As the holiday season rolls into full force, goodies and treats almost seem to be a constant influence in the office.   At home, there is baking and preparing for parties and gatherings throughout the month.  It is a very busy and sometimes stressful time.  This seem to justify the mentality of letting things slide with our eating choices at this time of the year.  It’s the blame game! When in doubt, eat what you want and eat an extra serving of it, and blame it on the holidays!

Well, hopefully we can all be more sensible than that.  Now is as good a time as ever to revisit some healthy choices you can make in your food selection now, and throughout the year as well.

If you can learn some basic alternatives to fattening foods, you will have the tools to make good choices wherever you are: cafeteria, friend’s house, potluck, restaurants, etc.  The Discovery Health Channel had some great healthy tips to share:  Click to keep reading...

• Pick mustard instead of mayonnaise because there is less calories and fat in mustard.

For a very long time now, I thought sugar was my friend.  Over the years, in its various forms, sugar has cheered me up when I was feeling down.  It has been the highlight of birthday parties, the guest star at most holiday functions and available whenever I needed or wanted it.  But sugar has not been my friend, and for the longest time I thought I needed only to exercise to compensate a balance for calorie purposes.

 I raise this topic mainly because this month I have focused on issues relating to avoiding sickness at work and other preventative measures to keep healthy during a season of colds, flus and allergies.  Generally speaking, I don’t think most of us realize how much sugar contributes to the demise of our immune system.

 First of all, sugar is not only evident in the obvious choices of candy bars, cakes and soft drinks.  Sugar is processed in many different forms and integrated into everything from breads and cereals to condiments, sauces and frozen meals.  This is why many sources say the average American consumes 2-3 pounds of sugar each week (Gasp! Yes it’s true).  Click to keep reading...

The weather is turning and the days are getting shorter.  Now the excuses of not having enough time to do a workout during your day seem even more justified.  Working long days, raising a family or any other number of priorities can send us waving the white flag when it comes to our exercise goals sometimes.  But did you realize there are plenty of ways that you can get in fitness right at work, often in the comfort of your own desk area? 

Doctors recommend that any exercise at all is helpful.  Of course, it is recommended by many that we get 30 minutes in each day for at least 5 days per week.  Sadly, most Americans do not come close to these criteria.  If you are like me and prefer not to walk stiffly like an ironing board when you stand up, or would like to avoid other desk job hazards such as headaches, backaches and carpal tunnel syndrome, then read on.  A huge thank you goes to webmd.com where I located many stretches and exercises you can complete during your work day.

 Exercises  Click to keep reading...

In the last couple of weeks I have discussed some basic ways to avoid colds and flus at the office.  There are so many shared items and locations at work that we often don’t consciously think about – and it is easy to pass germs. While these efforts will help, sometimes the symptoms will creep up on us before we know it anyway. 

 It seems that in the last few weeks, everyone I have interacted with has been experiencing sinus problems of some kind.  I do not exclude myself from this group, either.  I tried to be conscious of eating well, taking vitamins, getting enough sleep, exercising, etc.  The problem is that there are times when we cannot be on top of our game.  We all have our areas of weakness, mine tends to be getting enough sleep and – well, I’m a big fan of the chocolate products too, let’s just leave it at that! Sometimes our immunity is not kept up and we get run down.  There are numerous reasons that sinus issues plague us.  Anything from allergies to colds can bring them on, but what is worse is when it becomes chronic sinusitis or sinus infections that it becomes miserable.  It is because I have had the unfortunate experience of chronic sinus problems in the past that I would like to discuss my friend, the neti pot.  Click to keep reading...

In a continuation of the thoughts from last week regarding keeping sickness at bay in the work place, vitamin D can be added to your healthy “to do” list.

 Numerous studies and articles are focusing in on the positive effects of Vitamin D and its correlating preventative action against colds and flu viruses.  One of the studies reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine examined the vitamin D levels of close to 19,000 people and their respiratory infections.  They found that the individuals with the lowest vitamin D levels were over 1/3 more likely to state having a recent respiratory infection than those with higher levels of vitamin D.

 We are told as young children to drink milk because it is good for our bones.  Because of this, we learn early on that vitamin D is good for our bones, and while this is certainly true, it is far from expressing all of the attributes this vitamin has for our body.  Vitamin D helps to regulate our immune system as well as the neuromuscular system. 

So how much vitamin D do you need and how can you get it?   Click to keep reading...

The cold and flu season is now upon us and with all of the news coverage on the H1N1 virus, or otherwise commonly known as swine flu, it is undeniable that everyone should take every precaution possible at work – after all, for most, going to work means spending a lot of time with any number of people.  Some of these co-workers and clients have kids at home in school or any number of other outside influences that can affect their chances of getting sick outside of work and bringing it in with them to the job.

So what can we do to protect ourselves from illness at work?

We have all heard it hundreds of times, but the importance of washing hands is your best line of defense against cases of colds, the flu and even food borne illness.  The Center of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) explains that it is estimated that 80% of all infections are transmitted by those with unclean hands.  This is a major portion of the problem that can be eliminated by just being conscientious throughout the day.  Click to keep reading...

As the Halloween season “creeps” closer and closer, it is inevitable that the sweets and frightfully yummy snacks ooze right in the office door with it.  I dread the inevitable downfall my eating habits take as Halloween comes near and treats pop up in every direction at work.  There is nothing wrong with a bite here and there of something sweet.  Moderation is the key.  If you want to bring something to snack on for the staff this year, why not make it a point to do something seasonal yet more on a health-conscious level. 

There are a number of recipes available now that use better ingredients and avoid a lot of the heavy sugar that some of the traditional Halloween and holiday treats tend to have.  I have had a lot of success finding such recipes on www.eatingwell.com

The recipe I chose to share with you today is Spiced Pumpkin Cookies.  Test it or one of the other recipes on the website on your co-workers and staff, see how they like it!

Spiced Pumpkin Cookies

Ingredients:  Click to keep reading...

Yoga has been practiced for centuries and is now more utilized than ever across the globe.  The benefits of yoga are many and when you consider how many hours in a week, in a month or in a year you spend working, it becomes quite clear just how valuable those benefits are in your work day itself.

 The function or objective in the practice of yoga is to bring about a unity of the mind, body and spirit.  Some of the numerous benefits of yoga include:

•  Better flexibility
• Detoxification of the system
• Muscle toning
• Corrected posture
• Mood relaxation
• Reduced stored fat
• Injury prevention

 Given the accumulated stresses and strains involved in women’s careers, home life as well as the impacts of society and the economy, it can all really take a toll on health, moods and mental clarity and focus in general.  There were some sample yoga poses to try on www.rao-yoga.org that I thought I would share.  These simple exercises can be done by anyone and can begin the positive effects of yoga.  Click to keep reading...

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, which is a campaign that was developed and has been maintained by many of the major breast cancer charities in order to raise money for the research, prevention and hopeful cure of this disease.  As it is the beginning of the month of October, I felt very strongly that this was an appropriate topic to cover, as it affects so many women in our country and others.  As working women, we tend to postpone or neglect the preventative aspect of our health on many occasions.  It is here that I will take the time to remind all of us that what you don’t know definitely can hurt you and being proactive and aware could save your life.

 As stated in the Susan G. Komen for the Cure website, cancer takes twice as many lives as does AIDS across the globe.  Seven million people or more die each year from cancer.  It is estimated that ten million women from all over the world could die from breast cancer over the course of the next 25 years.  I would not toss these figures out to cause fear, but merely to bring the reality of it home to all of us.  It is now said that one out of eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer.  That brings it home for me.  The best way to fight breast cancer is to detect it early on.  Detecting breast cancer early, which is the localized stage, gives a promising 5-year survival rate of 98%.   Click to keep reading...

The business world makes its demands on all of us in many different ways, and a sedentary lifestyle can be one of them if we aren’t careful.  Today’s trends seem to lean more and more in the focus of technology and less towards physical activity and this can have a negative impact on our bodies.  Estimates have illustrated clearly that an increasing number of jobs require employees to sit for prolonged amounts of time.  I, for one, can say this is most certainly evident in the banking industry as well as the other business offices I have worked in the past.  This can wreak havoc on the metabolism and circulation to only name a couple of potential health road blocks.

Ideally, we should all strive to have a workout program in place which gives us the cardiovascular and strengthening that we need to maintain good health at any age.  However, whether you are still trying to pin that plan in place or are convinced that you don’t have the time, I am always searching for ways to beat this desk-sitting health hazard, even during the work day.  Click to keep reading...