We eat first with our eyes...so why not protect them?

We certainly know, by now, that including fish in our diet is good for our hearts and waistlines, and current research is showing that women who regularly eat fish rich in omega-3 fatty acids are less likely to develop eye diseases like age-related macular degeneration. The Harvard Women's Health Study followed more than 39,000 women over a ten year period and reported that those who consumed 1 serving of fish per week were 42% less likely to develop age-related macular degeneration than those who ate less than a serving each month.

Omega-3 fatty acids are proven to have inflammatory effects, so eating fish like mackerel, salmon, sardines, bluefish and swordfish as part of a balanced diet may help with your eye health. Weekly consumption of fish is largely encouraged in the Mediterranean diet along with daily consumption of fruits, vegetables, whole grain cereals, and low-fat dairy products; weekly consumption of fish, poultry, tree nuts, and legumes; and high consumption of monounsaturated fatty acids, primarily from olives and olive oils. In addition to aiding in eye health, the Mediterranean diet also reduces the risk of metabolic syndrome - risk factors that boost the risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes.

Try adding more fish into your weekly meals. In fact, try out this recipe for Roasted Salmon with Tomatoes and Olives and let me know what you think!

Employers across the country are starting to notice that the stress of personal finances can spill into the workplace in the same way as poor physical health according to a recent story on FoxBusiness.com (http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/2011/02/03/financial-literacy-shares-spotlight-health-wellness/). Despite the recovering economy, the Mercer Annual Workplace Survey and other polls are showing that as many as ¾ of Americans say that money causes them stress.

Financial stress can show up in the workplace in several ways including absenteeism and tardiness, much like the workplace problems associated with poor physical health. According to Mark McAvoy from the Society for Human Resource Management, stressed out employees spend an average of about 20 hours a month dealing with their financial situations. “This equals about 30% of our 40 hour work week and includes time to go to the bank or call the debt collector from the office,” said McAvoy.

To counter the bad effects of financial stress on a workforce, companies like Prudential are tackling the problem in the same proactive way that they handle physical health issues. During the financial collapse in 2009, Prudential developed a Personal Budget Coaching program which connects an employee with a personal financial coach to do an analysis and develop a budget. Mercer partners with a third-party vendor, Financial Engines Inc., to offer employees professional management and provides a do-it-yourself investment option.

Have you noticed financial stress affecting your employees? How have you reacted to it? Have you taken any proactive measures to help your employees be more attentive at work? Would love to read your feedback in comments below or on Twitter @DebraWein, #wellnessworkdays.

Can Facebook help you finally reach your goals?

Does posting an idea on Facebook or tweeting a resolution make it more likely to come true? I recently read an article in The New York Times that talked about people uploading New Year’s Resolution videos to YouTube and posting promises on social media sites in order to keep themselves accountable. A girl who goes by the name, Glamourista16, posted a video about her desire to stop eating so much at Chipotle, and it was viewed 38,000 times on YouTube! So, do you think it works? Will Glamourista16 eat fewer burritos because she vowed online to do so?

Economists say that people who make their promises public are much more inclined to fulfill them. The price of failure is different for everyone, but I think we can agree that no one wants to feel ashamed or embarrassed, and certainly don’t want to do so in front of all their friends and followers. SticK.com, a social media site for tracking personal goals, puts an actual price on failure. To use the site, the resolver logs on, puts in their goals and then puts their money on the line – literally. Users put in their credit card information and designate where the money will go if they don’t succeed. Users also pick a “referee” who can confirm or deny their successes, as well as some cheerleaders to keep up their motivation. As an example, Professor Karlan, a professor at Yale University and co-founder of sticK.com stands to lose $3,250 if he doesn’t reach his goal of editing his slides following each lecture. Is reaching your goal or keeping your resolution important enough to you that you are willing to pay if you don’t succeed?

In many ways, goals make you feel vulnerable. So, does an announcing your goal to the World Wide Web really help with success? Many social media users say yes, it does. Posting a message on sticK.com or other sites such as 43things.com  is a way of putting your goals out there, without admitting them to family and friends. The fear of failure is still there, but motivators for success are plenty as well. Not to mention that most sites help you find others who share your goal, so you automatically are a part of a community of like-minded people.  

But is putting money on the line upping the ante, or taking things too far? Gym-Pact offers motivational fees to gym members who agree to pay a fee for missing their workout (even as much as $10). The idea was born in a behavioral economics class at Harvard University and is still somewhat experimental, with pilot programs at Bally Total Fitness and Planet Fitness in Boston. Future changes to the pact may include incentives to work out, like lower membership fees, rather than just a penalty for not going to the gym.  

Goal setting is a very important part of changing unwanted behaviors and making that change a reality. From fear, to money, to the promise of a new wardrobe or car, to even the smallest of rewards – I say go for it. Do what works for you and helps you to stay on track with your own health and wellness goals. Feel free to share your goals or comments with me on Facebook.com/WellnessWorkdays, I’d “like” to hear them!

Nutrition Know-how. Do your employees really know how to eat well?

If your employees are like most Americans, they probably think they eat better than they actually do. A recent survey by Consumer Reports showed that 90 percent of Americans think their diet is healthy, yet according to a recent Centers for Disease Control report, less than one-third of Americans manage to consume even two servings of fruits and vegetables per day! The goal is 5-9 servings each day!


Do your employees claim to know everything they need to know about nutrition? Have them take the Consumer Reports quiz. If they do alright on that one, have them try this one from Center for Science in the Public Interest so they can rate their own diet.  If your employees are interested in nutrition, try a few of these ideas from some of our clients:
- Set up a pot-luck healthy lunch
- Organize a "Salad Spinner" where each employee chooses a different salad ingredient to bring in (i.e. baby spinach, cherry tomatoes, sugar snap peas, etc.)
- Invite a Registered Dietitian to present a "Super Foods" or "Diet Myths and Facts" seminar 
- Offer  the "Nutrition Price Is Right" or "Nutrition Jeopardy" game in your cafeteria
- Incorporate some healthy resources and links in your newsletters and on your intranet site
- Evaluate your cafeteria, vending and meeting options


Good luck! As a Registered Dietitian, this topic is near and dear to me. Let me know what you do to promote nutrition at your workplace.

Days off and massages, exotic trips, oh my! Worksite wellness incentives

It is always interesting to read about successful worksite wellness programs and so I found this article on incentives, "Gym facilities, rewards, trips 'perk up' workplaces" very interesting. The article talks about a number of different companies and what incentives they have used to motivate employees to adopt healthier lifestyle habits. Several of the companies offered incentives to employees for participating in wellness activities whereas others offered rewards for actual behavior change. The range of incentives offered include discounted gym memberships, lower co-pays, paid days off, trips to exotic locations, free massages and/ or personal training as well as discounts on insurance premiums.

In my experience, an incentive program must first consider the "personality" of the organization as well as the history of wellness at the organization. A well structured program starts out with rewards which are relatively easy to earn (i.e. an employee must attend a screening and/or complete a personal health assessment) and become more progressively difficult, yet still attainable, over time. For instance, some of our clients that offer our Olympic Circle program provide incentives for employees who participate in a combination of onsite or web-based programs, including our 12-week wellness challenges or our popular productivity seminars as well as those who achieve or strive for health related goals. For instance, those employees who are able to lose weight or complete a smoking cessation program earn similar rewards to those who maintain a healthy weight or are already non-smokers.

The overarching goal, of course, for any health professional managing a worksite wellness program, is to offer these extrinsic motivators or incentives to employees and then have these new behaviors (physical activity and healthy eating, for example) become intrinsic so that employees want to continue them regardless of whether there is an incentive.

When designing the program, be sure to use your needs and interest surveys and personal health assessments for specifics on what behaviors employees are looking to change or adopt. Good luck!

Does your company have the right plan for wellness? Follow these steps.

As wellness becomes more respected as a means of moderating health care costs, more and more employers are looking to develop, launch and execute wellness programs. As any wellness professional would agree, this is great news! A recent national survey conducted by The Wellness Councils of America (WELCOA) found than 90 percent of businesses they surveyed, currently offer some form of wellness programming. Hooray!

The not so great news, according to the survey, is that these programs are not as strong as they could be.  A strong and successful wellness program must be carefully planned before it is executed. Unfortunately, according to this survey, over 90 percent of these businesses are simply offering activity-centered programs with little thought to the strategy necessary to promote the right results. These programs typically involve interventions, such as yoga, or Weight Watchers@Work, with little planning, strategy or evaluation measures included. In my experience, some companies claiming to offer wellness programs have the right intentions but the execution is not complete. Furthermore, when companies say they are offering wellness but aren’t reaping the rewards, they incorrectly believe that wellness programs don’t work.

In addition to setting up a long- and short-term strategy, this plan MUST be supported by an innate culture of wellness in the workplace. A company, for instance, with a plethora of unhealthy food in the cafeteria or vending machines which provide options that are high in fat, salt and sugar may make it more difficult for employees to achieve true lifestyle changes. 

Another hallmark of a strong and a positive result-generating wellness program is that it is data driven. In this case, the rationale, activities and the benchmarks are all evidence based using data derived from health care costs and EAP utilization, for example. Furthermore, evaluation methods must be set up in the beginning stages to be sure that results are evaluated and measured.

Developing a strong wellness program is better for employees (and the employer!) than the sporadic plans that are offered at so many companies, but they require clear intention and planning.  To design strategic initiatives, which best enhance employees' health and help employers manage health care costs, consider utilizing the following 7 criteria, offered by WELCOA and supported by research as effective in promoting appropriate behavior change and cost avoidance: 

1. Capture senior level support

2. Create a cohesive wellness team

3. Collect data

4. Craft an operating plan

5. Choose appropriate interventions

6. Create supportive environments

7. Carefully evaluate outcomes

We've seen these steps work for our clients and we are sure they can work for you! For more information on WELCOA’s Seven Benchmarks of Success visit

http://www.welcoa.org/wellworkplace/index.php?category=16 or our website at www.wellnessworkdays.com . 

NYT: While Warning About Fat, U.S. Pushes Cheese Sales

Hello all!  I ran across this very interesting article and am just sorry that this appeared ONLY on page 11 of the NYT yesterday. It is really quite interesting.  The article describes an organization called Dairy Management, which "teamed up with Domino’s to develop a new line of pizzas with 40 percent more cheese, and proceeded to devise and pay for a $12 million marketing campaign." The problem?? "Dairy Management is a marketing creation of the United States Department of Agriculture — the same agency at the center of a federal anti-obesity drive that discourages over-consumption of some of the very foods Dairy Management is vigorously promoting".  HELP! This just doesn't seem appropriate. Remember, the USDA are the ones who publish the Dietary Guidelines for Americans as well! Please see the article below. 

The New York Times: While Warning About Fat, U.S. Pushes Cheese Sales, November 6, 2010, By MICHAEL MOSS

Domino’s Pizza was hurting early last year. Domestic sales had fallen, and a survey of big pizza chain customers left the company tied for the worst tasting pies. Then help arrived from an organization called Dairy Management. It teamed up with Domino’s to develop a new line of pizzas with 40 percent more cheese, and proceeded to devise and pay for a $12 million marketing campaign. Consumers devoured the cheesier pizza, and sales soared by double digits. “This partnership is clearly working,” Brandon Solano, the Domino’s vice president for brand innovation, said in a statement to The New York Times. But as healthy as this pizza has been for Domino’s, one slice contains as much as two-thirds of a day’s maximum recommended amount of saturated fat, which has been linked to heart disease and is high in calories.

And Dairy Management, which has made cheese its cause, is not a private business consultant. It is a marketing creation of the United States Department of Agriculture — the same agency at the center of a federal anti-obesity drive that discourages over-consumption of some of the very foods Dairy Management is vigorously promoting.

Urged on by government warnings about saturated fat, Americans have been moving toward low-fat milk for decades, leaving a surplus of whole milk and milk fat. Yet the government, through Dairy Management, is engaged in an effort to find ways to get dairy back into Americans’ diets, primarily through cheese.  Americans now eat an average of 33 pounds of cheese a year, nearly triple the 1970 rate. Cheese has become the largest source of saturated fat; an ounce of many cheeses contains as much saturated fat as a glass of whole milk.

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NYT: While Warning About Fat, U.S. Pushes Cheese Sales