Corporate Fitness and Active Aging

This blog was written by Mechelle Meadows. Meet our blogging fitness specialists at the NIFS website.

Portion sizes can be tricky. Your employees have probably heard before that a serving size of meat is similar to a deck of cards. Or a serving of cheese is equivalent to four dice.

It's Easy to Dish Up Too Much Food

However, when you’re loading up that plate at dinner time, your hungry stomach can you fool you into thinking that one serving of meat should look more like three decks of cards than just one. Measuring by ounces or cups can be even trickier. One cup of pasta constitutes an entire serving, but chances are our plates are full from edge to edge with noodles.

Ways to Visualize Smaller Portions

One diet tip I’ve read before is to start using smaller dinner plates—that way, your plate will look full with less food.

To even better visualize proper portion sizes, try using a portion-control plate. These fancy meal inventions have outlines or even full illustrations depicting how much of your plate should be filled with each food group. They come in different versions for adults, children, and even diabetic populations. The most common version illustrates that half of your plate should be filled with fruits and vegetables, leaving one-fourth of the plate for a lean meat or protein and another fourth for whole grains.

Now, say you do a lot of entertaining in your home, and you want a more sophisticated look for your dinner plates. I’ve now seen portion-control plates that are subtly designed, using a floral pattern for example, to still show you the outline of where your foods should be fitting!

Starting with dishware, we can introduce tools into the household to make dinners easier and healthier. Emphasize the importance of portion control in your corporate health and wellness program.

This blog was written by Lisa Larkin. Meet our blogging fitness specialists at the NIFS website.

What is gluten? It’s a protein found in wheat that causes severe indigestion problems. Gluten is in so many of our favorite foods and is hard to avoid. Although the thought of a gluten-free diet doesn’t sound fun to most, it's becoming more popular in younger generations.

A gluten-free diet is used to treat celiac disease. Gluten causes inflammation in the small intestines of people with celiac disease. Even people without the disease can find benefit in eliminating gluten from their diets. Most people who take on a gluten-free diet are getting more fruits and vegetables and eating less processed foods, which is a good thing.

The signs and symptoms of gluten intolerance do not sound fun. These signs and symptoms include bloating, diarrhea, cramping, and constipation. Always having an upset stomach will definitely make it easier to go gluten free.

There are more gluten-free products to choose from now that it’s becoming more popular. Stores like Whole Foods provide gluten-free shopping. You would be surprised at all they have on the market: pastas, breads, beer, and more. Carefully read the food labels because some gluten-free foods can be higher in calories.

Going gluten-free can’t be all that bad for you; Oprah gave up gluten on a cleansing diet. Gluten is fairly indigestible, so eliminating it might help with stomach issues in all of us. Some doctors still recommend that you go gluten free to solve signs and symptoms, even if you test negative for celiac disease.

Corporate Health and Wellness: How is your onsite cafeteria incorporating healthier food choices, including gluten-free, into its corporate wellness program? 

This blog was written by Mechelle Meadows. Meet our blogging fitness specialists at the NIFS website.

With a culture that is on the go constantly, and whose entertainment consists of watching hot dog speed-eating contests, how do we reinforce the truth that eating more slowly can fend off obesity?

The Benefits of Eating Slowly

The benefits of slower eating are twofold:

• Firstly, it takes around 20 minutes for the brain to signal to the stomach that it’s full. If we’re eating our entire meal in five minutes, the stomach doesn’t get that signal until it’s too late to stop eating.
• Secondly, the more time we take eating our meal, the more conscious we are of what and how much food is going into our bodies.

Slowing down the pace of eating ties into the concept of mindful eating. By this, we mean that we are eating with the intention of fueling the body as well as finding some enjoyment in the foods. Gulping down meals doesn’t leave a lot of room for the satisfaction of actually tasting the food and enjoying the flavors. It’s not healthy to leave a meal so full that you feel sick and are uncomfortable in your clothes. When you slow down, you can better gauge the point of “satisfied” and avoid crossing the line to “stuffed.”

How Corporate Wellness Programs Can Help

One thing corporate health and wellness programs can do to assist in the matter is to make sure employees don’t always have rushed lunches. Sure, there may be days where a meeting-booked employee has to eat on the run, but companies should take a look to see whether rushed eating is the norm in their workplace.

Stress to your corporate wellness clients to use the full hour lunch break and avoid working and eating simultaneously if avoidable. Even taking a few minutes to breathe and de-clutter the mind before eating can remind someone to slow down and savor meals—thus putting thought into eating, saving money in healthcare, and sparing extra pounds on the body.

This blog was written by Lisa Larkin. Meet our blogging fitness specialists at the NIFS website.

We have been told for years to stay out of the sun because of its aging effect on our skin and bodies. Finally, there's a benefit to being out in the sun and eating lots of sushi! Sunshine and salmon are the two best sources of vitamin D. You may want to reconsider a little bit of sunshine to prevent some common diseases as people age.

The Carotenoids in Age-Related Eye Disease Study, CAREDS, was performed to research the 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels in the blood. These levels were associated with early development of age-related macular degeneration, which is a common cause of eyesight loss in the elderly.

Studies have also found that vitamin D is linked to reducing the risks of Alzheimer’s, depression, bone fractures, multiple sclerosis, lupus, fibromyalgia, diabetes, heart disease, and several major cancers. Aging can be scary, but I think we need to be more aware of our vitamin D intake.

You heard it right: It’s okay to sit in the sun (with sunscreen, of course) for a little bit. And it’s okay to treat yourself to a nice seafood dinner.

Check with your corporate health and wellness team for more information about how to incorporate vitamin D into your diet.

This blog was written by Penny Pohlmann. Meet our blogging fitness specialists at the NIFS website.

Have you ever thought about hiring a personal trainer? When choosing a personal trainer to work with, you should feel confident that the person you're hiring is not only qualified but is someone who will listen to you and your specific goals when it comes to exercising and improving your health.

You may be surprised to know that some certifying organizations do not require a formal education in the field of health and fitness to sit for their personal training exam. Now, this is not true of all certifications. But there are so many certifying bodies out there; how do you know which ones are reputable?

Recognized Fitness Organizations

Here is a list of organizations that are recognized by the NCCA, a group that evaluates and measures organizations' professional competence, as certifying organizations that meet its Standards for the Accreditation of Certification Programs.

• American College of Sports Medicine
• American Council on Exercise
• National Academy of Sports Medicine
• National Strength and Conditioning Association
• International Fitness Professionals Association
• The Cooper Institute

Making Sure Your Corporate Fitness Manager Is Qualified

Want to ensure your employee health and fitness program is staffed with qualified personnel? When interviewing a trainer to hire, he or she should maintain at least one certification from one of the organizations listed above. Additionally, he or she should also be able to produce a current copy of his or her CPR/AED certifications. These guidelines should help you determine who and what is the best fit for you and your fitness needs.

This blog was written by Penny Pohlmann, MS. Meet our blogging fitness specialists at the NIFS website.

For as long as I can remember, the national nutrition recommendations have been visible on a pyramid-shaped icon. However, the era of the pyramid has come to an end.

On June 2, with the help of First Lady Michelle Obama, the USDA introduced a new nutritional icon, MyPlate, which will replace MyPyramid. Part of the change to a new icon was inspired by a need for a more simple and easy-to-interpret guide for Americans.

How Is MyPlate Different Than MyPyramid?

Besides the shape of the icon, what else has changed? Check out these changes represented in the updated nutritional icon and recommendations:

• The former Meat and Bean group is now referred to as Protein.
• The group once called Milk is now represented on the icon by a blue circle called Dairy.
• The former group Sugars, Fats or Oils, which once represented a small sliver on the pyramid, is not even represented on the MyPlate icon. However, once you visit the new site, ChooseMyPlate.gov, you’ll see a link for Oils and Empty Calories.
• The MyPlate icon does not reference physical activity formerly seen on the pyramid. However, once you visit the website you will see physical activity is still recommended as part of a healthy lifestyle.

Want to help bring attention to the new icon? The USDA is encouraging consumers who are putting MyPlate recommendations into practice by asking them to share photos of their plates on Twitter with the hashtag #myplate or on the USDA Flickr photo group.

Corporate Wellness with MyPlate at Work

How can employers use the new icon in corporate health and wellness programs to spur healthy changes? Here are some ideas:

• Initiate corporate health and wellness by assisting your employees in becoming familiar with the new icon by posting it in your cafeteria, wellness center, break rooms, or newsletters.
• Choose one of the selected messages the USDA has identified as a starting point to guide your employees toward making healthier nutritional choices.
• Host Lunch and Learns led by health educators or nutritional experts who can educate your employees on the makeup of a healthy, balanced diet.

This blog was written by Veronica Hofmann. Meet our blogging fitness specialists at the NIFS website.

Many of you have probably heard or read the buzz about the FDA considering a ban on artificial food coloring. There have been warnings of these dyes possibly contributing to ADHD in children. Many parents claim that after their children ingest the dye their behavior changes. The FDA recently voted not to ban these dyes, stating they need to research further as to the possible connection between the dye and hyperactivity.

Many parents are surprised by this decision—mostly the health conscious who realize that any ingredient that is not natural is just not good for our children. The problem is that most parents who feed their children a diet of whole foods stay away from products that include these dyes already. But there are many people who don’t realize the importance of a proper diet. This makes me think that the bigger problem is education on proper diet, not singling out one specific item.

This leads me to the question of whether or not we want the government making decisions on our food. In my opinion it would be a good thing because as a mother who tries her best to keep artificial colors out of my child’s diet there is absolutely no way to control this when they are at school, with friends or grandparents—often the worst offenders! No, I am not in favor of governmental control; but if the ingredient is not doing anything good and is found in kid friendly, cheap, and easily accessible foods, it may not be a bad thing to have it banned from the market.

Will this ever happen? Who knows? So in the meantime it is important to spread the word about healthy diets for everyone! We should start focusing on what to eat rather than what not to eat, and try to make the best nutrition decisions we can. I cringe when my little one bites into a ridiculously colored cake, cupcake, or candy but it is not a normal occurrence so until it is banned we will have to be flexible and pray it does not cause a complete meltdown.

This topic would be a great conversation starter for your worksite wellness program. Get the chatter started and it will travel.

This blog was written by Kara Gootee-Robinson. Meet our blogging fitness specialists at the NIFS website.

Every May our NIFS Fitness Management staff celebrates National Employee Health and Fitness Month with celebrations at our client sites. The creative staff implements activities that encourage employees to be active in different ways while promoting their onsite fitness centers.

Here are some examples of the different ways the NIFS staff celebrated this past month.

• Food: Who doesn’t enjoy a free snack? Some staff chose to provide healthy snack options for their members. Healthy trail mixes are always a hit, or try something really different like Black Bean Brownies! Simply replace the oil and egg with a can of pureed Black Beans for more fiber! Trust me, they were moist and delicious!
• Quick Challenges: Participants like to try new things that are quick and easy. How about a push-up challenge? Members were entered into a drawing for participating. Other ways to incorporate quick, heart-pumping activities include hula hoop, jump rope, a timed plank challenge, or even fun on the Nintendo Wii.
• Stretch/Relaxation Breaks: Remember that all aspects of wellness are important. Manage your stress with relaxation breaks. One NIFS manager provided a dark, quiet area where members could sit and relax to music while another NIFS manager provided stretch breaks outside in the sun.
• Treadmill Marathons: Those hearts will pump along with the treadmill! Treadmill marathons are always a hit. Simply dedicate a treadmill, decorate it, and see how many miles can be completed by different members in a day! You would be amazed at what those active employees can complete!
• Health and Wellness Fairs: With some advanced planning, provide a health fair for your employees! Bringing in outside vendors, doctors, and drugstores such as CVS or Walgreens to help provide a variety of screenings for your employees. This is also a great way to promote your corporate fitness center. The NIFS staff was able to provide membership information and reach out to employees who weren't using the onsite fitness center.

These are just a few of the great ways employee health was celebrated in May. NIFS is the preferred provider for fitness center management in corporations across the U.S. Contact us to find out how we might work together to make your fitness center a healthy success.

This blog was written by Dan Walker. Meet our blogging fitness specialists at the NIFS website.

Fasting is an ancient practice that is observed in nearly every religion and culture around the world. While many view it primarily as a spiritual discipline, numerous health benefits have been proposed as well. These range from helping to lower blood pressure and cholesterol to the detoxification of the body. While many medical professionals and average people advocate fasting in some form, many others disagree.

Like many “alternative therapies” practiced throughout the world today, the jury still seems to be out on fasting and its health benefits. Many claim that it can help reverse diabetes, high blood pressure, and cholesterol; improve the immune system; and help the body heal itself in numerous ways. Others claim that none of these things is proven and that fasting can actually be detrimental to one’s health.

Proposed Benefits of Fasting

Today I take a look at the benefits that those who are in favor of fasting have either witnessed or experienced themselves. In a future post, I'll address the opposite viewpoint.

• Detoxification: Detoxification is one of the most notable benefits of fasting that proponents mention. Those who support it say that since many of the toxins we store in our bodies are stored in fat, and more fat is burned during a multiday fast, it can serve as a way to help detoxify the body. It is believed to give the body rest and allow it to use for detoxification the energy normally used digesting food.
• Longevity: Another interesting idea is that fasting can actually help promote a longer life. Numerous studies in animals have found that subjects that periodically fasted and followed lower-calorie diets in the trials lived longer than their counterparts.
• Lower risk of diseases: A relationship between fasting and a lower risk for diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, and Alzheimer’s has also been found. Fasting proponents point to this as evidence that fasting directly leads to these health benefits, while opponents hold that though they are correlated, it doesn’t necessarily mean one causes the other.

Next time we’ll look at fasting and weight loss, a method many have tried over the years.

What's Your View on the Health Benefits of Fasting?

In the meantime, though, what’s your story? Have you ever fasted for physical or spiritual reasons, and if so, what was the outcome? There seem to be many on both sides of the fence when it comes to fasting.

This blog was written by Penny Pohlmann, MS. Meet our blogging fitness specialists at the NIFS website.

We pretty much know that fruit is healthy for us, right? It’s a great source of vitamins, minerals, fiber, and disease-fighting antioxidants that are essential for health. Did you also know that the number of servings that ChooseMyPlate (the USDA replacement for the food guide pyramid) recommends we consume is up to 2 cups? You, like me, probably don’t meet those recommendations every day, do you?

Whether it’s the cost, storage, or preparation, eating fruit is not always simple. That’s why many of us turn to fruit juice as a way to cover all our nutritional bases.

One Study Finds Health Benefits of Fruit Juice

So does fruit juice provide the same nutritional benefits as whole fruit? Yes and no (don’t you love that answer?). A study conducted at UC Davis found that consuming 100 percent fruit juice “could have protective healthy benefits similar to those of whole fruits.”

It is important to note that the study tested 100 percent fruit juice. Many of the fruit juices available at the grocery store contain only a small percentage of fruit and plenty of added sugar and other chemicals. This means you’re also getting a lot more calories from a serving of juice than you would if you had just eaten a piece of fresh fruit.

Whole Fruit Makes You Feel More Full

If you have ever tried to lose weight before, you’ve probably heard that an easy way to reduce your calorie intake is to reduce the number of calories you get from drinks. Additionally, eating a whole apple is going to provide much more satiety on a reduced-calorie diet than an eight-ounce glass of apple juice.

Why is the apple so much more satisfying? Part of the feeling of fullness it creates is the fiber content that comes from the skin of the apple. The skin on fruits like grapes, apples, cranberries, and pears get left out of the mix when these fruits are used to make juice.

If you are looking to ensure that you’re getting all the vitamins, minerals, and health benefits supplied by fruits, 100 percent fruit juice can be a healthy option. But I wouldn’t rely on fruit juice to replace whole fruit all the time.

Ask a Registered Dietician

Does your corporate wellness program provide your employees access to a registered dietician? There is a lot of confusing and conflicting information out there regarding health and nutrition. Ensure you’re getting the best advice about your diet by seeking the help of a degreed and licensed dietician.