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The PATH Ahead
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Your Money’s Worth and an Ode to a Guru

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We’re at one of our favorite annual meetings this week exploring future trends in health and wellness.  As a result, today’s section on You In Your Workplace is longer than usual.  Enjoy…

My Question to You:

Are you getting your money’s worth out of your life?

Seriously, think about it.  When you decide to choose say Burger King versus Broccoli, what’s your return on investment?  Consider the emotional and physiological costs as well as caloric costs and actual dollars spent.

I challenge you to an exercise in “cost-benefit analysis.”  Don’t groan.  Try me because I need to know if you are telling the honest truth when you say, “being healthy is expensive.”  Define expensive.  Really.  Start with food.  In the next few days, look at the cost of healthy calories vs unhealthy.  By healthy I mean fruits and veggies, high-fiber whole grains, lean (and local) protein, omega-3 fats, and low-fat dairy.

Continue reading “Your Money’s Worth and an Ode to a Guru”

Why Can’t I Just Take a Pill?

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Weight loss supplements simply don’t work.  That’s why!  There’s no escaping it, exercise is the key.

A recent analysis of pills promoting weight loss showed all their claims are pretty much bunk. We knew this, right?  Intellectually we knew it.  Emotionally we still can’t help but want it to be the pill that will save us.  Today we must concede the pill is out, right out.  Exercise is the only relevant treatment for weight gain alongside a balanced diet of healthy whole foods.

That same exercise can add years to your life.  Exercise guidelines from the America College of sports Medicine (ACSM), and the American Heart Association (among others) tell us you can add 3-4 years to your life by getting 150 minutes a week of moderate to vigorous exercise (that’s just 2 hours and 30 minutes, or 30 minutes five days a week.  You can gain 2-3 years with 75 minutes (just one hour and 15 minutes in an entire week).  Come people!  We can do this!

Continue reading “Why Can’t I Just Take a Pill?”

Is Tough Love Right For Your Health?

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We were sent this tough love photo on Facebook today.

Do you agree?  In truth there are people who really crave this start over approach.  Some feel they need a clean slate from which to grow — nothing wrong with that.

But, really, I have to ask, is there anyone out there who never thinks of better health?  Never once considers whether the food their putting in their mouths is the best option.  Is there anyone out there who does not, at some point in the day, chide themselves for not eating healthy enough, not getting enough exercise or not doing something they “should” be doing for their health?

Aren’t we always working on our health? In some way?

If so, your goal beckons eternally.  Maybe we’re never off the PATH (so to speak).  It’s fair to say we don’t give up so much as we veer.  A veer, in fact, can be a great lesson that prepares us for better results next time we put in our full effort.  But to be sure, we are always, at the very least, contemplating improvement, if we’re human. Continue reading “Is Tough Love Right For Your Health?”

Small Wins Curb Pain

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There is a pervasive prescription drug advertisement on TV that starts by co-opting Newton’s laws by saying: “an object at rest tends to stay at rest.  An object in motion tends to stay in motion.”

It’s one of those marketing moments of genius as we all nod and affirm with a hearty “I hear that!” even though the idea of agreeing with the giant drug companies sits uneasily in our psyche.

Let’s sift the chafe from the grain so we can digest a little better.  The laws of motion are true.  Thank you Big Pharma for reminding us with your elegant media spot.  The chafe is that the particular drug being advertised is for pain management.  A new study, however, shows it doesn’t always take a pharmaceutical to make you feel better. Continue reading “Small Wins Curb Pain”

Orange You Glad It’s Almost Spring?

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The key word here is almost.  What we still love about winter, while it lasts, is the access to juicy citrus.  As Winter wanes, take a last-minute chance to get your share of oranges and grapefruit in particular.

New research out of the UK reaffirms the healing power of both, particularly in their ability to improve circulation, reduce inflammation and prevent blood clots, thereby reducing our risk of stroke.

Grapefruit is a great source of vitamins C, A, and B5 as well as potassium, folate and fiber.  It is also packed with a powerful cancer-foe called lycopene and flavanoids that help squash heart disease. All around, grapefruit scores 99 out of 100 on the NuVal Scale (food health scores created by the Yale-Griffin Preventive Research Center). Continue reading “Orange You Glad It’s Almost Spring?”

Leap Your Heart into Action!

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Dr Michelle Leaps Camel's Hump Mtn in Vermont!

We’re in a leap year, leaping out of national heart month and into, well…  Where exactly?  The question from PATH is where are we leaping?  Into Spring, right?  The skies are getting brighter morning and night.  Why Daylight Savings is only 12 days away (yeah, count ’em) and the official date of spring just a mere seven days further out.

Optimism is in the air!  Let’s prepare for the warmth and the bright sunshine that awaits around the corner.

First let’s really get rosy and put our winter woes aside, into the fable jar:

“Leaping away from my mistakes has propelled me forward. It has great force behind it. It makes for great storytelling.”  — Holly Near

Won’t it be fun to tell them around summer bonfires?  All the while being stronger, more fit with each day that passes? Continue reading “Leap Your Heart into Action!”

Be a Hearty Healthy Diva!

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“One sees clearly only with the heart.” – Antoine De Saint-Exupery, The Little Prince

The celebration of the heart is in the home stretch.  With just five days left in February’s heart month we ask you to challenge yourself.

Heart disease is the number one killer of women in America today.  It beats all forms of cancer combined.

Last week in Vermont, the American Heart Association hosted a “Go Red for Women” luncheon to raise awareness and people’s spirits against this tough foe.  Attendees had their pictures taken by Karen Pike with cutout standups of Betty Boop, Marilyn Monroe and Scarlet O’Hara.  Why, you ask?

All dressed in red to celebrate a sisterhood of strength in numbers, each person had the chance to express her “playful” side with Betty, her “determined” side with Scarlet, and, yes, her “sexy” side with Marilyn.  For perseverance both in prevention and healing requires all three, and truly we have all three within us – we just forget to honor each one in our full suite of happiness.

It’s important to build wishful thinking into reality when it comes to being a hero.  So, at this Go Red event, women and men channeled the inner diva or heart healthy super hero, together in a room where the collective wisdom and nurturing oxytocin (the brain chemical that spirits connection and empathy) flowed in abundance.

Events like these lead to brilliant ideas like the Heart Associations “Teaching Gardens” which are now being built in school communities all across the country – helping children and families get back to heart healthy basics; right down the soil.

Channel your inner heart hero today with loved ones who support your healthy heart efforts and your unique contribution to the world.  And why not do so over a heart-healthy meal!  The ideas that could spring forth could build a whole different garden of dreams for generations to come.  Bottom line, celebrate the heart!

Cheers to all the women, and men, out there who are fighting this disease world wide.   Cheers to all of you who take even the smallest step to contribute – even if it’s just a healthy recipe (check out this Mayo Clinic one for tomorrow’s breakfast).

Go red to infinity and beyond!  And never look back…

“On the mountains of truth you can never climb in vain: either you will reach a point higher up today, or you will be training your powers so that you will be able to climb higher tomorrow.”
– Friedrich Nietzsche

You in Your Worklace:

Our clients love to do healthy days where everyone signs up to bring in a healthy dish for lunch, either once a month, or once a week depending on your group size.  Share the recipes and build up a cookbook.

Stone soup is also a favorite healthy meal event.  One person brings in a crock pot, and everyone else brings in a chopped veggie.  With some veggie broth and everyone’s contribution, the concoction steeps all morning until lunch time.  People can come and get a taste any time they want.  IN warm weather, salad days are fun doing the same type of group contribution.

See you on the next PATH Ahead!  A heartbeat away!

Burn Calories Burn – All Day Long

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“Every blade of grass is a study; and to produce two, where there was but one, is both a profit and a pleasure.” – Abraham Lincoln

Prolific researcher and well known exercise physiologist, David Nieman, DrPh, FACSM, has given us another window into heart healthy weight-loss, assuming we manage our diet properly, and we’re up for the challenge.  The key, he says, is “vigorous” exercise:

“What matters is exercising at a high, unrelenting intensity for a prolonged period of time,” he said.  “Vigorous sweat gets the hormones cycling and can alter the body’s temperature and ability to store fuel. It takes a long time for the body to get back to normal.”

This reaffirms previous research (hence “every blade of grass”) stating that we continue to burn calories long after we exercise, as long as the workout is “vigorous.”

More from Honest Abe:  “Things may come to those who wait… but only the things left by those who hustle.”

In other words, sometimes, slow and steady isn’t the best option.  Persistence, yes; resolve, absolutely.  All exercise matters and the more we move, the better off we are, in countless ways.  Sustained weight loss however, may hinge on that extra effort where slow isn’t our friend.  Vigorous exercise is defined as accelerated breathing, breaking a sweat and an elevated heart rate (about 75% of your maximum capability – your max is the number 220 minus your age).

Neiman’s latest work showed that people can continue to burn extra calories up to 14 hours after a 45-minute vigorous workout – much longer than previously thought.  You’ll likely burn about 500 calories during those wild and wooly 45 minutes.  You could get another 150-200 in post-exercise burn!

Therefore, if you’ve got 45 minutes to spare and weight loss or high intensity training is your goal, make it count.  Kick up the sweat and the heart rate (as long as your health care provider gives you the okay sign).  Be sure to maintain your regular walks, stretching and strength training to keep your body well rounded and ready for everyday life.  Just don’t be shy about mixing up your routine with some heavy breathing.

Be Unrelenting!

See below for an exercise from Olga to add to your “boot camp” coffers.

You in Your Workplace:

To pump up people’s vigorous side we have two ideas:

  1. Expose them to classes that might push them such as kickboxing, Zumba, boot camp, Cross Fit or Body Pump
  2. Make your stairwell, if applicable, a great place to explore.  Even 10-20 minutes of hard work on the stairs can boost caloric burn in theory.  Showers at work are helpful too, allowing people to come back to their duties clean.

Though we know some of these suggestions are a luxury, we believe putting out ideas can spark creativity.

“The probability that we may fall in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just; it shall not deter me.” – also Abe Lincoln! (It is his birthday week after all!)

See you on the PATH Ahead

Circle Squats

Stand with your feet wide and your toes angled out slightly.  Holding a dumbbell place your arms down in front of you.  Squat down (watch that your knees don’t go past your toes) lowering the dumbell toward the ground.  Circle the dumbbell around your left side and up and over to your right.  As you do so, straighten up your body and lift your right knee toward the dumbbell.  Squat back down slowly and return the dumbbell to start position.  Repeat, circling the opposite direction.

Boost Your Wellness with “D”

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The right dietary nutrients are key to heart health and one, in particular, could be the entry way to the fountain of youth!  Reporters dubbed 2011 the year of Vitamin D thanks to a plethora of rich, robust studies on the so-called “sun vitamin.”  From the immune system, to cancers, heart disease, diabetes, neurological disorders and depression, D shines as a must have.

One study of nearly 11,000 patients found that people who were deficient in vitamin D were three times more likely to die from any cause than those who were not deficient.  Correcting those deficiencies with supplements lowered their risk of death by 60 percent.

Holistic health consumer watchdog, Dr. Michelle Kmiec, draws our attention to large scale studies not making the news showing that Vitamin D might be, dare we say it, a potential cure for Multiple Sclerosis (MS)!

A wonder drug you say?  Could be.  Could our paranoia about skin cancer over the years have caused the unintended consequence of a profound deficiency?  The rabidly famous Dr. Mehmet Oz reminds us that people get skin cancer, “where the sun don’t shine” (yes, that’s a direct quote).  Over exposure to nearly anything can be bad, so sunburn obviously is not good.  But 10-20 minutes of daily unprotected sun on your skin could be an amazingly free antidote to countless woes.

Supplements are helpful to those who live in northern regions between November and March.  Talk with your physician about proper amounts, but also do your own research on what might be right for you.  The USDA recommends 400 IU a day.  Sun exposure gives you 20,000-40,000 IU a day.  The range is vast!

This time of year the daylight is barely inching back into our souls and seasonal issues like depression and flu are just beginning to lose their grip.  To speed the plow, get outside during the day even if it’s just for a few minutes and soak up what you can.  Add in a heart pumping walk and maybe a Vitamin D gummy for a powerful one-two punch at potential afflictions.

“Keep your face always toward the sunshine – and shadows will fall behind you.”  ~ Walt Whitman

You in Your Workplace

  • This is a great time to promote an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) is your have one.  People may not need long term mental health services but may just need someone to talk to after a long, tough winter.  Help take the stigma out of going by offering an EAP orientation.  Have your provider come if to meet people and tell them about the services.
  • Run a 10-minute a day walking challenge.  Raffle off a full spectrum desk or home lamp to the people who enter in a ticket from every time they get outside and get some fresh air.
  • Make a vitamin bulletin board and have people post their favorite heart healthy, beat the winter blues ideas, recipes and folk tales.
  • Most of all, help people be social and connect.  Connecting is great for heart health.  Promoting hobbies and exercise in groups can be a great boost.

We’ll see you on the Sunny PATH Ahead!

Love is in Your Heart Healthy Brain

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It is just a sweet old fashioned love song, or is romance necessary to help keep us healthy?

Love, yes.  Romance?  It doesn’t hurt.

Love, defined as connection, loyalty, caring and compassion, is the sentiment we feel from a myriad of social interactions.  When we feel these things, a brain chemical called “Oxytocin” floods our brains and blood streams and makes us feel trust, empathy and affection which helps breed more of the above – the antidote to a vicious cycle.

Neuroeconmist, Dr. Paul Zack, of Claremont Graduate University in Southern California, and blog author, calls oxytocin “The Moral Molecule” stating that this is what differentiates us from other species – our deeply social, moral sentiment; our connection to compassion.

The best Valentine’s Day present to us was to learn that Oxytocin is surprisingly easy to manufacture.   All it takes is a moment of joyful connection, and the fastest route, quite simply, is a hug.  Zack, also dubbed “Dr. Love,” prescribes no fewer than eight hugs a day!  See the list below for more ideas.

People who have more oxytocin pumping through their system are happier, more enthusiastic people who produce higher quality work. And they are contagious.  Like a wave, oxytocin washes over others with great ease.  The more we flood, the bigger the wave.  A wave lasts only 3 minutes, however, so it’s up to us to keep the compassion flowing. Continue reading “Love is in Your Heart Healthy Brain”