oriented, the other 95% are not. New research is underway to focus on results such as improved health and return on investment. Our best advise is to look for a qualified wellness consultant to help you find results oriented wellness options. 

Your partner in health,

Cindy Cohen RN, BS BA

Certified Health Coach

Wellness Consultant

C2 Your Health LLC

Health-E 4 Life Worksite Wellness

Employees with High Blood Pressure Jeopardize Your Bottom Line

We are off to a new year with higher sales goals, bigger and better business plans and of course more personal and business related stress. You may be surprised to know medical studies suggest cell phones raise blood pressure along with anger and stress increasing your risk of stroke and heart attack.

With National Heart Month is just around the corner so now is a great time to start thinking your blood pressure and your wellness. 

If you think what you don't know won't hurt you, then you are dead wrong. High blood pressure is known as the Silent Killer because you generally will not experience an signs or symptoms to let you know you have high blood pressure. This is what makes it so dangerous to you. 

You may KNOW this ...

If you have high blood pressure are at risk of heart attack, stroke, heart failure, and renal failure. Untreated high blood pressure even shortens your lifespan and can happen at any age. Even children are being diagnosed with high blood pressure. 

You may NOT know this ...

• 47% of us have high blood pressure according to the Center for Disease Control Blood Pressure Facts.
• 25% are diagnosed with high blood pressure as reported in the study published in the January issue of the journal Circulation: Cardiovascular and Quality Outcomes in December.
• High blood pressure is the 1st leading cause of death in the U.S. and stroke is the 3rd leading cause of death. 
• 10 % recover almost completely, 25 % recover with minor impairments and 40 % moderate to severe impairments requiring special care. 

What will it cost you and your company? 

Sick day pay, missed work days, productivity and disability are just the start. Here is what the National Stroke Association projects as the lifetime medical costs: 

$147,525 average medical costs  

$5,392 yearly cost of medications 

$17,081 inpatient rehabilitation 1 year

$98,350 outpatient rehabilitation

The National Stroke Association data shows that with simple steps, lifestyle changes and minor medical treatment, 80% of strokes can be prevented. For this reason we recommend your company sponsor Wellness Clinics to identify who is at risk, provide medical intervention and continuous disease prevention wellness education. Blood Pressure Clinics along with a Obesity Prevention Program in the form of a series of educational exposures, health coaching, cooking classes, supermarket teaching and periodic weight checks are provided reduce medical spending and improves presenteeism. 

To begin your company's program consult with the National Institutes of Health who have developed Prevent and Control America’s High Blood Pressure new program Mission Impossible  a website which includes fact sheets on healthy activities in English and Spanish, posters for businesses, lists of potential community partners, and recommendations for action in employee populations. 

This leaves us with the question "what will it cost my employer if I get sick?" A better question might be "can my company survive after paying for my illness." If the answer is unsure, then seek the help of a wellness expert to get your company on the road to better health before it's too late. Health is either a pay now program via prevention or pay later with medical treatment. It's smart for business to pick the

low cost option which is wellness programing.

Your partner in health,

 

Cindy Cohen RN, BS BA

Certified Health Coach

Wellness Consultant

C2 Your Health LLC

Health-E 4 Life Worksite Wellness

Worksite Wellness: Guys All Aboard

 

Let’s face it. We all think it. Men are just not interested in their health. It’s not “manly”.  Really? This stereotypical view of men is they are not interested in improving their health is on its way out. More and more men are interested in what they can do to develop a healthy lifestyle.   However there is a great divide between wanting to do something and actually putting it into practice.  Wanting a healthier life will not make it happen.  This is true at home and at work. 

So what’s the hold up? Men have a different sense about the world than women for this reason it's important to note the barriers to engaging in healthy practices are different for men than women when developing wellness programing especially if there are more men than women where you work. 

One of the most commonly asked questions people ask when they start a wellness program at a worksite that is predominately men is usually 'how do you get men to come along?'

To start it's important to identify what those barriers are at your workplace when deciding on wellness programing.  In the article Big Lottery Fund: Engaging Men in Your Project: A Good Practice Guide the author states the most common barriers noted are men are less inclined to seek out help, have a fear of disapproval such as being seen as not "manly" and in some situations feel "unwelcomed".

For worksites that are predominately men then programing needs to overcome these barriers to increase work-site wellness engagement and participation.  When considering programing consider interacting with men through peer networks and influencing partnerships in connection to activities men enjoy such as sporting events, festivals, family fun days, and community events. It is also important to include influential partners and family members to influence men's health wellness decisions and to get medical problems checked out. Include family members in the educational programing, health screening information, and nurse answer hotlines to support them. Here are some other ideas... 

1. Team challenges are becoming more popular in the work place. It is a call to engage in a contest or competition with a health wellness focus. Teams compete against each other for prizes or rewards.
2. Sport is increasingly being recognized as an effective way to engage men and boys in practices that can enhance their health and wellbeing. Partner with local sports team, youth team or create sports teams.
3. Social connections such as Facebook and Twitter are great ways to increase engagement by raising awareness for employees and their families. 
4. Movember is a men's health movement connected to an event involving the growing of moustaches during the month of November to raise awareness of men's health issues, such as prostate cancer and other male cancers, and associated charities. You can join this movement or make your own. 
5. Celebrate Men’s Health Week the seconded week in June to engage men in healthy activities, develop an appropriate understanding of what factors are affecting their health, services that  encourage the use of the local resources.   

In an article How to Get Men to Participate in Worksite Wellness Programs written by Lisa Stoval the recommendation is to "... piggyback your wellness efforts on this popular health campaign and bring attention to men's health issues at your worksite. Like most wellness efforts, you have a better chance of reaching men if you develop a program that is specifically targeted to them." 

Engaging men in healthy behaviors at work has many benefits; most importantly it just makes sense. 

Your partner in health,

Cindy Cohen RN, BS BA

Wellness Consultant