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FOR INSPIRING GOOD HEALTH! 

Benefits Service Wellness Newsletter
July 2013

Greetings! 

 

Are you making the most of your summer?  Summer months are always a great time to focus on your health.  Vacations and nice weather inspire beach walks, swimming and other fun outdoor activities.  Delicious fruits and vegetables are available at local farmers' markets and grocery stores.  Embrace all that summer offers toward your good health!

EATING WELL
Are you eating enough fruits & vegetables?  One way to jumpstart you and your family's fruit and vegetable portions for the day is by making smoothies.  Fill your blender half with spinach or your favorite greens and the other half with your favorite fruits (bananas and blueberries are some of my favorites, they add texture and a lot of flavor!).  Add some coconut, soy, almond or 1% milk, water, maybe a few nuts or seeds of your choice and a touch of raw honey, and presto - you've got yourself a delicious and very nutritious meal. See 10 Tips to a Great Plate!
PHYSICAL ACTIVITY - KEEP MOVING!
You don't have to hit the gym to stay fit.  Many activities at home or elsewhere will burn calories and benefit your body.  Find something you enjoy doing.  Anthem shares this article: Don't look now... but you just may be exercising.  Bump up your physical activity slowly with small additions to your daily routine.  For the Synod staff, we started a "Wednesday Walk" at lunch time for all interested employees.  The best part about adding this 20 to 30 minutes Wednesday walk each week, is it's had a ripple effect of encouraging overall better health & fitness for staff members.  Inspire yourself and others with some small steps toward better fitness!
IN THE KITCHEN
As part of the Synod Wellness Program, we'd love your participation IN THE KITCHEN.  Do you have some 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's a Blueberry Smoothie - feel free to play with the recipe and add some spinach or other greens!  For those trying to incorporate veggies into your children's or grandchildren's diets as well as your own, here's a fun Monster Smoothie (I tried a similar recipe on my four year old replacing the kale with spinach and he loved it!).  Bon appetit! 
DENTAL & VISION HEALTH PLUS LIFE CHALLENGES 

Preventive care for better health includes regular dental cleanings, dental check-ups and vision exams.  Read about The Mouth-Body Connection and What your eyes say about you.  Are you enrolled in an Assurant Dental and Vision Plan?  Assurant now has online access for dental and vision members that provides benefit plan information, help in finding dental or vision network providers, estimates in costs for dental care, and all your claims information.  Click on Online Advantage for Members for instructions & information on registering online to begin accessing all your benefit information.  You can also register by phone by calling 800.733.7879 ext. 7600.  

With Assurant, did you know that your dental and vision coverage automatically includes an Employee Assistance Plan to assist you with life challenges?  Click here for more information.

Open Enrollment for the 2013-14 Plan Year (which begins November 1, 2013) is coming in September!  We will be sending churches and organizations an Open Enrollment packet to distribute to employees, and we'll also post information on our website at www.synodpacific.org.  A Health Care Reform update will be included about the new healthcare marketplace exchanges available as of 1/1/14 for employees that don't have health coverage through their employer. 

 

If you have any particular health topics that you would like to learn more about, please email me and I will work on including these topics in a future Wellness Newsletter.  Additionally, Anthem and Kaiser websites offer free online webinars and recordings on various health concerns for members.  For Anthem: click here and "View Event Recordings.  For Kaiser: click here.  

 

If you are a church administrator receiving this, 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 future mailings.

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.