Health Tip: Touch your toes
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Head, shoulders, knees and toenails?
Did you know that one in every four adults has experienced or will
experience fungal infection of the nails at least once by the time they
hit age forty?  Most of those people will have a toenail infection. And
it's totally preventable. People generally take good care of their
fingernails, cleaning them after they get out of the shower. But most of
us forget about our toes. A daily scrub and cleaning of the toes and
toenails can prevent a painful fungus from growing. As an added bonus,
reaching down to clean your toes will give you a chance to stretch out your tired leg muscles.
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Healthy Workplace: Case Study
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Co-workers bond as they get healthy together
Comprised of six west coast offices, law firm Bullivant Houser Bailey PC
was singled out as a "West Coast litigation powerhouse" by Chambers
USA's "America's Leading Lawyers for Business." Unfortunately, many of
the factors driving successful legal services firms are the same ones that lead to high health care costs.
In partnership with their benefits broker, Bullivant sought
assistance in assessing, planning, designing and rolling out a
strategic wellness program that was tailored to the diverse, inclusive
culture at the firm. As expected, Recess delivered just that in a fun and effective teams-based approach, which encouraged deep employee engagement in healthy lifestyle programs.
A year later, the program has created an impressive ground swell
among employees. And, Recess has since rolled out wellness programs at
each of Bullivant Houser Bailey PC's six sites.
Employee comments:
 "I loved to see coworkers getting enthused about wellness and seeing the changes in what people were fixing for themselves for
lunch in the lunchroom."
 "I really enjoyed the stretching class. Not only did it help me meet
and briefly socialize with co-workers I otherwise would not have, it
also was a great way to de-stress and come back to my desk ready to
tackle my work."
 "I enjoy doing some of the stretching exercises at my desk, and find I have fewer uncomfortable days (and nights). I am much more aware of what I'm eating and feeding my family."
READ MORE »
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The Executive: Full Service Wellness Package
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Change culture. Change health. Change lives.
Recess' full service program gives you everything you would expect
from a science-based corporate wellness program, but with that added
extra mile we go to drive participation and make it fun and easy for
employees, including:
- Custom corporate wellness program development and strategy.
- Employee population health risk analysis.
- Health Risk Assessement roll-out and interpretation.
- Start tracking return on investment (ROI) data from day one. Metrics document defined and created up front.
- Corporate wellness team start-up, coaching and development.
- We help you set-up and track your custom wellness program using deep integration.
We coordinate with: EAP, disease management programs, health care
providers, benefits broker, recruitment and human resources.
- Design and rollout of custom health intervention campaigns.
- Monthly or quarterly management updates and data review.
- An expert Recess consultant at the table during health plan renewal.
- "Recess Approved Fun Workplace" seal on your recruitment site.
Request a quote today »
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| How much protein is enough?
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A little goes a long way
We've all heard it, when we're out to lunch:
"I'm feeling
weak; I need some protein."
In the post-Atkin's aftermath the diet world
has been prescribing high levels of protein and low levels of carbohydrates as
an answer to weight loss. However the average North
American gets more than enough protein daily, about 50% more than the
recommended daily amount.
Can that much protein really be good for you?
Perhaps the
largest problem with a high-protein diet (HPD) is what they've taught us about
carbohydrates and nutrition. HPDs tend to lump good and bad carbohydrates
with one another, as well as different kinds of protiens.
Proteins and
carbohydrates digest at vastly different rates depending on where they come
from. Only proteins from eggs, whey, and some fish are absorbed into the
bloodstream rapidly, meaning that getting a protein fix from a piece of chicken
rarely alleviates a feeling of weakness and fatigue.
Simple carbohydrates, like
white bread and processed wheat, get broken down too quickly in the body and
end up turning into sugar. Carbohydrates from seeds and whole grains, however,
tend to metabolize slower, burning at a steadier pace. 
At the start of a HPD, where the body is
deprived of complex carbohydrates, the majority of weight lost comes from
water. The body alters its metabolic pathways to
utilize more fat and protein. Ketone bodies (a byproduct of fat use) and high
levels of urea (a byproduct of protein use) make you "anorectic," suppressing
your appetite. Great, right?
Well, when excess
protein is broken down nitrogen compounds form in the blood and must be
filtered out by the kidneys. The kidneys then require a great deal more water
to flush everything out.
Such a
radical shift in your body's natural method of breaking down nutrients can be
hard on your digestive system. So hard, in fact, that recent research has
linked HPDs to chronic illnesses. Though it's a burgeoning field, scientists at
the Department of Nutrition of the Harvard School of Public Health, have linked
HPDs to osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease.
So how much
protein do you need?
Unfortunately there is no magical answer for any one
individual. The Institute of Medicine recommends that adults get a minimum of
0.8 grams of protein for every kilogram of body weight per day-that's about 64
grams for a 160 pound adult.
64 grams may seem like a lot to some people, but a
piece of porterhouse steak the size of a deck of playing cards has about 38
grams of protein. Unfortunately it also has about 44 grams of fat, 16 of which
are saturated. Two cups of cooked lentils will give you the same amount of
protein, but only 1 gram of fat.
So, as in
any healthy lifestyle, moderation is key. Moderate the amount of carbohydrates
in relation to the amount of protein you consume. Variety is the spice of life. Try to vary your sources of protein by experimenting with beans & rice, legumes, grains and other plant based proteins in addition to meats and dairy.
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