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FOR INSPIRING GOOD HEALTH! 
Benefits Service Wellness Newsletter
June 2012

Greetings! 

 

The summer months are a great time for keeping active with fun outdoor activities, and an excellent opportunity to eat healthy with the wonderful fruits and vegetables available at grocery stores and your local farmers' market.  Let's jumpstart our good health with a fun, active and healthy summer!
EATING HEALTHY
How does one start eating healthier?  There are many ways to achieve this goal but I'll share my own experience.  Although I enjoy many fruits and vegetables, I don't always eat enough of them.  After viewing the great information available on www.choosemyplate.gov, I made it a steady goal to make sure at least half of my plate (or meal) consists of fruits and vegetables.  A very simple guideline - but it's helped increase my daily intake of this important food group to the ideal 5-7 servings for women.  Here are 10 tips to a great plate! 
DO WHAT YOU LOVE
Fitness is one of the cornerstones of good health.  How much exercise do you need?  Check here.  To get moving and keep moving, do what you love.  Some individuals also like to set fitness goals for themselves to keep them motivated.  There is no one right goal.  Maybe you want to be the mom that can do laps with her teenage daughters in the pool twice a week?  Or to run your first half marathon this fall?  Achieve your dreams.  Still pressed to stay active because of time constraints?  There are simple ways to make time for fitness by incorporating it into your everyday routine. 
IN THE KITCHEN
As part of the Synod Wellness Program, we'd like employees' participation IN THE KITCHEN.  Do you have some easy level, healthy recipes that you'd like to share?  If so, please email [email protected] with your name and church - I will post your recipe on one of my future emails.  Here are recipes from American Institute for Cancer Research and Kaiser Permanente, respectively: Moroccan Chicken with Tomatoes & Honey and Spinach, Pear and Endive Salad.  Bon appetit! 
PREVENTING & MANAGING DIABETES 
What is Diabetes and who gets it?  Read here.  Diabetes has become a growing concern in American due to increasing numbers in those diagnosed.  This increase has partly been attributed to Americans becoming more sedentary and overweight.  If you didn't see HBO's THE WEIGHT OF THE NATION documentary, which addresses the link between the obesity epidemic and the diabetes epidemic, it is available to watch online at http://theweightofthenation.hbo.com/.  Want to learn how to reduce your risk of developing Diabetes?  Watch this video.  Were you diagnosed with Diabetes and want to better learn how to manage it?  Watch this video.  If for some reason you are not able to access these links, feel free to email me below and I'll send them to you.

If a Benefit Participant has any particular health topics that you would like to learn more about, please email me and I will work on including these topics in future emails.  Also, I have sent a copy of this email to Church Emails for Benefit Service Information.  Please forward this email to your Synod Benefit Participants in case they have not yet provided me with their email address.  They can send their name & email address to [email protected] to be added to my Wellness Program email list.

Best wishes to your Good Health!

 

Melinda Durham

Benefits Coordinator

Synod of the Pacific

[email protected]

(800) 754-0669

 

DISCLAIMER: THE CONTENT AND INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS E-NEWSLETTER ARE FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. IT MAY NOT BE CONSTRUED AS MEDICAL ADVICE, AND WE DO NOT INTEND FOR  THIS INFORMATION TO BE USED TO DIAGNOSE OR PRESCRIBE  FORMS OF TREATMENT.