What’s For Lunch?
Starting off the school year right by packing lunch? Packing lunches can be a healthy alternative to the cafeteria food, but making sure you are receiving enough vitamins and minerals can be a challenge. Here are some tips for balancing and packing your lunches:
Make It Nutritious: Choose the whole-wheat bread instead of white. Don’t forget the fruits and vegetables. Include a protein option. Add calcium (include milk, calcium-enriched orange juice or other options). Avoid soda and sweetened beverages.
Make It Delicious: Create a weekly menu of what you would like to eat- this helps with consistency and creativity. Don’t overlook dinner from last night, it can be a great option for lunch.
Make It Safe: Always wash your hands prior to handling food. Make sure the preparation surfaces are clean. If the food is hot but meant to be served cold, be sure to allow enough chill time prior to packing. Consider the “danger zone” of temperature with food items. Use an ice pack for cold items (if refrigerator is not an option) or for hot items use a thermo container.
Don’t stress about always packing, be sure to enjoy that cafeteria everyone once in a while. Packing lunches is a great way to save costs in the long run.
Spark America Challenge
The SparkAmerica Fit City Challenge is designed to help individuals and companies become Fit & Healthy Leaders, while working together to build friendly competition. This multi-city challenge encourages participants to get and stay healthy by tracking daily fitness activity minutes in a fun and free Fitness Game. Registering is easy!
- Go to SparkAmerica.com/Register, enter your email and follow the prompts.
- New participants: Locate the SparkAmerica callout on the homepage and click the button to join.
- Previous participants: You will automatically be registered after step 1.
- Create a username that will display publicly on leaderboards.
- Begin tracking your fitness minutes on September
Click For More Information.
Small Bits of Fitness Add Up
Where did the day go? I am sure we all ask ourselves these questions almost every day. Many of us have a daily routine with a jam-packed schedule. One thing we all know is the lack of time there is for fitness. We constantly make excuses as to why we don’t have time to exercise. Well consider starting small and working towards big. Meaning, start with 10 minutes then thank yourself for making that time. Eventually you can work up to 60 minutes or more if possible, by balancing your work life schedule.
All you need is 10 minutes to start your fitness journey and stop making those excuses. Take two minutes to warm up and stretch, then for at least seven minutes perform a medium to high intensity exercise, followed by a 60 second cool down. It’s brief, but it’s important to make exercising a priority for yourself. It is all about convenience, if you try, you can fit exercise into your daily routine in no time!
