Inside this edition

The right balance... feeling fine

February 2019 vol 8 issue 6zonewellness

n Stay alert at work

n Cabin fever cures

n Food allergy or food intolerance?

n Avoid food poisoning

n Dry feet remedies

n Heed travel advisories

n Journaling can help with depression

n Vaping a new youth trend

n Protect privacy with good passwords

n Are eggs your friends or enemies?

n Energy Zone: Delicious pick-me-ups

There is no shortage of apps out there designed to help you form a habit, and many of those are built on the assumption that all you need is 21 days. But how accurate is this number and where does it come from?

According to sciencealert.com and Pyschology Today, the number started to become fact in 1960 because it was published in a book called Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz, a plastic surgeon who noticed his patients seemed to take about 21 days to get used to their new faces.

However, according to a 2009 study, the time it takes to form a habit really isn’t that clearcut. Researchers from University College London examined the new habits of 96 people over the space of 12 weeks, and found that the average time it takes for a new habit to stick is actually 66 days, but this number is also not set in stone.

The study determined there was a lot of variation, both among people and among habits. Some people are simply more habit resistant than others, and some habits are harder to pick up than others.

So, if you want to develop a new behaviour to improve your health or fitness, don’t despair if three weeks doesn’t do the trick - for most people that’s simply not enough. Stick with it for longer, and you’ll end up with a habit you can keep without thinking. Habits are hard to change, and that’s why developing a good one is really worth the struggle.

Remember: Don’t try too much at once. When we first set fitness resolutions, we’re often inclined to make a goal such as spending every day at the gym, or eating healthy 100% of the time. There is a reason goals like these are easily broken – they are hard to accomplish.

Listen to your body and do what feels good for you. Modify your lifestyle to a healthier one that fits your needs and that you’ll be able to sustain throughout the year. Start with something like only drinking black coffee with no sugar or cream added, or putting away the snack bowl in the evening.

Keep a positive mind set. If you miss a day, don’t stress about it, you can get back on track tomorrow. Staying positive about the journey to better health will help you reach your goals and maintain a healthy lifestyle well into the future.

New habits and the 21 day myth

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Staying alert while at workBefore your boss finds you asleep at your desk or catches your head bobbing in a meeting, try these simple tips to perk up your performance and stay productive and alert at work:

• Incorporate physical activity into your daily routine. Whether it’s an afternoon yoga or weight-lifting session, or a short brisk walk at lunch, keeping your body moving will help to keep your mind relaxed and alert.

• Coffee isn’t always the answer. Consider using vitamin and mineral supplements that help you to stay alert on the days you aren’t feeling on top of your game. Check with your health care professional first.

• Bring nutritious foods with you to work for a healthy afternoon snack.

We all know the office cupboard full of snacks can be tempting, but are those foods beneficial to your health or mental well being? Seasonal fruit such as clementines are healthy alternatives that boast loads of nutrients your body needs to ward off those winter blues that can tap your energy.

• Organize your thoughts and your tasks. You will get to the tasks you need to complete if you prioritize them. Your head will be less muddled once you write down what you need to get done. Once you have that list written, put it in a place where you can see it as soon as you sit at your desk, and enjoy the satisfaction of ticking off those tasks when you are finished them.

Long, cold winters are a fact of life in Canada. But while enjoying a few warm snacks and a hot beverage by a crackling fire might be the ultimate cozy night in, it’s easy to start feeling sluggish when it becomes routine.

When snow and ice conspire to keep you indoors curled up under a blanket in your favourite chair, try these tips to break the habit and get moving:

1. Go for a walk – with snowshoes or cross-country skis if you like – down your favourite snowy path.

2. Trick your body and enjoy guilt-free comfort food treats made with healthier alternatives and smart substitutes.

3. Start a new routine. Before you settle in that chair, why not complete a task in the house first? It could be something like a little dusting, or emptying the dishwasher.

4. Start planning your summer vacation. While it may seem so far off, the great weather will be here before you know it. Give yourself something to look forward to by planning in advance. Choose your location, albeit it your favourite place or somewhere new and do research to get those sedentary juices flowing.

4 ways to break the sedentary cycle and curb cabin fever

The information presented in Wellness Zone has been compiled from sources believed to be reliable. However, it cannot be assumed that all acceptable measures are contained in this article nor that additional measures may not be required under particular or exceptional circumstances, or your own company procedures, or by federal, state/provincial and local law.Application of this information to a specific worksite should be reviewed by a safety professional. Anyone making use of the information set forth herein does so at his/her own risk and assumes any and all liability arising therefrom. Specific medical advice should be obtained through consultation with a physician or other trained health care practitioner. Wellness Zone is published monthly by Smart Workplace Inc. (a division of Skilven Publications)www.smartworkplace.ca All rights reserved. © 2019. No part of this publication is to be copied without permission from the publisher.

President & CEO: Stefan Dreesen

Editor: Kate Van Hoof-Peeren

Sales: Alan Haycroft | Liz Slobodin | Kevin Harvey

TOLL FREE: 1-888-655-4800

Fax: 1-250-487-2104

Mailing Address: 101-196 Wade Ave W Penticton, British Columbia V2A 1T6

www.smartworkplace.ca | info@smartworkplace.ca

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Keep food poisoning out of your kitchenFood poisoning isn’t just something you can get when you grab takeout. If we’re not careful, bacteria that can make you sick can be lurking in even our fanciest home kitchens.

To keep foodborne illnesses out of your kitchen, follow these simple tips:

Clean up. Always wash your hands, serving dishes, utensils and cutting boards thoroughly before and after handling raw foods.

Cook completely following package instructions. Follow Health Canada’s safe internal cooking temperatures chart to ensure that raw meat has been cooked to a safe internal temperature.

Measure accurately. Remove your food from the heat and insert the digital food thermometer through the thickest part of the meat, all the way to the middle. Make sure it’s not touching any bones, since they heat up more quickly and could give a false reading.

Follow these tips for everyone. Food poisoning can affect anyone, not just those with compromised immune systems. It’s not just the young and old at risk. So whether you’re cooking for yourself, a teenager or a toddler, use and encourage safe food handling and cooking practices to keep everyone safe. Find more information at Canada.ca/FoodSafety.

The first examples are a response from your digestive system, meaning you suffer from a food intolerance, the second set of examples are an immune system response, meaning you are allergic.

An allergic response to food can be deathly serious. Symptoms can include chest pain, swelling to airways and lungs and even anaphylaxis which is a very serious and potentially fatal allergic reaction that involves a sudden drop in blood pressure, loss of consciousness and body system failure.

Food allergies can be triggered by even a small amount of the food and occur every time the food is consumed. People with food allergies are generally advised to avoid the offending foods completely.

On the other hand, food intolerances often are dose related; people with food intolerance may not have symptoms unless they eat a large portion of the food or eat the food frequently. For example, a person with lactose intolerance may be able to drink milk in coffee or a single glass of milk, but becomes sick if he or she drinks several glasses of milk.

Food intolerances are harder to pinpoint. You can suffer from heartburn now and then, but is it what you ate that night or because you ate too much? Did those two glasses of red wine at dinner give you a severe hangover the next day, or are you intolerant to the naturally-occurring sulphites in the wine?

Most food intolerances are found through trial and error. If you feel you may be suffering a little too much after eating, consider keeping a food diary to record what you eat and when you get symptoms, and then look for common factors.

Another way to identify problem foods is an elimination diet. You begin by completely eliminating any suspect foods from your diet until you are symptom-free. You then begin to reintroduce the foods, one at a time. This can help you pinpoint which foods cause symptoms.

Talk with your health care provider or a registered dietitian before making changes to your diet, or to discuss certain medications that may help you deal with food intolerance.

Food allergy or food intolerance? Know the difference

Do some foods tend to give you heartburn or headaches? Or does eating a certain food cause you to break out in hives and cause shortness of breath?

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Heeding traveladvisories

Dry feet not uncommon

Lacking moisture is the most common cause of cracked heels. The skin underneath your feet is often dry, rough and chapped.

As anyone who suffers with dry feet knows, the drier your skin gets, the more uncomfortable it becomes. Skin without sufficient moisture loses its elasticity and smoothness. Over time, it becomes flaky and rough. Where you have thicker or callused skin, you might develop painful cracks, which could potentially put you at risk for infections. Absolute Footcare Specialists suggest to apply ointment, oils, creams, or lotions without alcohol ingredients every day— or even twice per day. Usually it’s best to apply them after washing your feet with moisturizing

soap and then put on clean socks to lock in the ointment’s effects. If it’s safe to do so, use a pumice stone to scrub off layers of dead, flaky skin and callus build-up. Home remedies can also help. One such remedy includes soaking feet in a mixture of vinegar / Listerine and Epsom Salts followed up with a scrub and then a moisturizing cream. Visit https://www.wikihow.com/Get- Rid-of-Dry-Skin-on-Feet for other remedies.

Disorders such as Athlete’s foot, psoriasis, eczema, thyroid disease, diabetes and some other skin conditions can be the cause of cracked heels. You should talk with your doctor about the possible causes of your dry feet.

Feet are naturally drier than the skin on other parts of your body. This is because they don’t contain any oil glands, which keep the rest of your skin moist. Instead, your feet have thousands of sweat glands that secrete moisture all the time to keep the top layers of your skin wet enough to be healthy. Unfortunately, that’s not always enough to keep your feet from drying out.

A travel advisory — no matter how strongly worded — cannot legally stop you from traveling to a particular place, but remember you will be traveling at your own risk. And while Canadians tend to be known as nice folks, this does not give you special immunity worldwide, especially when it comes to political unrest or “Mother Nature”.

Travel advisories are released for many reasons, and may also cover areas of the world where a government does not have the ability to respond to the problems of citizens traveling there — for example, if the government doesn’t have an embassy in a particular country.

If you decide to travel regardless of travel warnings, consider taking the following safety precautions:

Register yourself. Let your government know when and where you will be traveling so that you can be reached in an emergency. Visit https://travel.gc.ca/travelling/registration

Check in. Leave a copy of your itinerary with family or friends at home so they know where you’re supposed to be and when. Stay in touch on a regular basis by email or texts if possible.

Keep an eye on the news. If you’re in a place where conditions are unstable, keep yourself posted on what’s happening.

Be prepared. Have a backup plan in case something goes wrong. Find the embassy or consulate in the area you’ll be visiting and carry its contact details with you at all times.

Do your research. Read up on the political or cultural situation of the area you’re visiting and know exactly which threats you might face.

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Journaling has a great way with words

Try to write every day.

To encourage yourself to write in your journal regularly, set aside a few minutes every day.

Make it easy.

Keep a pen and paper handy at all times so that when you want to jot down your thoughts, you can. You can also keep a journal in a computer file.

Write whatever feels right.

Your journal doesn’t need to follow any particular structure. It’s your own private arena to discuss whatever you want. Let the words flow freely without worrying about spelling mistakes or what other people might think.

Use your journal as you see fit.

You don’t have to share your journal with anyone. If you do want to share some of your thoughts with trusted friends and loved ones but don’t want to talk about them out loud, you could show them parts of your journal.

Look at your writing time as personal relaxation time, a time when you de-stress and wind down. Write in a place that’s relaxing and soothing—maybe with a cup of tea. Look forward to your journaling time, and know that you’re doing something good for your mind and body.

According to the University of Rochester Medical Centre, if you find yourself struggling with stress, depression, or anxiety, keeping a journal or “journaling” can help you gain control of your emotions and improve your mental health.

Here are some ways to start and keep a good journal:

Remember when Dear Diary used to be your trusted friend and confidant until your stupid brother stole it from under your mattress? Turns out that writing down your thoughts and feelings can be a positive contributor to your state of mind.

Vaping a new youth trend“Smoking in the Boys Room”? Not anymore. The boys (and girls) are “vaping” instead.

Vaping is a term commonly used for Ecigarettes which are battery-powered devices that try to create the same feeling as smoking cigarettes but without tobacco. They use an e-juice solution that is heated and inhaled. The e-juice varies by brand, but commonly includes propylene glycol, glycerol and flavouring.

Most provinces, except Alberta and Saskatchewan, have legislation that prohibits the use of e-cigarettes by minors. And vaping products containing nicotine require Health Canada approval before they can be sold in Canada. Many e-cigarettes do contain nicotine, the addictive drug in tobacco. Different brands and models of ecigarettes have different amounts of nicotine. When you puff on an e-cigarette and inhale the vapour, the nicotine enters your lungs as a vaporized solution, explains the Canadian Cancer Society.

E-cigarettes are considered less harmful than conventional cigarettes according to cancer.ca, but they still cause harm. And studies on the long-term risks of ecigarettes have not yet been done.

Last year the Federal government introduced Bill S-5 which provides new measures to help manage vaping products. Measures include a ban on the sale of vaping products to those under 18, and the introduction of child-resistant packaging for vaping liquids with nicotine, to help protect children from nicotine poisoning.

As a parent, it’s important to keep in mind that “vaping” is not a healthier alternative to smoking cigarettes, especially if your child has never smoked before. The best approach is to never start using any type of cigarette or tobacco product, or to quit them altogether.

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Bananas may be one of the best foods for energy. They are an excellent source of carbohydrates, potassium and vitamin B6, all of which can help boost energy levels in your body.

A recent study showed that eating a banana before a 75-km cycling trial was as efficient as a carbohydrate drink for improving the performance of endurance athletes.

So go bananas around 3 in the afternoon! Hopefully it will help you get to the end of your workday.

Hummus is made with chickpeas, sesame seed paste, oil and lemon. The combination of these ingredients makes hummus a good source of energy.

Chickpeas in hummus are a good source of complex carbs and fibre that the body uses for steady energy.

In addition, the sesame seed paste and oil in hummus contains healthy fats. These ingredients are also helpful at slowing down the absorption of carbs, which helps you avoid blood sugar spikes.

Enjoy hummus as a dip for veggies.

Bananas Hummus

delicious pick-me-ups

The type and quantity of food you eat play an essential role in determining your energy levels during the day. Even though all foods give you energy, some foods contain nutrients that could help increase your energy levels and maintain your alertness and focus throughout the day.

Here are two of our favourites:

zoneenergy

Strong passwords help protect your privacyYou don’t need to be the most creative person in the world to come up with a password that’s strong enough to keep some troublemaker from meddling in your business. A little ingenuity goes a long way toward keeping people out of your business.

If your password is weak and your phone or laptop falls into the wrong hands, someone might figure it out. If someone gets your password, they may be able to get into your accounts, see your social media activities or even pretend to be you.

Passwords should be easy to remember but not easy enough for someone else to guess.

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada offers tips for creating strong passwords:

1. Use a unique password for each website, account or device.

2. Passwords should be at least eight characters with a mix of letters, numbers and symbols.

3. Avoid obvious choices, such as your mother’s maiden name, child’s name or pet’s name.

4. Don’t use the “remember password” feature on your browser or device. Find more advice on setting strong passwords at priv.gc.ca/passwords.

To eat eggs or not to eat eggs? Yesterday eggs were out; today eggs are in and who knows what the status of eggs will be by the time your children get home from school.

Eggs are a good source of protein, and the yolk contains vitamin B-12, iron and choline, as well as small amounts of omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin D. According to Doctor Sidney Fry, a contributor to myfitnesspal.com, if eggs are the main culprit for your cholesterol levels, then there isn’t much to worry about. It’s the sausage, cheese, fatty cuts of red meat, bacon, cold cuts and other foods high in saturated fat that may require more of your immediate attention.

One thing yea and nay-sayers can agree on is that eggs should be eaten in moderation. As with any food, too much of something, even if it is good, makes it bad.

Rather than worrying about all those eggs you’re eating, try incorporating them into a balanced diet. It all goes back to eating more fruits and vegetables, increasing fibre intake and limiting your intake of saturated fats.

Egg intake should be in line with individual calorie, protein and fat needs if you like eggs, eat them. But it’s worth paying attention to how you’re preparing them. For example, saturated fat has greater influence on raising total and ‘bad’ LDL cholesterol, so when you’re cooking eggs, try replacing saturated fats, like butter or bacon fat with mono/ polyunsaturated fats like olive oil.

Are eggs enemies or friends? Depends on how you eat them