Now that over six of 10 Americans are classified as overweight or obese, it’s time for employers to help fight the battle of the bulge. Every year, excess weight costs businesses some $117 billion in lost productivity and increased health-care costs (and you know who ends up picking up those costs). Employers who help workers get in shape could boost their bottom line!
How can employers help?
Add bottled water to beverage vending machines
Add healthy snacks like nuts and fruit to snack vending machines
Encouraging employees to walk at noon, or during short morning or afternoon breaks
Adding clear and safe walking paths outside, and maintaining them
Providing enough time for workers to head to the gym at noon, perhaps with flexible scheduling
Supporting physical activity and breaks throughout the day, especially during meetings
Offering healthy food at meetings and in the cafeteria
Providing educational materials on health and fitness
Partnering with a local health care provider for classes and support in smoking cessation and stress management
Partnering with a local gym or Y for fitness classes before or after work – and offering the space for the class, and a place for employees to change clothes (and maybe even shower)
Putting in bike racks, and maybe even a basketball hoop or half-court
Why not suggest some of the changes at your workplace, or set a good example by organizing a lunchtime stroll?
Whatever you have going today – and whatever the weather outside – your sun is shining! This is Coach Dar’s theme song for difficult days. Join Dar in the Ripe and Juicy class, starting today. It’s not too late!
Don’t let anyone or anything get you down.
One way to stay positive is to get moving! Exercise increases your endorphins, the feel-good brain chemicals. So stand up, click on the arrow, and do a happy dance.
Two themes consistently emerging from cancer research: Vegetables and fruits help reduce risk, while animal products and other fatty foods are frequently found to increase risk.
When the terms “fiber” and “fat” are used, it is easy to forget the foods from which they come. When you hear about the dangers of fat, think meat- and dairy-based diets, aided and abetted by oily foods. Fiber is found in whole grains, vegetables, fruits, and beans. There is no fiber in any product from an animal.
A vegetarian menu is a powerful and pleasurable way to achieve good health. The vegetarian eating pattern is based on a wide variety of foods that are satisfying, delicious, and healthful.
Coach Dar will lead you through the garden for 10 weekdays, connecting your health, nature, living “green,” and – of course – being sizzling hot this summer! Look for daily recipes, too!
Class starts tomorrow Monday, June 8 and goes through Friday, June 19 for 10 weekdays (M-F, M-F). This is a great format for summer, when you may have a full social life – and also gives you time to catch up and implement some of the tips you’ve learned through the first week.
Just register here if you’re not a member. (Members are automatically enrolled in every class.) Sign up now, and you’ll get the class email in your inbox tomorrow morning.
Whether you plant an acreage, a backyard garden, a few pots on your patio, or nothing at all, this class is filled with good information for your healthy, happy, sizzling HOT summer! Grow into a beautiful new you at Marilu.com.
Marilu is being considered for an Emmy nomination for her guest appearance in the original Starz network sitcom Party Down.
You can check out Marilu’s appearance in the “Pepper McMasters Singles Seminar” episode on Starz (next airing June 12 and 13, check your listings for time – and set your DVR now!). Or you can get it On Demand or download it via Starz Play.
Here’s a little clip … it will make you want to see more.
Did you know that attitudes are contagious – just like colds?
Too much time spent with people who have pessimistic, downbeat, or parasitic personalities will have you searching for the “drawback” in every situation in no time! And really – who needs that?
But – lucky for us! – the opposite is also true! Surround yourself with happy, upbeat, fun people and you just can’t help but look on the bright side of life!
News from out west just blew in about an awesome new series celebrating one of our very favorite things: charities and the celebrities who are obsessed with them!
The show is called Breaking Bread and is a 12-episode series of privately hosted dinner parties where celebrities get a chance to talk about their favorite cause. The latest one touched on an issue that just so happens to be pretty near and dear to my heart: veganism!
The dinner was hosted by GirlieGirlArmy general Chloé Jo Berman and featured Meredith Salenger, Corey and Susie Feldman, Persia White, John Joseph, Mickey Madden, Emily Deschanel, Marilu Henner, Mariel Hemmingway, Gene Baur, Victoria Moran, Rory Freedman and Laban Pheidias.
There’s no word yet on when the show will air but we’ll be sure to keep you posted!
Here’s a delightful song to help you get you moving today.
Take a walk or just walk in place.
Fight boredom-brain and get your blood out of your feet and back to your head.
Fight the flat booty you get from sitting all day.
Okay, so the studies are still based on rodents. But pay attention – you may recognize yourself in this behavior.
A rodent’s brain makes the connection between taste and calories to keep track of how much it has eaten. That is, the “enough calories to make it though the maze again” signal depends on flavor.
Sugar subs like saccharin, sucralose, aspartame, neotame, and acesulfame-K remove that link between calories (as energy) and taste. The taste buds know there’s food coming in, but the body doesn’t get the energy it’s expecting. And so (to get through the maze again), the rodent must keep eating. Over time, that leads to fat rats.
So let’s tie this to what we know about people. We don’t know yet whether the human brain works the same way as the rat brain. What has been proven is that the taste of sweetness is mildly addicting for humans – the more you eat, the more you need to feel satisfied. And since sugar subs are 200 to 13,000 times as sweet as sugar, they’re likely to increase your cravings.
Get out of the rat maze of diet soda. Refresh yourself and quench your thirst with a glass of water.
