Check out our client, Putnam Investments, featured in a high-profile BCBSMA advertising campaign

We have more great news to share!

As many of you already know, we have been working alongside Putnam Investments, for the past three years, to assist them in the development of an organizational wellness program. In addition to winning an award from the NEEBC (New England Employee Benefits Council), the forward thinking company is now being featured in a high-profile Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts advertising campaign.

The campaign features Putnam Investments and extols the benefits of their wellness program. The campaign is currently featured on http://www.boston.com/, the most highly-trafficked website for news in Massachusetts and is airing during Monday Night Football, several morning and evening news programs and many popular TV shows.

As a result of the worksite wellness program, Putnam is saving hundreds of thousands of dollars and has become a better place to work according to Bob Reynolds, the CEO, and others, interviewed in the ads. (See screen shots of BCBS ads on http://www.boston.com/)

To find out how your organization can get results like Putnam Investments, please email Debra Wein, President of Sensible Nutrition, Inc. and Wellness Workdays, Inc. at debra@wellnessworkdays.com

Contact: Kim Panton, Sousa Communications, 617.510.5690, kim@sousacommunications.com

PS Thanks to those of you who already let me know that you caught our letterhead in the commercial!

Children's nutrition and the influence of schools

I had the pleasure of presenting, last night, to the Duxbury Special Education Parent Advisory Council on meeting the nutritional needs of growing children. We discussed how nutrition plays a vital role in children’s behavior and day to day success, body mass index and childhood obesity, food allergies, the confusing claims on labels, including, “all natural”, “organic”, “low sugar”, and some simple strategies to use when teaching your child about healthy food choices.


We had an outstanding group of moms, dads, physicians, and school committee members that asked a lot of great questions! I presented my topic but we had lots of great interaction, suggestions and sharing from all who came!

One of the areas we spoke about was the role that the school plays in providing healthy lunches, snacks and guidance for our children. I wanted to share this interesting article that I just read on this very topic! Enjoy…

USDA Backs Rewarding Schools Serving Healthy Food
Link: http://abcnews.go.com/http://abcnews.go.com/

By Christopher Doering, Reuters

WASHINGTON Schools that serve more fruits, vegetables and whole grains to pupils should see higher federal support rates than those serving less-healthier meals loaded with high fats and sugar, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said on Tuesday.

Child nutrition programs, which include school lunch and breakfast, are due for an overhaul but Congress is not expected to act before 2010. The government has targeted improving the nutritional quality and access to school meals amid rising child obesity rates.

"It is important for us to reward top performers," Vilsack told the Senate Agriculture Committee. "We would encourage this committee and the Congress to take a look at reimbursement rates that would be linked directly to increased nutritional values."

He did not suggest how large the bonus should be. Schools get $2.88 in cash and Agriculture Department-provided food for each lunch meal served for free to poor children this school year.

School meal programs provide an estimated 40 million meals daily and more than half the student's food intake during the school day. Students can receive free or subsidized meals if their family's income is low enough.

Some $16.9 billion was allotted for child nutrition in the fiscal year that opened on October 1, up $1.9 million from fiscal 2008.

Obesity rates among U.S. children have doubled in the last 20 years, and almost a third of American children are either overweight or obese. The epidemic of obesity is linked to a host of health problems such as heart disease and diabetes.

Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Blanche Lincoln told Vilsack she was willing to pay more to serve healthier foods.

"I'm certainly sympathetic to the concept of higher reimbursement rates. Common sense does tell us that as we improve that quality it also increases the cost," she said.

Officials at the USDA are updating the nutrition and meal requirements used for school meals. The framework, last updated in 1995, sets standards that must be met by school programs to qualify for cash reimbursements and food from the government.

A report from the Institute of Medicine, an arm of the National Academies, recommended last month children should get more fruits, vegetables and whole grains in their school meals.

USDA oversees the contents of school lunches and bars the sale of foods with minimal nutritional value, such as soda, in the lunchroom. It does not control food sold in a la carte lines or school stores.

Vilsack and lawmakers on the committee said more attention must be paid to the nutritional content of these other venues.

"The concern is that we can do everything we need to do on the school lunch line and it could be counteracted by what we do or what we don't do in reference to vending machines and things that are sold in the school during the school day," he said.

(Editing by Jim Marshall)

Copyright © 2009 ABC News Internet Ventures

The newest addition to our WORK family!

This week, I would just like to let you know about the newest addition to our WORK family! Yes, please read that carefully…

Mary Kate Keyes, MS, RD, LDN, has been involved in the nutrition field for over nine years and is a welcome addition to the Sensible Nutrition / Wellness Workdays team. As one of our nutritionists, Mary Kate will be providing individual nutrition counseling on weight management, sport nutrition, cholesterol and other disease management issues, body composition and metabolism measures, personal health assessments and seminars, lectures and screenings for our corporate clients.

Prior to joining Sensible Nutrition, Mary Kate most recently launched a special eight week program called “Smell it, Touch it, Taste it” for the South Boston Catholic Academy to encourage children to smell, touch and taste foods that were new to them. She developed classroom curriculum and created brochures targeted to the parents to help them encourage their children to try nutritious foods.

Prior to that she was at Brigham and Women’s Hospital serving as a dietetic intern. She worked independently as part of a multidisciplinary team and counseled and motivated a diverse population of patients to eat more healthfully. In addition, she assessed the nutrition needs of critically ill patients, determined the patient’s nutrition risk, and recommended appropriate medical nutrition therapy. She has also worked for Massachusetts General Hospital, Tufts University Health and Sciences School, and with the USDA / HNRCA at Tufts University.

Mary Kate has written several articles for Aetna InteliHealth, one of the leading online health information companies in the world featuring Harvard Medical School's consumer health information.

She is a registered dietitian with a Master of Science degree in Nutrition Communication from the Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition. She earned her undergraduate degree at Merrimack College graduating Cum Laude. Most recently she finished a dietetic intern program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, an intensive program that meets the requirements for becoming a Registered Dietitian (R.D.) as established by the Commission on Dietetic Registration and qualifies individuals to sit for the national exam. She is a member of the American Dietetic Association and the Massachusetts Dietetic Association.

In her free time, Mary Kate enjoys running. This passion began in 2004 when she ran the Kona Marathon in Hawaii. Since then Mary Kate has run three more marathons including Vermont City and Boston. Mary Kate’s knees asked her to stop running such distances, and while running is still a big part of her life, she has most recently participated in local 10Ks and half marathons. In addition to running, Mary Kate enjoys good laughs with friends and family.
Welcome Mary Kate! Hopefully you will all have a chance to meet her at an upcoming lecture, screening or 1-1 session.


-Debra


* Key to Credentials Abbreviations

MS- Master of Science, Applied Physiology and Nutrition
RD – Registered Dietitian
LDN- Licensed Dietitian / Nutritionist

Fitcorp Names Sensible Nutrition as Official Partner!

Check out this great news that went out over Business Wire today!

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Fitcorp has selected Sensible Nutrition as their new nutrition partner. Fitcorp understands that nutrition is a major component of fitness and health and wants their members to have the ability to meet with Sensible Nutrition’s nationally renowned registered dietitians (RDs). Fitcorp selected Sensible Nutrition because of its high quality professional staff, its history of developing award winning nutrition and wellness programs and its unique ability to translate cutting-edge scientific research for mainstream audiences.


“This represents a partnership between two of Boston’s leading firms dedicated to promoting health and wellness. Fitcorp was looking for a nutrition service provider to offer first-rate services to match those that our members, guests and corporate clients have already grown to expect and appreciate. This is an exciting opportunity to partner with another Boston-based firm to better improve the health of Fitcorp’s members. By including nutrition onsite at each of our eleven greater Boston locations, our members will be more likely to reach their goals and be assured that they are getting advice from the top RDs in the Boston area.” explained President and Founder Gary Klencheski.

Gary Klencheski of Fitcorp and Debra Wein of Sensible Nutrition met several years ago when they were appointed by Governors Weld and Cellucci to serve on the Massachusetts Governor’s Committee on Physical Fitness and Sports. They share common values and philosophies with regards to wellness and health so this business partnership made perfect sense to them. Sensible Nutrition will be providing one-to-one counseling and other health assessment services to Fitcorp’s individual members, including metabolism, body composition and personal health assessments. In addition, they will provide nutrition screenings, seminars and health fairs for Fitcorp’s corporate clients. Both companies have similar approaches: they recommend solutions to their clients based on sound, scientific evidence; and they only employ the most qualified, credentialed and dynamic professionals in their respective fields.

“We are thrilled to be a partner with Fitcorp. Whether Fitcorp’s members are interested in managing their weight, improving their athletic performance, promoting their health, reducing their risk of chronic disease or simply increasing their daily energy levels, a sensible nutrition plan is a key component to helping them to reach their goals.” explained Debra Wein, Founder and President of Sensible Nutrition.
About Sensible Nutrition

Founded in 1994, Sensible Nutrition is a Hingham, MA based company whose mission is to empower its clients to make positive long-lasting changes to their health by educating them about nutrition. Sensible Nutrition’s sister company, Wellness Workdays (www.wellnessworkdays.com) is a leading provider of organizational wellness programs aimed at improving employee health while boosting productivity and employee satisfaction and cutting health care and insurance costs. Wellness Workdays provides custom tailored programs for each corporate client, including on-site assessment services, monthly lectures, on-site fitness classes (yoga and personal training,) walking programs, newsletters, and website content. Sensible Nutrition has worked with hundreds of companies across New England, including American Express, Arnold Worldwide, Boston Ballet, Cornell University, EMC, Harvard Business School, Putnam Investments, and State Street. For more information about Sensible Nutrition or Wellness Workdays, visit www.sensiblenutrition.com or www.wellnessworkdays.com or call 781.741.5483.

About Fitcorp

Fitcorp is Greater Boston's largest locally owned health fitness center, serving over 175 corporations and over 10,000 members overall. Fitcorp began in 1979 with President and Founder Gary Klencheski under the philosophy that healthy employees help companies succeed. Fitcorp was the first fitness center in Boston to offer health promotion programs as an integrated component of a company's overall employee benefits package. For more information about Fitcorp, visit www.fitcorp.com.

Contacts

Sensible Nutrition
Kim Panton, 617-510-5690
kim@sousacommunications.com


Permalink: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20091112005749/en

My trip to DC and my presentation at Mitre

I just returned from Washington DC, where I presented a lecture "How to Be A Nutritionist or Just Think Like One" to the employees at Mitre (http://www.mitre.org/)! What a great group!! Lots of excellent questions and participation... from McLean, VA, Bedford, MA and Colorado!

I spoke about how individuals can use their BMI (body mass index) to assess their current weight and health risk for chronic diseases, such as hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, etc,  as well as specific steps they can take to achieve a healthy weight and lifestyle.

We talked about how to determine how many calories each person needs daily, how to translate that to the correct amount of foods, how to include exercise (and how much!) as well as how to put this all together into a sustainable meal plan. Of course, we talked about portions, too!

This was the third and final part of a three part series, that Mitre was calling Nutrition School. In part 1, I presented "Healthy Habits for a Healthy Waist" and then Part 2 was "Super Foods". We developed a workbook for their employees, which is available for each to download off their intranet.

Such fun! Looking forward to working more with the fabulous employees at Mitre in 2010!

FDA orders industry-funded food labeling program to stop labeling foods!

Have you ever seen the green check next to the words Smart Choices and bought a product as a result? If so, you’re not alone... Many (savvy!) clients have told me that they have done this themselves. Problem is that the check and those words were industry driven and not necessarily truly smart choices...

Here is an excerpt from a recent NYT article, "Food Label Program to Suspend Operations" (October 24, 2009) by WILLIAM NEUMAN

"Under pressure from state and federal authorities who feared consumers would be misled, the food industry on Friday started backing away from a major labeling campaign meant to highlight the nutritional benefits of hundreds of products. PepsiCo said that it was cutting its ties with the program, called Smart Choices, which features a green checkmark on the front of products that meet its nutritional criteria.

Kellogg’s, which makes Fruit Loops and other sugary cereals that received the program’s seal of approval, said that it would begin phasing out packaging bearing the program logo as its inventories ran out. Officials with the program said that Smart Choices would suspend most of its operations while they waited for the Food and Drug Administration to devise regulations for package-front nutrition labeling. Those rules could differ from the program’s criteria...."

Here is more about the Smart Choices program: http://www.smartchoicesprogram.com/index.html and here is more about the letter dated August 19, 2009 (http://www.fda.gov/Food/LabelingNutrition/LabelClaims/ucm180146.htm ) sent by the FDA in August asking the organization to stop using the flawed system... Hmm.. interesting lag time...

Check out the attached chart here to see what the definitions are for the Smart Choices program. http://www.smartchoicesprogram.com/pdf/Smart%20Choices%20Program%20Nutrition%20Criteria%20Matrix.pdf  You will probably be struck by the added sugars column as I was. In my opinion, cereals should have fewer than 5 grams of added sugars and the total sugar content of the diet should be at a level less than 10 percent of total calories when possible, not the 25% stated here (and recommended by the current USDA guidelines).

According to a newly released AHA scientific statement, (August 2009) published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, "most American women should consume no more than 100 calories of added sugars per day; most men, no more than 150 calories. That’s about 6 teaspoons of added sugars a day for women and 9 for men. The 2001-2004 NHANES (National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey) database showed the average intake of added sugars for all Americans was 22.2 teaspoons per day or about 355 calories. (For comparison,...) soft drinks and other sugar-sweetened beverages are the No. 1 source of added sugars in the American diet. A 12-ounce can of regular soda contains about 130 calories and 8 teaspoons of sugar."

Back to the "Smart Choices" program...

Now check out the Board of Directors below. What do you notice? I notice that the non-industry members don’t have any affiliations listed there. That is VERY surprising and frankly, I haven't seen that done before. If these members are being touted as non-industry, NGO (non-governmental agencies) and/or Academics, then what are their affiliations and credentials?

Board of Directors Representing Non-Industry (NGOs, Academics):

Dr. Dennis Bier
Houston, TX

Dr. Mary Hager
Washington, DC

Dr. Richard Kahn
Alexandria, VA

Dr. Eileen Kennedy
Boston, MA

Board of Directors Representing Industry (Participating Smart Choices Program™ Companies):

Dr. Celeste Clark
Kellogg's
Battle Creek, MI

Dr. Susan Crockett
General Mills
Minneapolis, MN

Mr. Chris Doherty
Kraft Foods North America
Northfield, IL

Ms. Nancy Schnell
Unilever U.S.
Englewood Cliffs, NJ

In addition, Mr. Michael Hughes of The Keystone Center, Denver, Colorado will hold a seat on the Smart Choices Program Board of Directors

As it turns out, for instance, Dr, Eileen Kennedy is a professor at Tufts University’s Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, a highly respected university. She did work at the USDA. (Kennedy bio: http://provost.tufts.edu/1174149600661/Provost-Page-prov2w_1174149601179.html )

Dr. Richard Kahn is the retired Chief Scientific and Medical Officer of the American Diabetes Association in Alexandria, VA (http://www.diabetes.org/for-media/pr-kahn-retirement.jsp )

Dr. Bier is a pediatric endocrinologist at Baylor Medicine. As it turns out, these are all highly respected individuals… still left wondering why their affiliations are not listed....

The bottom line is that the system is flawed if foods such as Fruit Loops and Cookie Crisps meet this criteria and this is confusing for consumers. One of my nutrition clients, for instance, said that she specifically purchased those cereals because of the green check...

There are too many things a smart consumer needs to know when trying to make a good decision at the supermarket. Until a system is designed and supported by an objective organization, such as The Center for Science in The Public Interest, for instance, let's stick with just the facts... such as the Nutrition Facts Panel on the food label... as long as you know how to read them.

Just to clarify some confusing items on the food labels...

Nutrient Content Descriptors...The following terms may be listed to describe the level of a nutrient in a food:

Some tricky ones first...

Light - this term could mean two things! First, the nutritionally altered product could contain one-third fewer calories or half the fat of the reference food. Second, that the sodium content of a low calorie, low fat food has been reduced by 50 percent. Beware - the term "light" still can be used to describe such properties as texture and color.

Low - The product can be eaten frequently without exceeding dietary guidelines. For example: low fat: 3 grams or less per serving. But, beware, reduced fat is very different! Reduced fat means that the product is nutritionally altered to contain 25 percent less fat than the regular or reference product.

Lean and extra lean are terms used to describe meat poultry, seafood and game meats only. Why do they need their own category? I am not sure either.
       - Lean: less than 10 g fat, less than 4 g saturated fat and less than 95 mg cholesterol per serving and per
       100 g.
       - Extra lean: less than 5 g fat, less than 2 g saturated fat and less than 95 mg cholesterol per serving and
       per 100 g.

These definitions are as you might expect....

Free - The product contains no amount of, or "physiologically inconsequential" amounts of one or more of the following: fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, sugars and calories. Synonyms for "free" include: "without", "no" and "zero".

*Low - The product can be eaten frequently without exceeding dietary guidelines. For example:

Low saturated fat: 1 g or less per serving

Low sodium: less than 140 mg per serving

Very low sodium: less than 35 mg per serving

Low cholesterol: less than 20 mg per serving

Low calorie: 40 calories or less per serving

High - The food contains 20 percent or more of the Daily Value for a particular nutrient in a serving.

Good source - One serving of the food contains 10 to 19 percent of the Daily Value for a particular nutrient.

Less - The food, whether altered or not, contains 25 percent less of a nutrient or of calories than the
reference food. For example, pretzels that have 25 percent less fat than potato chips could carry the term.

"Fewer" is also an acceptable synonym.

More - The food, whether altered or not, contains a nutrient that is at least 10 percent of the Daily Value more than the reference food.

Be sure to read labels carefully so that you know you are making the best choice for your health.

What do you look for in a cereal? Any favorite brands to share with other readers? What do you think about the new sugar recommendations? Please share your thoughts. If you’ve learned something interesting, let me know...

Exercise at the workplace works!

Here is an interesting article about the benefits of bringing exercise to the workplace...

On-the-job exercise good for employee and employer

Wed Oct 28, 2009 3:57pm EDT
By Anne Harding

 

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Programs in the workplace designed to get people to exercise can improve fitness, cut cholesterol levels, reduce job stress and even improve attendance, a new analysis of the medical literature shows.

 

But it's still not clear what makes for the most effective type of program, Dr. Vicki S. Conn of the University of Missouri in Columbia, the lead author of the research, told Reuters Health.

 

"We do have really good evidence that the interventions do work," she said. "What we couldn't say from this is that this intervention works better than that intervention."

 

Conn and her colleagues looked at dozens of studies of workplace physical activity interventions. The studies included about 38,000 people.

 

They found significant positive effects for the interventions on "physical activity behavior," meaning whether or not people became more active, and also on fitness level. The programs also helped fuel healthy changes in lipids (meaning harmful fats in the blood such as triglycerides), measures of body size, work attendance, and job stress, the researchers report.

 

The more effective programs had several characteristics in common: a facility for exercising on site; they were developed with the help of the company; and people were able to exercise during the workday rather than having to come in early or stay late. But it wasn't clear whether offering rewards helped.

 

While evidence is scarce on the long-term costs of workplace physical activity interventions, Conn noted, the fact that they reduce absenteeism suggests they could indeed save money.

 

The current investigation is part of a larger, National Institutes of Health-funded study of physical activity interventions in general, Conn noted. While there's no lack of evidence to show that exercise is good for you, she added, "what we don't know is how to get people to exercise," and the study may help answer that question.

 

SOURCE: American Journal of Preventive Medicine, October 2009.
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved


Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE59R52K20091028

• Do you exercise during the workday?  
• Does your company offer you flex time to do so?
• Have you been asking for an onsite exercise facility but to no avail?  

Please share your thoughts and ideas...

A funny thing happened to me on a recent trip to our nation's capitol. I was on a plane, on my way to DC, while preparing for a lecture I was going to present at Mitre on Super Foods. I had a printout of my slides that I was reviewing when the flight attendant (I was flying Jet blue) offered a snack of either cashews or animal crackers. I wasn't going to eat either but I thought I'd bring home the animal shaped crackers for my kids (thinking they'd think they were cute). As I asked for them, the man sitting next to me said "now those are not a super food!". I had to laugh. Firstly, because he was absolutely right. But, secondly, because he just admitted to reading over my shoulder! He turned out to be a very nice man. (And if he's reading this now, I hope he is laughing too. I don't want any nasty letters.)

And what are the Super Foods I spoke of in my lecture? Here are a few of them....

avocado, broccoli, butternut squash, edamame, flax, french fries (just kidding -- ok you ARE paying attention), kale, kiwi, quinoa and walnuts.

Dannon Settles Activia Lawsuit

Oh, the irony! I was just thinking about the lawsuit against Dannon yogurt's Activia brand when, I walked into a lecture this morning and one of the first questions was just about this subject. The woman said that she had just seen a commercial about Activia and wondered if it was true -- that this Dannon product could improve her digestive system and improve her imunity.

Probiotics are good bacteria that help maintain a healthy intestinal system. A healthy digestive tract has over 400 different kinds of probiotic bacteria that reduce the growth of harmful bacteria. According to research in the American Journal of Clinicial Nutrition, certain probiotics may restore normal bowel function and may help reduce:

• Diarrhea that is a side effect of antibiotics.
• Certain types of infectious diarrhea.
• Inflammation of the ileal pouch (pouchitis) that may occur in people who have had surgery to remove the colon.

These results suggest that eventually probiotics may also be used to:

• Help with other causes of diarrhea.
• Help prevent infections in the digestive tract.
• Help control immune response (inflammation), as in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
  Researchers are studying the use of probiotics for inflammatory bowel disease, colon cancer, and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).

Remember, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not regulate dietary supplements in the same way it regulates medication. A dietary supplement can be sold with limited or no research on how well it works or on its safety. In fact, I have often felt that many companies go a bit too far in their claims that such-and-such product will "boost" or improve immunity. The immune system is such a complex system that such claims are nearly impossible to evaluate much less prove. While there are benefits to probiotics, the lawsuit outlined below states that Dannon just made claims that were a bit too far reaching without adequate science to back them.

As part of the $35 million settlement, the company agreed to make changes to the labeling and advertising of Activia and DanActive by increasing the visibility of the scientific names of the "probiotic" cultures in the yogurts, court documents said. Dannon also agreed to remove the word "immunity" from its DanActive products. The current labels that say the yogurt has "a positive effect on your digestive tract's immune system" will be reworded to say the yogurt will "interact with your digestive tract's immune system."

Dannon Settles Activia Lawsuit
And just as another side note... as I was looking into this topic, I came across a website which I thought might provide some interesting and UNBIASED information on probiotics... The site is: www.usprobiotics.org. But, then I checked to see who they were and found that they are sponsored by the California Dairy Research Foundation AND Dairy and Food Culture Technologies! So... I kept looking...

More reliable places to look for good info on probiotics...

New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/29/health/29well.html

Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology:
July 2008 - Volume 42 - Issue - pp S104-S108:
http://journals.lww.com/jcge/Abstract/2008/07001/Recommendations_for_Probiotic_Use_2008.12.aspx

WebMD

http://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/tc/probiotics-topic-overview

Shared via AddThis

One bad burger! Are there more?

Still thinking about this weekend's NYT article on how an otherwise healthy 22 year old dance instructor became paralyzed from E Coli after having dinner with her family. She had eaten a burger tainted with E. coli.

A small (but scary) excerpt from the article follows:

"Stephanie Smith, a children’s dance instructor, thought she had a stomach virus. The aches and cramping were tolerable that first day, and she finished her classes. Stephanie Smith, 22, was paralyzed after being stricken by E. coli in 2007. Officials traced the E. coli to hamburger her family had eaten. Then her diarrhea turned bloody. Her kidneys shut down. Seizures knocked her unconscious. The convulsions grew so relentless that doctors had to put her in a coma for nine weeks. When she emerged, she could no longer walk. The affliction had ravaged her nervous system and left her paralyzed.

Ms. Smith, 22, was found to have a severe form of food-borne illness caused by E. coli, which Minnesota officials traced to the hamburger that her mother had grilled for their Sunday dinner in early fall 2007........."

"Ms. Smith’s reaction to the virulent strain of E. coli was extreme, but tracing the story of her burger, through interviews and government and corporate records obtained by The New York Times, shows why eating ground beef is still a gamble. Neither the system meant to make the meat safe, nor the meat itself, is what consumers have been led to believe.

“Ground beef is not a completely safe product,” said Dr. Jeffrey Bender, a food safety expert at the University of Minnesota who helped develop systems for tracing E. coli contamination. He said that while outbreaks had been on the decline, “unfortunately it looks like we are going a bit in the opposite direction.”

Food scientists have registered increasing concern about the virulence of this pathogen since only a few stray cells can make someone sick, and they warn that federal guidance to cook meat thoroughly and to wash up afterward is not sufficient. A test by The Times found that the safe handling instructions are not enough to prevent the bacteria from spreading in the kitchen."

Burgers made with 100% beef (whoever thought I'd be saying anything good about a Bubba burger, Marty?) and fewer processed parts as well as safe handling practices may be an important part of protecting yourself if you are still going to eat burgers... makes me worry! But so did the spinach scare....

Sticking with the vegetarian option, though.....
Let me know if you still feel ok eating burgers that you have NO idea where the meat comes from after reading this article. In the burger that paralyzed Ms. Smith, the "meat", made from a mix of slaughterhouse trimmings and a mash-like product derived from scraps that were ground together at a plant in Wisconsin, came from four slaughterhouses from the US and South America, all of which had little or no testing. While I don't want to discuss the processing here, (for fear of upsetting the queasy) you MUST read the article to learn about the contamination that can go on under these circumstances.

I'd be interested in your thoughts. Here is the full article. Please read it!
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/04/health/04meat.html

Are your friends making you fat?

I recently read a story in the New York Times titled “Are your friends making you fat” and I have to say, I loved it. I also posted the link on my Wellness Workdays Facebook Page directing people to the article. I am a true believer of positive reinforcement. I read the article and I kept thinking, finally … research to support this concept! I have always tried to encourage clients to surround themselves with people who are positive, active, healthy and now the research is there to support it!

The article reads… : “By analyzing the Framingham data (note: more data from Framingham. Wow! It never ends), Christakis and Fowler say, they have for the first time found some solid basis for a potentially powerful theory in epidemiology: that good behaviors — like quitting smoking or staying slender or being happy — pass from friend to friend almost as if they were contagious viruses. The Framingham participants, the data suggested, influenced one another’s health just by socializing. And the same was true of bad behaviors — clusters of friends appeared to “infect” each other with obesity, unhappiness and smoking. Staying healthy isn’t just a matter of your genes and your diet, it seems. Good health is also a product, in part, of your sheer proximity to other healthy people.”

As I consider this, I realize that I also practice this myself… In college, I had several friends who I would work out with regularly at the various Cornell facilities or gyms around campus. In grad school, I often found myself walking to Columbia Univ. (120th street) from 88th street, where I lived with a friend or two to squeeze in some activity in an otherwise tight, working / grad school schedule. Bringing it forward, my husband is a vegetarian who loves working out and my friends and I often have dinner parties where we each bring a healthy dish (with some yummy desserts of course!) to one another’s house rather than going to a restaurant with lots of oversized portions and meals laden with sugar, salt and fat! Weekends, we are often with the kids, hiking at some Trustees (of Reservations) properties with friends.

Of course, I am not suggesting you run out and dump any negative influencers in your life as I have done. Just kidding!! I would not do that! We all hit some lows in life and need the support of good friends with big hearts. But, just take a moment to think about who you surround yourself with on a daily basis. Are they helping you reach your goals or quietly sabotaging them? The reality is that we all have our ups and downs, but making a decision to lead a healthier life might not be enough. It seems that we need to make the decision and surround ourselves with (at least) a few others who feel the same way.

Welcome

Welcome to my Wellness Workdays Blog. I am looking forward to sharing news, interesting articles, thoughts and experiences with you. My intention is to bring you up to date, scientifically based research in the areas of nutrition, fitness, worksite wellness and employee health. Please check in regularly. I hope you will find my posts informative and pertinent. As always, feel free to reach me at anytime with questions, thoughts or comments. Thanks for your continued support.