LiveWell Vermont

  If you haven't already, you can now register for the Corporate Cup!  Grab some friends, think up a fabulous team name, and sign up! Friends/coworkers don't want to join you? Post in our Challenges Teams channel "walker" or "runner" and we will help you find a crew. Need more info on logistics before you commit? Busy on 5/11? Details on participating in the virtual version here! Blue Cross will reimburse fees through LiveWell Vermont for the Corporate Cup again this year for those employees who have Blue Cross through the State.  To get the reimbursement, participants should  sign up and pay using their own card, and to please choose State of Vermont as their employer (not Department of Health, DOC, or similar) so those eligible for reimbursement can easily be identified. After the race is over in May, LiveWell Vermont will get a list of SOV Employees from the race coordinator and will reimburse race fee and t-shirt cost (less a few dollars tax) to

  This recipe is adapted from Seonkyoung Longest's Easy Sesame Noodles . Prep it all or just make the sauce ahead for a quick and easy dinner option. Ingredients: 1/4 cup tahini (unsweetened peanut butter will work in a pinch!) 2 tbsp mayonnaise  1 tbsp soy sauce 1 tbsp rice vinegar 1 tbsp honey 1 tbsp  oyster sauce 2 tbsp sesame oil 1 to 4 tbsp  chili garlic sauce or chili oil 2 tbsp water 1 tsp minced garlic 1 tsp finely grated ginger 4 servings of noodles Toppings: Mix and match what you have and enjoy! Cucumbers Cilantro Basil Sprouts Pineapple Mango Purple cabbage Egg Tofu Shrimp What's in your fridge? Instructions: Cook noodles of your choice according to package instructions. Combine all the ingredients for the sauce in a mixing bowl, and set aside. If you want to keep it for later, transfer it to an air-tight container and keep it in a refrigerator. This sauce will last up to a month in the fridge. Cook noodles by following the directions of the package you’re using.   

  Have you ever struggled to manage your stress with limited time and resources? Managing stress can take many forms, from improving daily habits to finding new healthy coping mechanisms.  At times it can feel like all the best ways we can improve our lives are expensive, time consuming or both! However, there are options that are free and require minimal time to implement.  Meditation is one of them.   Meditation  is the practice of mindfulness and helps to train attention and awareness.  The benefits are far reaching, but many of us seek meditation for helping us find calm in tense moments. This practice serves us best when done regularly and practiced during moments of low or no stress initially.  Once the meditative state is accessible, we can then use this technique in even in very high stress situations to manage stress, control anxiety, and improve our mental health. There are different types of meditation.  Silent and guided ones are commonly thought of, moving meditations and

    Benefits of mindfulness: Being fully present and aware helps us to focus, respond with compassion and avoid outsized reactions As the world around us changes and we are surrounded with uncertainty, mindfulness helps us cut down on unhelpful stress By helping us manage our stress, mindfulness helps us to become more resilient Anyone can learn and benefit from it We practice mindfulness as we are, there is no need to change to be able to use mindfulness Practicing mindfulness through enjoying the five senses Try increasing mindfulness by focusing on adding beauty, enjoying sound, savoring scents, cherishing treats, or relishing a stretch. Opportunities are everywhere, try: Mindfully petting your dog/cat/tarantula Interacting with loved ones while fully present, enjoying sight of their face, sound of their voice, etc.  Go on a walk, and take time to notice something positive with each of your senses What else would you like to do mindfully?

     L earning to like new foods is good for  our bodies AND our minds! Did you know that we can train ourselves to like new foods? Taste preferences are built on repeat exposure, so after you have tried a food you don’t like over and over, eventually you might start to accept it, and then grow to love it! Once our bodies figure out that a new taste won’t poison us, we can start to enjoy it. Sometimes it can take 12-20 times of trying something new before we like it- and this especially applies to picky kids! Questions to ask yourself: What’s a food I previously didn’t like, but learned to like later in life? What was the experience that changed my view of this foods? What’s a food I currently don’t like, but want to learn to like? When was the last time I tried this, and how was it prepared? What can I do to it to add an element that I enjoy?

Your self-care practices will become more feasible when they're part of your established routine. Working them into your daily pattern means you won't have to search for time to fit them in! Your routine is made up of a collection of activities, many of them things that need to be done anyway.  By intentionally updating your routine you are now doing tasks in the most healthy, productive, enjoyable way possible.  By turning this collection of activities into habits, there is no wasted time figuring out how or when to get them done.  There is no need to figure out what should be prioritized, as these decisions have already been made.  A healthy routine will be enjoyable and tailored directly to you and your needs.  It will help with improving nutrition, quality of sleep, stress, and more. What consistent actions would add up over time to improve your health?

Reflecting on your practices, priorities, and choices is a powerful tool for self-care.  Reflection can help you better understand your needs, and help you identify the direction you would like to go. Self-care is a highly individual topic.  Whereas marathon running might be the only stress reliever one individual needs, another person may experience more stress when running regularly, and instead find more benefit from a routine of 5-minute meditation sessions, scheduling time for walks outside and time with friends.   You are a unique individual and what helps you recharge and refresh yourself will also be unique.  Embrace this and take a time to assess what techniques feel the most "you".  When you hit upon something that works, take note.  Consider the practices that have worked best for you by: determining your priorities using a creative medium (art, journaling, music) to help you process practice shifting the thoughts that aren’t productive refocusing with a mindfulnes

  Have you ever noticed how having just the right song in your headphones can make your run so much better? When that perfect song comes on, it can feel like you’re flying! Choosing the right music can do more than make your run enjoyable. It can also help improve your form to reduce your risk of injury. It’s all about your running cadence. Your running cadence is the number of steps you take in a minute, or steps per minute (SPM). Increasing your running cadence can improve your running form. You might think that the more steps you take per minute, the faster you will run, but this is not entirely true. Don’t worry- we aren’t telling you to just speed up and work harder! Your running cadence goes hand in hand with your stride length, or the length of ground you cover with each step. If you increase your running cadence and keep your speed the same, you will end up with a shorter stride length. Shortening your stride length reduces common compensations in form, which is

Sports Nutrition: What does it mean, and how can we use it? The bottom line:  Your body needs energy, in the form of food, to  make  it go. It can be helpful to eat a snack before you exercise for an energy burst. Base your snack (size and food choice) on how much time you have to digest a bit before you hit the pavement/treadmill. The most important part of sports nutrition is refueling after you exercise, including a variety of nutrient-dense foods including all the food groups. Now, let’s jump into sports nutrition When we hear the term Sports Nutrition, our minds might jump first to we see marketed: pre-workout powders, protein shakes, sports gels, and energy bars. These supplements can cause a lot of confusion! Not to mention that they're usually pretty pricy. Nutrition while you're training doesn't have to be complicated, expensive, or bought from the Sports aisle at the store. The best fuel comes from real food! THE PARTS Let's get back to the basi

  Do you eat snacks between meals at work? Most of us do! Eating snacks is a great way to supply your body with a steady source of energy to help you complete every task on your list before, during, and after your workday! Snacks at work have some very particular functions. They can:  Supply our brains and bodies with energy Help us stay focused  Keep us from getting "hungry enough to eat a house" before the next meal Prevent hanger To choose snacks that can help us with those tasks, we want to choose satisfying foods that will sustain us with long lasting energy! If I had a snack that was too small or not fulfilling enough, I might start searching out another snack just 5 minutes later. If the second snack is also not satisfying, I might keep searching and searching! This could repeat with 5 different snacks until I am satiated. The constant snack searching takes away from what I would otherwise be doing, and I might not be providing my body with what it's asking for in

Set aside a little time to devote to your happiness. It’s worth it! Choose to invest the time in your happiness today - and take stock of the results! Just like how you can't define your biceps overnight, it takes some time to get in the habit of defining the tiny moments of happiness. This week, carve out a little extra time and gift it back to yourself. What does it mean to set aside time to devote to your happiness? When planning dinner, go for something you love! Savor it completely. Laugh at your own jokes and incredible sense of humor  Taking a 5-minute break from work to step outside Challenge yourself to notice small things you are grateful for regularly Shift your routine to include things that support YOU Gift yourself plenty of time for sleep Ask for help with your responsibilities so you can have a little more time for yourself What gives YOU the best happiness return on your effort investment?

Did you know you don’t have to wake up at 5am, drink green juice and workout before the crack of dawn to have a healthy, productive routine?  In fact, forcing a routine that is not tailored to you may cause unnecessary stress or create as many problems as it solves.  For instance, getting in a good night’s sleep, eating a balanced, satiating breakfast and working in movement breaks during the day is practical as well as healthy. When updating your routine, try making a small improvement to your current one and maintaining it until it becomes a habit, or just who you are.  If even small changes are difficult, try  habit stacking .   This is the practice of linking a new habit with a well ingrained old one.  For instance, maybe you can improve hydration by making sure you drink a glass of water every time you have a cup of coffee or while you wait for the microwave.  Give it a try and watch yourself flourish !

  Stretch out what you're already doing! Planning a 20-minute walk after work?  Go ahead, go out for half an hour!  Doing 10 reps at the gym? Push it for 15!  Rushing through your stretches? Focus on holding stretches and deepening for 5-7 breaths.

  If you ever watch toddlers move, you’ll notice that they execute picture-perfect squats time and again. But when you’re well into adulthood, how to do squats becomes a little more of a loaded question: Are your feet in the right position? Are you getting down far enough? Should you add weight? While there’s a lot to unpack with how to do a proper squat, the benefits of learning how to squat correctly are immense— squat variations  not only help you get stronger during your workouts, but they also represent a movement pattern that you use during everyday life. It’s very much a functional movement. Check out the weekly tasks for more modifications!

How much effort are you exerting? Consider how you feel, your heart rate, and your own fitness level or use the Talk Test . Do you usually use the 3 lb dumbells?  Try for 5 lbs this week!  Do you typically walk at your dog's pace?  Take a walk by yourself this week and see how much more ground you cover in the same amount of time! (Bonus: Fix your eye on a landmark in the distance and jog to it!) Do you usually take the easier modification in your jazzercise class? Push yourself to try the full version this week!

GOOD MOOD FOOD Recipes, Week 1: Leafy Greens Today's recipe comes to us from one of our Wellness Specialists, whose 8-year old daughter calls this her favorite soup! This recipe for Beggar's Soup and the story below was adapted from the book "New Food of Life" by Najmieh Batmanglij.  Traditionally, this meal was called Beggar's Soup because in the past, people used to put coins in a pot on the roadside to pitch in for ingredients for the soup. The more people pitched in, the better the chances of the wish coming true. Today, the custom lives on in a new form. Friends are told a few days in advance what day the wish will be made, and they show up that day with a few ingredients each. They prepare it together and share it so that everyone can join in on making the wish come true for their loved one! This soup comes together in only 20 minutes, but simmers for a few hours, so it's a great option to put together quickly on a day you're doing other things at ho

Does your workout need a wake-up call?? Try adding some variety! Not only will adding variety to your favorite exercises allow you to continue to make fitness improvements but it will keep your training fresh and exciting.  Here are a few simple tweaks you can make to add variety to your exercises:  Increase the number of sets or reps    Decrease the rest between exercises  Increase the resistance   Pause at the top or bottom of exercise  Slow down or speed up the motion

  You’re triple-booked with meetings, eating at your desk— with no time for a social life, let alone a lunch hour! Some of us may still be on a sugar high from holiday season, when all our best habits have dissolved into sugar cookies, sparkling cocktails and cheese trays. No time to hit the gym? If you can carve out just 15 minutes from your workday, you can keep up your fitness without having to drop any of your spinning plates. Try this simple routine a few days a week .