Snacks in the Drive Through Window...
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| may pack more calories than they appear.
The Snack Food Stadium  | Is it just us, or are items being labeled as "snack food" popping up on all kinds of menus recently?
Apparently, the LA Times noticed the trend as well. Turns out the number of menu items with some version of "snack" in the name has nearly tripled since 2007.
Problem is, these "snack" items from restaurants often pack the same amount of calories as an entree you might make at home. Take the Sweet Corn Tamale Ravioli from California Pizza Kitchen. It's on their "Small Cravings" menu, yet packs almost 450 calories. We can't imagine the fried artichoke hearts are much better.
We know that healthy snacks can be hard to come by in an office--what's the situation like for you? How 'bout starting a snack revolution and swapping out the candy bowl for some fresh fruit or veggies and hummus? You'll save yourself from massive amounts of sodium and preservatives, plus no inhaling exhaust fumes from the car in front of you at the drive through. But if your coworkers are loathe to give up their vending machine sugar fixes, there are always more drastic options...
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It's Like Summer Camp for Adults...
| Without having to clean your cabin.
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
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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 $400
Cost:
$250 a month
Specials?
If your company is a client of Recess Wellness, did you know your employees receive 10% off the cost of the program? It's true!
Some companies are even subsidizing the cost of the program for their employees. Still unsure about doing down dogs next to your coworkers? Just ask the folks at eROI. They did a great blog post on their office yoga sessions.
Can I try it out first?
Sure! Come to a free preview event on Sunday, June 27th at Peninsula Park. We're getting on board with the Portland Office of Transportation and participating in the Sunday Parkways North Portland program. The Recess crew will be on hand along with some of our practitioners, leading sample classes in yoga, pilates, and hula hooping--similar to what you'll see later in the summer!
More questions?
Email Kaitlin
Sign up before it fills up! >>
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Got the Workplace Review Blues?
| You're not alone.
First, the depressing, though perhaps not surprising truth. A lot of Americans are unsatisfied with their jobs. We're talking big numbers here. In a 5,000 household survey, only 45% of those surveyed said they were satisfied with their jobs. That's down from 61% in 1987.
One might be quick to blame to the economy, but satisfaction numbers have been going down throughout the past 20 years, regardless of boom or bust.
And the job hasn't just been in one category--people seem to be less satisfied with all aspects of their jobs, from interest in their work to job security.
A recent New York Times article points out that the causes of this dissatisfaction can come from the usual suspects--long hours, bad bosses, office bullies--but also brings attention to another possible culprit: the performance review.
In theory, annual reviews sound like a great idea, and can be a catalyst for positive change if executed correctly. However, such reviews seem to be in the minority. Robert I. Sutton, a Stanford University management professor, writes, "In the typical
case [of the performance review], it's done so badly it's better not to do it at all."
And Samuel A. Culbert, a clinical psychologist who teaches at the
Anderson School of Management at the University of California, Los
Angeles, wrote an entire book whose title ("Get Rid of the Performance Review!") pretty strongly conveys his feelings on the matter. His reasoning? "Annual reviews not only create a high level of stress for workers,
he argues, but end up making everybody - bosses and subordinates - less
effective at their jobs. He says reviews are so subjective - so
dependent on the worker's relationship with the boss - as to be
meaningless."
Perhaps your company is on board and has an awesome system of executing reviews or they've done away with them entirely. But if they're still firmly in place and still cause a little extra stress once a year, it's not really that big of a deal, right? Well, maybe...
But workplace-induced stress can have effects that reach far outside of the office. Your health could be seriously at risk--Danish researchers reported on a 15-year-study of 12,000 nurses finding that nurses struggling with excessive work pressures had double the risk for a heart attack. And a British study tracking 6,000 workers for 11 years found that those who regularly worked more than 10 hours a
day had a 60 percent higher risk for heart disease than those who put
in 7 hours.
Even if you think the ol' ticker is doing fine, if your office is prone to workplace bullying (think belittling comments, gossip, or intentional exclusion of certain people from events), you may be losing sleep--even if you're not the victim, but simply witnessing it happening around you.
Plus, any feelings of burn out at work could be creeping in to your home. Parents who complain of feeling burned out at work are more likely to have kids who are burned out at school.
All of this to say that your happiness in and with your place of work matters. A lot. For the health of yourself and your family, you can and should have a confidant and mentor in your office--someone you can go to and feel safe discussing issues, both the good and the bad, that affect you at work.
And if you're in a supervisory or management role--all that hard work you do in making sure employees know they're valuable and appreciated, all those perks you provide that make your office a unique and fun place to be? They're worth it! Every time you can offer someone an empathetic ear or genuine pat on the back, even more than adding to the health and happiness of the country, you could be saving a life!
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