LiveWell Vermont

 Make your New Years Resolutions SMART goals! What do you mean? Of course it's smart to make goals!  But how can we increase the chances of us sticking to them? We can use the acronym S.M.A.R.T to clarify our goals, keep tabs on our success, and increase our confidence to reach our dreams! S- specific M- measurable A- achievable R- relevant T- time bound Let's break down a few of the most popular resolutions and turn them into SMART goals. 1. This year, I want to stress less. Specific- What actions are you going to take to help yourself manage your stress?      M editation, walking, reading, bubble baths, yoga, or hiking Measurable- How many times are you going to do these de-stressing actions? How long will you spend each time?    E very day! For one hour! Achievable-   Did you choose a realistic number?     Actually, maybe every other day for 30 minutes to start out. I'll increase when I'm ready! Relevant- Why is choosing to stress le...

Understanding New Year’s resolutions and the power of a fresh start New Year’s resolutions are a popular way to mark the start of a new year. In fact, it is reported that 2 in 5 Americans made a New Year’s resolution for 2021. But have you ever stopped to wonder why? What is it about the new year that makes it easier to think about changing our habits? The power of a fresh start New Year’s resolutions are powerful because they give us the chance to have a fresh start. This is what Katy Milkman’s research suggests in her book, How to Change: The Science of Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be. Milkman writes: “If you want to change your behavior, you’re at a huge advantage if you begin with a blank slate—a fresh start—and no old habits working against you.” Each new year offers us the chance to start over because, as people, we tend to think about our lives in chapters. This means we may think of our life in terms of our “high school years,” our “college years” or as the y...

We are so excited to announce the 2022 Wellness Incentive Program will be on a BRAND NEW PLATFORM. You will need to create a new account to login! Stay tuned for more information.   

  Fitness !  This holiday season we are putting a spin on the traditional song. Start your holiday (or your Saturday) off with a little movement! Get the whole family to join, maybe even start a new family tradition. 

  Guest post by JoAnn Yanez, ND, MPH, CAE It sounds pretty self-explanatory and simple to think about self-care. Self-care in a nutshell is making sure we recharge our internal battery and don’t let ourselves run on empty. Core to self-care is self-awareness. This means being in tune with your body and emotions and staying ahead of issues that may arise. The more hectic life gets, the more important this is to practice. Some people choose to incorporate self-awareness as part of a meditation/prayer. They check in and scan their emotions and body for anything that is ‘stuck’ or out of synch. While doing this exercise, it is important to do so  without judgment . Simply notice the feelings, make note of them and why they may be there. For example, if you are feeling angry or anxious, or in pain – ask yourself why. Symptoms in your body are its way of communicating that something needs attention. During times of stress, it is even more important to take time to fill your cup. Ple...

How do you plan to maintain your wellness routine during the holiday season? Join LiveWell Vermont for an interactive lunchtime presentation on prioritizing your wellness as we navigate these upcoming food-centered holidays. We will be covering everything from navigating special diets to the right to say no to Brussels sprouts. 12/14 12:00 - 12:30 Microsoft Teams meeting Click here to join the meeting

One of our beloved Wellness Ambassadors is taking motivating others in stride!  Maryellen Copping of  AHS Central / Fiscal Office in Waterbury  (in the pumpkin shirt) has been using her running display to inspire conversations about running with her officemates. In October, she and coworker Masha (#366) ran the Leaf Peepers race together. GO MARYELLEN and thanks for sharing your display (and your running snacks) with us!! Maryellen says: “When I became an Ambassador for Live Well Vermont, I decided I wanted to do something a little different.  I didn’t want to just print off all the information sent in the monthly emails and display it on the board.  I wanted people to see what they could do if they really wanted to.  I started off with a display on running shoes, and brought in some of my older ones since I had used several different brands.  Then I did one on hydration, with all the different options available to runners, and one on fueling during l...

Carving out time for yourself every day is difficult for most people, but it is so important. By taking  time to attend to ourselves, we intentionally create love, safety, and belonging within ourselves. Self-care is necessary for continued resilience through difficult times.  Consider these four C’s of self-care: 1) Connect with yourself: Make sure you check in with yourself and take your own emotional temperature. You can write down accomplishments that mean the most to you. Write about easily accomplished successes, or difficult ones you fought through. Another way is to journal your life as it happens, as honestly as you can. This allows you to look back and see where your life has taken you and how you managed it. 2) Connect with others: This is something that is essential to everyone, even extreme introverts. Loneliness can affect nearly every aspect of your mental and physical health. It’s a good idea to form a social support network made up of friends, family, and pe...

Need a pick me up to get through another cold and snowy day?  Try a little giggle.  The elementary school students of Vermont were invited to name the snow plows of AOT, and the results are hilarious.  Here are some of our favorites: There's a whole Star Wars theme:  Wardsboro Elementary School  Wardsboro Storm Trooper Bishop John A. Marshall School Morristown Snowbegone Kenobi Rutland Intermediate School  Rutland Luke Snow Walker Orchard School South Burlington Obi-Wan KenSNOWbi Cambridge Elementary School  Jeffersonville Baby Snowda Mid Vermont Christian School Hartford Darth Blader Celebrity appearances:   Bakersfield Elementary and Middle School  Bakersfield Jennifer Snowpez Pacem School Montpelier Edgar Allen Snow Homeschooling Students Ripton William Scrape-speare Walden School Walden Snow McQueen  Warren Elementary School  Warren  Sweeping Beauty True heroes: Bethel Elementary School Bethel Plowtron Windham Elementa...

How often do you find yourself saying something like, "I need to stop eating so much sugar!" You might be successful for a day or a week, or you might experience even worse sweet cravings! A lot of the time, when we tell ourselves we can't have something or can't  do something, we start to crave it more. When we are trying to avoid eating or doing something, it can take over our brainspace to be all that we think about! Putting something - chocolate or alcohol or cigarettes or even social media - into that category of "forbidden" makes it very shiny and appealing, and we start to want it even more.  Instead, try to make peace with having treats once in a while .  If we allow that treat to take a healthy place in our routine, we might start to think about it less and actually end up eating it less.  If we are successful in removing the sparkle from the treat by normalizing it in our routine, it can start to lose its power over us. This can be very hard to do,...

Type 1 diabetes is an often misunderstood disease. This National Diabetes month, c heck out some facts about this condition that affects  around  1.6 million Americans, including about 200,000 kids less than 20 years old. True or False? Type 1 diabetes is also called juvenile diabetes because it only affects children. False! Type 1 diabetes can be diagnosed at any age, and there is no cure, so it persists into adulthood. True or False? Type 1 diabetes is caused by lifestyle factors, like poor diet and not exercising.  False!  Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease that occurs when a person’s pancreas stops producing insulin, the hormone that controls blood-sugar levels. T1D develops when the insulin-producing pancreatic beta cells are mistakenly destroyed by the body’s immune system. The cause of this attack is still being researched, however scientists believe the cause may have genetic and environmental components. True or False? Having type 1 diabetes means...

We at LiveWell are grateful for our amazing team of Wellness Ambassadors, our wellness program participants, our BCBSVT partners, cube neighbors vs WFH pets -- and, yes, even we are grateful for a few days off to spend with family.  See what our Wellness Ambassador team is grateful for! 

Fall baking season is still here!  Every Tuesday in November, we'll go over a few ideas to make your homemade baked goods HEALTHIER than store bought!  Making your own treats at home gives you so much control over them and increases how satisfying they are. It is so much more enjoyable when you know you have put in the love that results in a delicious treat! This week, we are looking at portion sizes. Have you ever gone to a bakery or deli and seen cookies bigger than your face? That is certainly not a single serving, yet most people will eat the whole cookie themselves in one sitting! Thankfully, if you are making them yourself you can decide exactly how big the portion size is- for any treat!  Portioning out your treats into single servings can help regulate how much you eat at one time.  If baking in smaller portions, adjust the time down accordingly, and you may have to decrease your oven temperature as well for certain items .  Begin checking for donen...

November is National Diabetes Awareness Month  This year's focus is on prediabetes and preventing diabetes. What is Prediabetes? Prediabetes is when your blood sugar levels are elevated above normal, but not high enough to be classified as diabetes.  Your doctor can do a blood test called hemoglobin A1c, which is a measure of how much sugar sticks to your hemoglobin cells in your blood. This can give a rough estimate of what your blood sugar has averaged for the past 3 months.  If your HgA1c number comes back between 5.7 and 6.4%, you may have prediabetes.  If it is over 6.4%, your doctor might decide to run more tests to see if you have diabetes. Take this  quiz  to determine your risk for type 2 diabetes! LiveWell Vermont's top three actions to reduce risk of diabetes especially if you have been told you have prediabetes: 1. Move more!   Cardio exercise (like walking, biking, or dancing) utilizes the glucose that is digested from our ...

  Mark Twain put it well when he said "Quitting smoking is easy. I've done it hundreds of time." Join the Great American Smokeout and make your plan to quit. Every year on the third Thursday in November, the American Cancer Society encourages people to seek out resources to quit smoking.  Check out these resources for quitting NOW: Vermont Resources  -802 Quits is your place for support, free nicotine replacement, free fun habit replacements, tips for cravings, and how to make YOUR quit plan. Reasons to quit  and how to quit   from the American Cancer Society  How much money will you save from quitting smoking?  A BIG perk!!! LiveWell Vermont Wellness Coaching  The LiveWell Vermont Wellness Coaches can help with providing accountability and helping you make your quit plan, as well as support other healthy habits around nutrition, physical activity, and mental wellness. Email us at dhr.LiveWellVermont@vermont.gov for more information about Wel...

We love fall baking season! Every Tuesday in November, we'll go over a few ideas to make your homemade baked goods HEALTHIER than store bought!  Baked goods should be eaten in moderation because of their high calorie content and low nutrient density. This means that they provide a lot of calories without providing much protein, fiber, or vitamins.  A 500 calorie salad with chicken, beans, cheese, and tons of veggies can keep you full for hours, but a 500 calorie muffin may not fill you up at all, and you'll likely be hungry again relatively quickly. In this example, the salad has high nutrient density and the muffin has low nutrient density for the same amount of calories.  Many of the calories in baked goods come from sugar (which is 4 calories per gram) and fat (which is 9 calories per gram).  Reducing the fat in any food can significantly bring down the calorie content. But fat has many functions in our food and in our bodies! 1. Flavor and satiety Fat carries fla...

  November is National #DiabetesMonth! Prediabetes is a serious health condition affecting more than 1 in 3 U.S. adults. Follow these tips from the @National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) about how to manage and even reverse your prediabetes: ·          Start with small changes to your lifestyle. · Move more. · Consume healthier foods and drinks. · Lose weight and keep it off. · Seek health support from your doctor. · Stay up to date on vaccinations. See more here! People who have prediabetes have a 50% chance of developing diabetes over the next 5 to 10 years. This National #DiabetesMonth, learn how to prevent diabetes by managing or even reversing your prediabetes from the @National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK).  Food for thought: What is the role of the community in preventing diabetes?