We all dread the annual winter sickness. It comes, usually without warning, and stays longer than we want. We’re sniffly, sneezy, achey and in general malaise for much longer than we can afford to be. Even when things start to clear up, we still don’t feel quite 100 percent. The thing is, all that can be avoided if we keep our immune system running to its fullest potential. In addition to regular, and I do mean regular exercise, the best way to stave off sickness is by making sure your body is running on the best fuel possible for the dark days and long nights of winter.
You don’t need 10 steps or 20 or even five to make sure you are eating the right things at the right times. Over at HealthCastle.com they narrowed it down to four simple, easy-to-remember tips to help you get properly fueled and free of colds, flus and all other annoying and clingy winter ailments. Please head over and check out their full article, but for now here are their four steps to eating properly this winter. Take special note of number three, and remember that we just did a post about exactly that! Here we go:
- Eat high-quality carbs: Listen to your cravings. There is a reason for them! In the winter, with fewer sunny hours, your stored serotonin (the “feel-good” brain chemical) starts to decline. Your cravings for carbohydrate-loaded comfort foods are your body crying for more serotonin. But be careful when choosing carbohydrates to boost serotonin! Opt for nutritious whole grains and choose high-quality carbs, such as sweet potatoes, pumpkins and squashes.
- Love seasonal produce: Winter produce may not be as exciting and colorful as summer berries, but there are still many healthy choices available. Work seasonal produce, including pomegranates, cranberries, citrus fruits, purple grapes and orange root vegetables, into your meals. You’ll not only add color to your plate, you’ll pack in some serious nutrition punch.
- Consider Vitamin D supplements: If you live in the northern hemisphere, consider taking vitamin D supplements. Numerous studies have shown that oral intake of vitamin D can reduce the risk of colon, breast and ovarian cancers by as much as 50 percent. Vitamin D can be found in fortified dairy products, fatty fish and egg yolks. But reaching the recommended level through food alone is rather difficult. Therefore, the Canadian Cancer Society recommends that all adults take vitamin D supplements every day during the fall and winter seasons. Be sure to speak to your doctor before starting any supplementation.
- Nourish your cold: No diet remedy or supplement has been scientifically proven to prevent cold and flu. However, studies have shown that vitamin C supplements may make your cold milder and shorten it by half a day. In addition, there’s a promising perk for yogurt lovers! A German study found that probiotics (as found in yogurt with active culture) may shorten your cold episode by almost two days. So keep on eating those “friendly bugs!”
It’s winter but it doesn’t have to be miserable. Before you know it, we’ll be posting about the glory of warm spring weather and how to avoid sunburn!
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DISCLAIMER ALERT: The ideas expressed in this post came out of my own head, were researched by my own eyes and were expressed by my own hands. They are not intended to serve as medical advice in any way, shape or form. And they do not reflect the views of Humana Inc. or any of its subsidiaries. I take full responsibility if you think this post is awesome or not awesome.
Anybody who has ever made an effort to be healthier knows that “health” is an elusive concept that isn’t easily achieved. Unhealthy habits and routines are hard to break.
Our consumer innovation team has been focused for the last two years on “making fun healthy.” The most successful “changes” are ones that fit naturally into a person’s life. They’re fun. They incorporate health into something people already enjoy doing. You can read more about our wellness philosophy here. Even in our own lives, we look for ways to take our normal “life-flow” and inject some health into it (like having walkstations on the floor, and having bikesharing to get from place to place downtown). I like to think about health-injected lifeflows as “micro-enablers” of good health.
But everyone’s lives have obstacles to health, too. For example, it tends to be both difficult and expensive to buy healthy food and prepare it. It is cheaper and easier to eat unhealthy food.
There are a lot of companies that have recognized the value of a healthier work force (Pitney Bowes is a great example), and are trying to make it easier for their employees to be healthy. Humana has an on-site health club that offers cheaper membership for people that go a lot (but not free – that’s another premise that’s worthy of a separate blog post). Our cafeteria always offers healthy choices, and sometimes they’re subsidized.
But in addition to enabling good health, lots of companies put up obstacles, too. I’m co-leading a “tweetchat” focused on workplace wellness, and it’s caused me to want to find a way to shine a light on the obstacles companies put up – and to tear them down.
A lot of corporate cultures frown on taking time out to do ANYTHING – even exercise, except maybe at lunch. A lot of corporate cultures emphasize clock-punching. Employees are expected to come in early, stay late and be on call at all times.
A lot of times the salad bar is one of the most expensive ways to eat in the cafeteria. That makes sense because fresh fruit and vegetables are expensive and perishable. But if you really want to encourage employees to eat better, you have to tip the scales financially in favor of veggies.
There are wellness programs, but they are almost always uninspired (payroll stuffers, anyone?) and difficult to find and use.
Wellness programs and incentives often aren’t connected to one another.
None of these problems are insurmountable. But they can aggregate into some pretty serious obstacles. I’m convinced that if companies got really serious about identifying and obliterating their micro-obstacles, they’d make giant strides in enabling – and even encouraging – a healthier and more engaged work force. The first step is identification. I’ve thought of a few things that I consider to be micro-obstacles to workplace wellness. What did I miss? What are the obstacles you’ve seen in your own work force? And what innovative things have you seen that overcome the obstacles? What would you like to see?
Photo by sokisoy
[Editor's note: The concept of "Micro-Obstacles" will be one of the topics on this month's CoHealth tweetchat on Wednesday, February 17th. CoHealth is a "workplace wellness cooperative" focused on health at work.]
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DISCLAIMER ALERT: The ideas expressed in this post came out of my own head, were researched by my own eyes and were expressed by my own hands. They are not intended to serve as medical advice in any way, shape or form. And they do not reflect the views of Humana Inc. or any of its subsidiaries. I take full responsibility if you think this post is awesome or not awesome.
In today’s challenging economy, it’s not unusual to know someone who’s facing tough times. I can think of at least three friends across the country who have either lost jobs due to downsizing or who are struggling with financial challenges.
When you add in financial worries to daily stress and family responsibilities, the potential for poor mental and physical health is even greater. For families, especially, it’s important to find strategies and activities that will help relieve stress before it leads to health problems.
According to Dr. Jon Crook, a licensed family therapist, there are key ways families can tackle financially challenging times:
Be Proactive: Start by acknowledging your financial situation clearly and truthfully to yourself. Do not dramatize, but do not minimize.
Identify What is Essential for Your Family: Be sure you define the “nice to haves” and “must haves.”
Identify Actions You Can Take: Focus on the things you can control, such as discretionary spending and your attitude.
Maintain a Healthy Lifestyle: Find activities that can help reduce stress and increase family interaction, like eating at home, hosting a family movie night, taking family hikes or playing board games.
Volunteer with Your Family: By learning about others’ struggles and seeing their gratitude, you help your family focus on the abundance of their lives and the importance of generosity and thankfulness in difficult times.
Don’t Be Afraid to Ask for Help
Most importantly, there’s no shame in seeking help. Reach out to family and friends, local support groups and churches. Additionally, companies like LifeSynch offer confidential 24-hour crisis counseling services to help their members deal with mounting anxiety and stress. A service like this might be offered through your company’s employee assistance program (EAP) at no cost to you. Financial information is also available through free work/life services offered through many employers.
Read the Full Article
Read the full article by Dr. Crook, who serves as clinical director for LifeSynch’s employee assistance program (EAP). LifeSynch is a Humana subsidiary providing behavioral healthcare for 10 million members.
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DISCLAIMER ALERT: The ideas expressed in this post came out of my own head, were researched by my own eyes and were expressed by my own hands. They are not intended to serve as medical advice in any way, shape or form. And they do not reflect the views of Humana Inc. or any of its subsidiaries. I take full responsibility if you think this post is awesome or not awesome.
