Category: Healthy Choices

Strategies to use for a healthy lifestyle

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FAT can be FATAL

FAT CAN BE FATAL – REDUCE SUGAR INTAKE NOW!

1 out of every 3 adults and 17% of our children are obese in the United States.  The actual percentage is 36% for adults with women (38.3%) having a higher prevalence of obesity than men (34.3%). Across age groups obesity is higher among middle-aged adults (40.2% – 40-59yr), older adults (37.0% – 60yr +) and younger adults (32.3% – 20-39yr).  (National Center for Health Statistics, 2015)

Although many blame family genes for these extra pounds, actual determinants of health are: medical 10%, heredity 16%, environment 21%, and Lifestyle Choices 53%.

Daily decisions on food, movement, sleep, stress, relationships, work … can lead to a life of illness or wellness.  When food choices contain sugar and refined carbohydrates the body responds by producing high levels of insulin and triglycerides can’t break down.  Bad cholesterol (LDL) increases, and the fat stores itself in the body especially the deep abdominal region, known as “belly fat” or visceral fat.   This gel-like fat releases a hormone (interleukin-6) that increases chronic inflammation around the organs and creates health complications. The only way to reduce visceral fat is to lose weight.

Three preventable chronic diseases associated with high levels of insulin and belly fat include:

  1. Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) – 600,000 deaths a year – arteries filled with LDL causing an increase in white blood cells creating holes in arteries, then scabs over leading to heart attack
    1. 2 sodas a day increase CVD by 35%
    2. Leading cause of death for women
  2. Cancers related to immune system issues – 550,000 deaths a year – sugar(glucose) feeds cancer cells when present especially in the breast
    1. Pancreatic cancer
    2. Colon cancer
    3. Breast cancer
  3. Type 2 Diabetes – 70, 000 deaths a year – sugary foods ignite high levels of insulin resulting in fatty acids dumped into liver producing high level of glucose and body becomes insulin resistant
    1. Vision may become impaired
    2. Circulation and inflammation
    3. Nerve damage, depression
    4. Kidney issues – Skin aging issues
    5. 15 year shorter life span

Sugar is not a sweet alternative to health and wellness and the earlier one controls or eliminates it from food choices the better the body will function. Although fruit is a healthy food, the sugar content in some items are very high and best eaten in small amounts. Many chronic diseases are preventable however, positive action steps can create a successful outcome. 

The first steps towards a lifestyle of health & wellness is to understand your daily consumption of food, especially sugar. There are many food and fitness apps on the web to track your food intake according to CNET . However, the old-fashioned way of posting a chart on the kitchen refrigerator highlighting the grams of sugar, carbs, fat, and fiber per food choice is often more helpful in stopping one from reaching for ice cream late at night. 

Download a food inventory chart and a list of sugar content in fruit and then get ready to take more steps to wellness.

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Quality of Life

 

Healthy People 2020 is a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 10 year initiative Quality Life Depends on Youfocusing on health promotion and disease prevention, in other words, a Quality Life.

Announced in 2010, its goals and objectives are a product of stakeholders from every walk of life, who want to lessen the growth of preventable disease.

Chronic disease accounts for 75% of the nation’s health spending while heart disease, diabetes, and cancer take 7 out of 10 American lives each year.  The human cost to our communities, businesses, and families is immeasurable as individuals become less productive, depressed, and unable to function socially over time as they approach pre-mature death.

Quality and quantity of life develop through healthy behaviors across all life stages.  Well-being practices focusing on integrating mind, body, spirit, and environment can lower risk of disease, illness, and injury, and increase the immune system, recovery time, longevity, productivity at work, and personal contributions to society.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), well-being is a person’s perception of life’s pieces: living conditions, quality relationships, emotions, resilience, realizing potential, and life satisfaction as it relates to home, work, and social environments.  When negative emotions begin to creep into any area, well-being is threatened and signs of illness may follow.

Quality of Life and reducing preventable chronic disease is everyone’s business. Healthy behaviors and new life skills must replace lifestyles of comfort and poor choices associated with food, movement, sleep, relationships, smoking, clutter, stress, working conditions, and family dynamics.

The health & wellness (H&W) field is evolving with evidenced-based practices and nationally board certified coaches, credentialed through the International Consortium for Health & Wellness Coaching (ICHWC) .  These H&W coaches guide clients to embrace health promoting strategies and behavior change resulting in a sustainable healthy lifestyle.

Become one of the Healthy People of 2020 by contacting a H&W coach and assessing where you are on the Health & Wellness continuum. Feel free to contact me to discuss your health habits and quality of life, it is always possible to LivePositive-LiveWell.

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Get a Coach

Health & Wellness Coaching Matters

Why get a coach?

Does this sound like you?

  • I want to wake up and feel energized all day long
  • I want a good night’s sleep
  • I want to lose weight but I hate going to the gym
  • I can’t stand my boss wasting my time at work and not allowing our team to move forward
  • I don’t like diets, but I want to eat healthy
  • I want to change my life but I don’t know how
  • No matter what I try I can’t quit smoking
  • I want meaningful relationships in my life
  • My life is cluttered – I need to let go of people and things

It’s time to change your tune……….

Health & Wellness coaching focuses on integrated lifestyle strategies for individuals, groups, or families to elevate lifestyles and increase well-being.  Some areas include:

*Creating Positive Lasting Change
*Stress & Sleep Management
*Movement & Fitness
*Weight Management & Fitness
*Smoking Cessation
*Relationships at Work & Home
*Family Wellness
*Clutter Clearing 

Don’t wait any longer – Contact Coach Sue for a free consultation and be guided to a better life.  sue@positivity-coaching.com 

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Workplace Wellness

Workplace Wellness is not an Oxymoron!

So many articles, posts, blogs, and chatter about Employee Engagement – Well-Being – and Workplace Wellness- does it really matter?  

Bad News

Actually, it matters more than many employers care to realize or invest in and the result is crushing a company’s bottom line with increased costs related to health care, absenteeism, turnover, disability, pre-mature death payouts, loss productivity, and a decay of the work environment.

Good News

Collaborative research by the Institute for Health and Productivity Studies at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Transamerica Center for Health Studies developed an Employer Guide of evidence based practices that employers can replicate at minimal cost based on real-world examples.  These health promotion programs have indicated significant positive health impacts for the workforce and workplace based on pre-post evaluation assessments and take into account both individual and organizational risk factors. 

Risk Factors

Company wellness programs often fail due to being one-sided.  Programs focusing only on employee risk factors do not make allowances for organizational factors such as employee input, engagement, and leadership support.  Comprehensive programs achieve both a ROI and a VOI as they build a culture of health and blend the individual-level health promotion goals with the organization’s goals and are supported by leadership buy-in.

Individual Organizational 
Physical Activity Leadership Commitment
Nutrition Leadership Support
Weight Management Strategic Communications
Stress Management Employee Engagement
Smoking Cessation Smart Incentives
Sleep Management Tailoring Programs
Social Connections Environmental Support
Alcohol Management Benefit Plan Design
Diabetes Management Measurement and Evaluation

Health Promotion Programs

In order for workplace wellness to thrive in organizations human resource personnel, senior management, and all level stakeholders must become aware of the many facets of Health & Wellness and develop health promotion programs based on evidence-based practices.  This BLOG will continue to discuss the individual and organizational risk factors over the next few months…..stay tuned.

 

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Health and Wellness

Understanding health and wellness is not an easy task.  Many if not most people read reports and hear suggestions or lectures about eating healthy, exercising, getting enough sleep, and being mindful so stress and anxiety do not build up inside.

Choose Wisely
Choose Wisely

The suggestions and lectures sometimes prompt one to seek out diets, exercise, or sleep programs, however, many people fall victim to these programs and continue making the same unhealthy choices and following self-defeating habits.  With all the literature, social media access, and programs available to improve one’s lifestyle – why is it so difficult to live a healthy life?

Defining Health and Wellness

Healthy people will tell you they feel pretty good, haven’t had a cold, and don’t have any aches and pains.  They say they are doing well.  However, those suffering from the flu, allergies, or an injury complain about every body part, need rest, and state they want to be healthy. Health and Wellness are bigger than getting over the common cold, flu, or a few body aches now and then.  They are two keywords representing lifestyle choices happening everyday.  Working definitions of health and wellness illustrate how lifestyle choices affect our lives.

According to the World Health Organization (1946)’s definition:

Health is – “a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” (WHO, 1946)

“The definition changed in 1984 to: Health is the extent to which an individual or group is able to realize aspirations and satisfy needs, and to change or cope with the environment.  Health is a resource for everyday life, not the objective of living; it is a positive concept, emphasizing social and personal resources, as well as physical capacities.”

Regardless of the “HEALTH” definition, the reality is in order to have a Quality of Life – actions supporting physical, mental, emotional, and social functioning are the keys to health and wellness.

Wellness  – “is an active process through which people become aware of, and make choices toward, a more successful existence.” (NWI, 2004)

The National Wellness Institute and many experts in the field of wellness have developed various models to explain the dimensions of wellness.  Some models describe up to 12 dimensions while all models highlight: physical, spiritual, nutrition, occupational, emotional, intellectual, and environmental as either leading dimensions or assumed under another dimension.

Living Health – Wellness

In order to live both healthy and well, the many dimensions of a person’s life must be assessed, understood, and then met with a meaningful action plan for Lifestyle Change.

Wellness affects everyone and every organization. There is no one-size fits all plan to become healthy and well, a lifestyle change requires intentional behavior change from the individual and a personal commitment to follow through on an action plan.

Wellness coaches assist each coachee in creating an action plan by assessing each person on  his or her dimensions of wellness as well as the readiness, willingness, and ableness levels of the coachee and prioritize first steps to create positive change. 

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