Health & Wellness Resources!

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It was suggested by a VT Wellness Blog reader that we provide a resource list of websites where State employees can access healthy recipes. Below is a compilation of not only websites where you can obtain healthy recipes, but also resources for information about health & nutrition, exercise, mindful eating, stress management and more. Enjoy!

Healthy Recipe Resources:
  • Eating Well Magazine - A content-rich website including free healthy recipes contributed by local Vermont Dietitians and e-mail newsletters.
  • Food Fit - Four proprietary, interactive tools to assess your current health habits; a delicious database of 2,500 healthy, customizable recipes with in-depth nutritional analysis; hundreds of suggestions for celebrating the foods of the season with a guide to seasonal foods and "Season's Picks"; and a fitness section to help you get motivated, keep up on fitness trends and get information to help you create your own workouts
  • Spark People: Recipes - Browse delicious, healthy recipes submitted by more than 10 million members, try original dishes and menu makeovers from Chef Meg, resident healthy cooking expert, and share your own favorite foods. Plus, a recipe calculator gives you the calories, fat, and nutrition info for it all!
  • Mayo Clinic: Healthy Recipes - A trustworthy and credible resource for health information on the web. Browse hundreds of healthy recipes by category!
  • Food On The Table - An online budget meal planning service designed to help families eat better and save money. Offers a meal planner template that combines the weekly sales from your local grocery store with your family's food preferences. What this gives you is a meal planning template that is ideal for creating a family-friendly and healthy meal plan based on kid-friendly recipes hand-picked by Food On The Table chefs. They will then send you to the store with a printable grocery list that can also be viewed on your smartphone.
  • Wheat-Free Meat-Free: Vegetarian, gluten-free and delicious recipes & blog
Exercise & Physical Activity Suggestions:
  • Go4Life - An exercise and physical activity campaign at NIH that is designed to help you fit exercise and physical activity into your daily life. Motivating adults to become physically active for the first time, return to exercise after a break in their routines, or build more exercise and physical activity into weekly routines are the essential elements of the website.
  • Spark People: Exercise - Offers a fitness resource center with exercise demos, a workout generator to personalize your workouts, fitness articles, fitness maps, fitness calculators, and a fitness tracker!
  • Physicalfitnet: a free website, for both fitness professionals and fitness buffs, that gives you information and resources only from top professionals. Provides exercise demonstrations, workout videos and the ability to create your own workout.
Relaxation & Stress Management:
  • Yoga teacher Randal Williams provides a twenty-one minute free audio relaxation download on his website.
  • The Relax and Release Corner offers a free audio sample of their total guided relaxation program.
  • Firethorn Drive provides a downloadable MP3 file for expectant mothers to guide them in relaxation techniques for labor and delivery.
  • Brain Sync offers a ten-minute guided meditation for those who want a shorter, focused practice.
  • Kripalu Yoga Break article - Need a pick-me-up, a moment to catch your breath, or just a quick, luxuriating stretch? Try a Kripalu Yoga Break, led by a talented Kripalu teacher. Play one now—or download your favorite in mp3 format for relaxation and rejuvenation wherever you are.
  • The Mayo Clinic: In-Depth Stress Management - Stress basics, stress relief, relaxation techniques including meditations, exercises, tai chi, massage, yoga, etc.
Health & Nutrition/Mindful Eating:
  • MyFitnessPal - Keep track of the food you eat and the activity you do. It's simple - the more consistently you track your food intake, the more likely you are to lose weight. That's why every successful weight management program suggests that you keep a food diary and/or an activity log. You can log your meals and physical activity quickly and easily either online or from your phone app.
  • Spark People: Nutrition - This website provides the following nutrition tools: conversion calculator to convert any measurement; nutrition 101: An in-depth look at your body's essential nutrients; dining out guide; mix & match meal planner to create healthful, tasty and portion-controlled meals that fit your calorie range; calorie calculations; nutrition quizzes; fruit and veggie guide; food charts: find out how common meals, foods and snacks compare; and more!
  • Eating Mindfully - Mindful eating is not a diet. There are no menus or recipes. It is being more aware of your eating habits, the sensations you experience when you eat, and the thoughts and emotions that you have about food. It is more about how you eat than what you eat. Visit this site for resources and motivational tips on eating mindfully!
  • Positively Positive - The goal is simple: to bring uplifting voices and messages to the community every day. The website has a growing supply of blog posts, videos, and handpicked quotations designed to remind us that there is good in every situation, and possibility in every person. Contributors and guests hail from every conceivable walk of life, from Olympic Gold Medalists, to kids fighting for their lives, to everyday people wanting to make a difference in the world. Visit this website to be uplifted and reminded that you CAN do it!
  • Mindful - A website dedicated to giving voice, inspiration, guidance, and connection to all those who want to enjoy the proven benefits of mindfulness practices and to create a more mindful and caring society. Readers learn from leaders in the field about effective techniques for mindfulness as it applies to their health, happiness, family, career, society, and more — and they learn the science that proves these techniques work.
  • Stillness Buddy - A great tool that you can use to cultivate more presence and mindfulness in your every day life. In the midst of your busy life, you come back to the present moment, over and over, by regularly practicing simple yet powerful exercises which are displayed on your desktop screen.
We hope these resources are helpful. Please feel free to share any of your favorites with us as well! We love to learn about what all of you are using to help you along in reaching your health and wellness goals!

Healthy wishes,
Marilyn, Jessica, Maura & Alissa
Vermont State Employees' Wellness Program Team

Comments

  1. Aaron AshtonJuly 13, 2012 at 2:49 PM

    Great idea!

    ReplyDelete
  2. LiveWell VermontJuly 13, 2012 at 3:24 PM

    Thanks for the comment, Aaron. Please feel free to contact us with any requests for health and wellness information!

    ReplyDelete

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