Art Imitating Life...
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| and portion size.
There are 12 more of these on the way... | It's the question that plagues your midday mind as your gaze drifts dreamily out the window: If Jesus were alive today, would he supersize his fries?
As it turns out, maybe.
After analyzing 52 versions of the painting Last Supper, NPR reports that "Last Supperentree sizes grew by 69 percentover the past millennium."
Let's just hope that in future paintings, we don't find Jesus and his apostles chowing down on KFC Double Downs...
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Health Immersion is Coming...
| Sun, fun, and nicely toned buns.
We all know it's true. Portland summers are too short and too beautiful to spend inside.
Join
us for eight weeks this summer to skip, stretch, cook, crunch, and
karate chop your way to better health. Recess Health Immersion is open
to anyone and everyone. All athletic abilities embraced!
Dates:
July 10 - September 4
Mon & Wed, 6:15-7:30 p.m.
Sat 10:00-11:00 a.m.
The program includes:
* Pre and post body composition/fitness assessment
*
All of our personalized reports
* Seminars on nutrition, cooking, exercise and integrative arts like yoga, Pilates, Tai Chi, Budokon, etc.
* A cool group of "campers" and Recess instructors
* Participant-only web portal access
* Goodie bags and prizes worth over $200
Cost:
$250 a month
Specials?
What's the only thing better than signing up for Health Immersion? Signing up with a friend! When you and a pal sign up from now until May 15th, you'll both get 10% off and a sweet Recess t-shirt. Yea!
More questions?
Email Kaitlin at kaitlin@recesswellness.com
Sign up before it fills up! >>
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Corporate Wellness Horror Stories, Vol II
| It could happen to you!
This month we bring you more corporate wellness stories gone awry. We
share these because they're frequently funny, and as a rule, we like
funny things. But we also want to give you a heads up for potential
red flags to look out for when selecting your own corporate wellness
program--especially those things that can sound good on paper (ie,
group weight loss goals, daily health tips via email, fitness plans), but totally backfire if not implemented correctly.
On her blog, Junkfood Science,
Sandy Szwarc has done a great job of tracking down anecdotes from
employees involved in some sort of corporate wellness program. Often,
their stories are anything but rosy.
One
problem is they way many programs equate dieting and losing weight to
improved health and fitness. Szwarc tells a story about the employer
wellness program at a local insurance
company, "Where a company executive said that thinking about 'wellness'
has quickly become part of the company culture. They started their own
Biggest Loser style competition and employees are gathered for exercise
to the strains of Survivor's 'Eye of the Tiger' over the office PA
system."
Although a hilarious image, the way some programs use peer pressure to
try and get more people to participate resembles a scary kind of group
think. Having everyone counting calories, pounds, and inches,
surrounded by "Daily Health Tips" like "only eat half your lunch!" (we're not making this up), can be especially dangerous to those battling or recovering from eating disorders.
And then there's the numbers game (again from Junkfood Science):
"We use every sneaky, devious
trick we can to get people to do things that are good for them," said
one company president. For example, they price sodas at higher prices
than the diet versions.
Guess nobody told him that diet sodas aren't off the hook in terms of health risks.
"But increasingly it's hitting employees' pocketbooks in far more substantial
ways. Employers, for instance, will raise the amount of health
insurance premiums workers pay by $500, then 'waive' the price increase
if employees agree to a health risk assessment and the inherent
obedience it entails."
What does this even mean? Lift weights and you'll be strong enough to measure an apple? |
Between the group contests, financial manipulation, a messaging pumped
over loud speakers, some of these programs sound more like scenes out
of 1984. Wellness plans for individuals aren't a one-size-fits-all kind of deal, so why should your group wellness plan be? Besides, if you're really looking to lose a lot of weight fast, don't wait for your employer to force you to do so through questionable means, you can always seek radical options yourself from across the border. Like tapeworms.
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