Old school = reading, writing and ‘rithmatic. New school = repurpose, recycle and reuse. By implementing some of these ‘going green’ ideas, you can make a positive impact on the environment as well as leave more green in your pocket.
Purchase Green Products
- While plastic and vinyl lunch boxes are reusable, they contain toxic chemicals and additives that have an adverse effect on the environment once in a landfill. Choose a reusable fabric lunch sack instead. Gym bags, backpacks and totes can all be made with organic hemp canvas, cotton blends and recycled rubber.
- Use mechanical pencils and refillable pens in lieu of the disposable alternatives.
- Avoid buying bleached white paper and switch to recycled or tree-free paper. Tree-free papers are made from hemp, denim and kneaf fibers and use no chlorine or chemicals. You can save even more money by buying lined paper in bulk instead of the 100-count spiral bound tablets.
- Buy products with the ‘post consumer plastic’ logo. You will find paperclips, rulers, scissors and other school supplies with this eco-friendly label.
Shop at Thrift Shops and Yard Sales
- School supplies like scissors, rulers, calculators, maps, etc. can be purchased at yard sales. You get a price break and it keeps someone else’s discards out of the landfill.
- Thrift shops are great places to find gently worn clothing and shoes as part of the back to school wardrobe.
Scavenge Your Home For School Supplies
- Is there an extra pair of scissors in the junk drawer? What about that ruler in the home office that no one uses? How about that extra calculator in your purse you rarely need? By turning these extra items lying around the home into this year’s school supplies you will avoid over buying and wasting school supplies.
By using these eco-conscious tips in your back-to-school planning you will find it neither drains your wallet or the Earth’s resources. If you would like to read my going back to school survival tips for kids, please check out my Healthy Back to School post on Diets in Review.
photo by: Muffet
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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.
I read an article the other day titled “Kentucky sets a healthy example for school lunches” about a food service director in Kenton County, Kentucky, who began phasing out junk food in the cafeteria.
I thought it was bold of
Ms. Gray, the director, to begin removing the unhealthy choices for the students and replacing them with improved healthier options. Schools tend to rely on outside vendors of junk food to aid revenues for the sports and arts programs. To remove these items was expected to be the equivalent of financial suicide.
Instead of losing money by providing the healthier options, such as oven baked sweet potato fries and 100 percent fruit juices, they actually increased revenues by 61 percent. That’s amazing! The kids not only substituted the less healthy options for nutritious things, but they wanted more of the good stuff.
The food service was able to take food traditionally thought of as “junk food” and make it healthy. There’s a lot of debate around the school lunch program right now and how to improve healthy options. What are your thoughts? Do we keep junk food in the schools or do we encourage vendors to provide only healthy options for the kids?
photo by: Mary Thompson
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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.
I have been fortunate enough to work on a program designed to show kids how much fun and how easily fitness can be integrated into their daily schedules. Sponsored by The Humana Foundation and developed by the Humana Games for Health (HG4HTM) team within Humana’s Consumer Innovation Center, the program is designed to help combat childhood obesity in elementary and middle school aged children.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, childhood obesity has tripled over the past 20 years with 34 percent of American children currently overweight and 13 percent being obese. Overweight and obese children with poor diet and sedentary lifestyles face increased risk of diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, asthma, joint problems and an overall poor health status — problems historically associated with much older adults.
The success of the program can be attributed to the merging of video gaming with physical activity. The program translates steps walked into an online race where students compete against other schools in their challenge. Kids already play video games so integrating physical activity into an online game keeps the kids interested in playing. The participants wear a pedometer that automatically uploads their activity into the online game every time they pass by the access point placed in their school. The more steps you take, the more points accumulate that you can trade to ‘purchase’ accessories for your avatar like hats, scuba masks, tiaras, bling necklaces, etc. Each student at a school is on a team to see who can log the most steps, which power a virtual school bus around the world. As the class logs aggregate steps, these points can be used to ‘purchase’ upgrades for their school bus.
What makes The American Horsepower ChallengeSM unique is that 20 members of Congress from 14 states nationwide were honorary participants with the 67 schools and 1,585 children from their districts.
The success of the program, which began April 20 and ended May 29, is in the numbers. Together, the kids and Congressional members walked 132.34 million steps – 50,129 miles or twice the circumference of the Earth!
Another remarkable statistic is that students increased their activity 58 percent during the challenge over their normal activity level. This increase in activity is equivalent to walking 4,579 miles, the roundtrip distance from Washington, D.C. to Bakersfield, Calif., or burning 205,623 calories – the same caloric content as in 709 slices of pepperoni pizza!
Congratulations to the winning schools – Midland, Deer Lakes, Franklin Regional, Beaver Falls and Hopewell Memorial middle schools of Rep. Jason Altmire’s Pennsylvania 4th district. The schools walked 14.8 million steps, walked 5,637 miles and burned 253,133 calories. The district increased their physical activity 32 percent during the challenge over their normal activity level. This is equivalent to walking roundtrip between Philadelphia and Austin two times or the same caloric content as 1,206 chocolate bars!
The winning schools will each receive a $5,000 grant for health-related purposes from The Humana Foundation.
Additional congratulations to Rep. Geoff Davis of Kentucky’s 4th district for placing first in the step count competition among the 20 Congressional participants. Davis had 162,738 steps or the equivalent of walking 61.6 miles.
With a proven track record, the Horsepower ChallengeSM program is a great way to introduce healthy activity in a non-invasive manner into the classroom. As physical education requirements are reintroduced into the curriculum or as a health maintenance option, the Horsepower ChallengeSM keeps kids moving.
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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.
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Operation Planet Savers has three Grand Prize winners! These three winners, along with a parent or guardian, will travel to LA on July 18 to attend the G-Force movie premiere at Hollywood’s El Capitan Theater on July 19. But that’s not all! Once at the theater, our winners will walk the red carpet in style, and be interviewed by Radio Disney.
To finish off the fun-filled weekend, our winners will tour LA’s Radio Disney studio on July 20. Once at the studio, they’ll get a sneak peek at what goes on behind the scenes; everything from viewing the inner workings of the studio to hanging out with the Radio Disney DJ.
And now, for the moment you’ve all been waiting for…our Grand Prize winners! Operation Planet Savers’ Grand Prize winners are:
· Agent HayHay
· Agent BlueBlue
· Agent B_lover_101
Congratulations, agents! Get your bags packed for LA; it’s going to be a great trip!
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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.
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Thanks to the tremendous amount of fun and excitement around completing and creating missions, as well as winning awesome prizes, OPS gameplay will continue for another month, and you know what that means: more missions, more prizes, and tons more fun!
But this version of OPS isn’t for amateurs. Ladies and gentlemen, meet OPS: Master Series. Beginning June 29, OPS: Master Series encourages rookie and veteran agents alike to master the top four agent skill levels:
· Electro Master: Master of Technology
· Dragon Master: Master of Martial Arts
· Hidden Master: Master of Reconnaissance
· Complete Master: Master Mind and Strategy
Like the original version of OPS, the Master Series missions consist of physical and mental challenges that require real-world activity. Every Monday and Thursday, missions will be released and available on the Missions page beginning June 28 through July 26. Agents can complete missions for points and virtual prizes, or create their own if none of our missions strike their fancy.
Wondering how you can register your child for
OPS: Master Series? Agents who are currently playing OPS are automatically eligible for the Master Series; no additional sign up required! New agents, however, must ask their parents for permission to play, and then
sign up online.
Upon registering, every agent will be automatically entered in a drawing to win either an 8G iPod Touch or Nintendo DSi. One agent will be randomly selected to win each week, from June 29 – July 26. Winners will be contacted via phone and e-mail within 24 hours of the drawing.
Parents, thank you for making the first month of OPS so successful. If you have any mission ideas, mental missions, or would like to give us feedback on OPS and advice for our Master Series, we’d love to hear from you! You can respond to this blog post, or send us an e-mail at
humanagames.com. We hope you and your family are ready to enjoy another great month of OPS activity!
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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.
