2017 February Articles Archives

ABC of vitamins and minerals

Have you heard the phrase “eat the rainbow”? It is a way to ensure that you get the vitamins and minerals your body needs.

Our bodies require vitamins and minerals to function optimally and the best way to get these micronutrients is from the food we eat. Have you heard the phrase “eat the rainbow”? The idea is that if we eat a variety of different coloured foods, especially fruit and vegetables, we are more likely to get a variety of vitamins and minerals from our diet than if we just ate the same food over and over again. Below is a little more information on just some of the micronutrients we need for wellbeing.

Vitamin D

Also known as the sunshine vitamin, this is the one that our bodies generate when our skin is exposed to sunlight but some can also be found in dairy foods, fatty fish and eggs. We need this vitamin to develop strong bones and it may play a role in heart health. Only a short period of sun exposure is required for our bodies to produce this vitamin, so remember to wear a suitable sun cream when you’re spending a considerable amount of time outdoors.

ACE vitamins

Vitamin A (found in liver, fish, eggs, bright vegetables like carrots and green leafy vegetables), vitamin C (found in citrus fruits, guava, tomatoes, potatoes with skin on, strawberries, kiwis, green peppers) and vitamin E (found in avocado, nuts and green leafy vegetables) are really beneficial for our health because they also act as antioxidants, providing protection against cell damage. Vitamin A is required for a healthy skin and good vision, vitamin C plays a role in a healthy immune system and the absorption of iron from other foods, while vitamin E is involved in protecting cell membranes and so helps to give us a healthy skin.

Meal idea: Make a large salad with a base of baby spinach, kale and watercress, add in sliced tomato, grated carrot, sliced avocado or green pepper and top with halved hard-boiled eggs and a sprinkling of toasted nuts and you’ll have a lovely salad with a little of each of these vitamins.

Calcium

Calcium is important for healthy bones and to help reduce the risk of fractures. A top source is dairy (cheese, milk, yoghurt, etc), but it can also be found in chia seeds, certain milk alternatives such as soy milk and nuts.

Meal idea: Soak some chia seeds in a little water until they form a gelatinous texture. Take a few scoops of plain yoghurt, top with chia seeds, a small scoop of berries or grapes and serve it for breakfast or as a small dessert.

Magnesium

Magnesium has been linked to keeping blood pressure normal and to having a positive effect on migraines, osteoporosis and PMS. It can be found in nuts, green leafy vegetables, certain legumes like beans, some cereals, chia seeds and quinoa.

Meal idea: In a large bowl, combine cooked warm quinoa, beans of your choice, a little bit of red wine vinegar and some olive oil. Mix well, scoop out onto a platter and top with green leafy vegetables to make a warm salad that can be served with grilled chicken strips.

Iron

Iron plays an important part in transporting oxygen around our bodies and is involved in healthy immune function. You can find it in a wide variety of foods such as meat, seafood, poultry, breads, cereals, fortified grain products, spinach, broccoli, beans, green beans, potatoes with the skin on, peas and dried peaches.

Meal idea: For a braai, grill some steak and serve along with a side of green beans mixed with quartered, grilled baby potatoes.

Vitamin K

This vitamin is needed for proper wound healing as it allows blood to clot. A great source of this vitamin is green leafy vegetables which can easily be added to meals and smoothies.

B group vitamins

The B vitamins, of which there are a few, can generally be found in breads, dairy products, cereals, eggs and liver, just to name a few. They mainly help our bodies to break down foods, releasing the energy from them. They are also vital for proper nerve, hormone and muscle function. Folic acid, one of the B vitamins, is especially important for pregnant women as it’s needed to generate new body and blood cells.

Meal idea: Add a tin of tomatoes to a small pan, make a small gap and crack an egg open into the gap, letting it all simmer gently until the egg has cooked. Scoop the mixture onto a slice of wholegrain bread and top with a handful of rocket.

With a well-balanced and varied diet, we are likely to get most of the vitamins and minerals we need directly from our food. Aiming for whole, unprocessed foods is always a good option because some processing may decrease the availability of micronutrients in food. Supplements, in the form of a multi-vitamin and multi-mineral, can also be considered if you feel that your diet is not up to standard or if your doctor recommends a supplement for a specific health condition.

Sources

http://www.webmd.com/
Sound Bites Nutrition material
Vitamins in everyday life (Vitamin Information Centre, South Africa)

zara2021-03-11T11:50:13+00:00

Twenty workplace wellness ideas

Workplace wellness has become a corporate buzz word but what does it really entail and who is responsible for implementing it?

Workplace wellness defined

Workplace wellness is commonly defined as any workplace health promotion activity or organisational policy designed to support healthy behaviour in the workplace and to improve health outcomes. It needs the positive support of both the individual employee as well as the management team to be successfully implemented.

What you can do to promote workplace wellness

Take control of your own health issues, for example eat well, especially breakfast, sleep well, watch your weight and exercise.
Ask your manager to stock the vending machine at work with healthy, nutritional snacks and mini meals and to remove all soda and sugar-laden drinks.
Team up with a local farmer or organisation who can deliver healthy home-made sandwiches filled with organically grown salad greens and veggies and organically grown fruit and nuts.
Publish a workplace wellness newsletter. Ask employees to contribute and send in their own healthy eating plans and recipes.
Ask management to sponsor a talk or demo by a healthy eating and cooking expert.
Highlight the health benefits of fitness. Ask management to subsidise wearable technology such as FitBit that helps people track their daily physical activities and fitness levels.
Ask management to subsidise a portion of the costs of joining a gym as part of its initiative to help employees (and management) get fit and lose weight.
Create some fun, fitness challenges such as who can do most push-ups, climb most stairs, walk, run or bike most kilometres, etc.
Post a note near the lifts and remind people of the fitness benefits of climbing the stairs instead.
Ask management to hire an office masseuse to offer free neck and shoulder massages to stressed-out employees. Also, teach employees simple breathing and relaxation techniques.
Ask the musicians at your company to bring their instruments to work and jam together during the lunch break. Music is a wonderful stress breaker and if you can move outdoors you will also reap the free benefits of sunshine (vitamin D) and fresh air.
Create some competitions with sponsored gift card rewards for the person who smiled most during the week, helped someone in need, pacified the boss, manager or angry client best, got through a difficult assignment without cracking up, etc.
Ask management to incorporate plants into the working space. Research has shown that plants not only help clean the air we breathe but they also calm, pacify and help lift mood.
Ask employees to add their own plants and to personalise their working spaces with personal items such as family photos, etc.
Ask management to hire an ergonomics expert to investigate office workstations and recommend ergonomically safe equipment. Standing workstations, some incorporating treadmills and exercise bikes, will help minimise the very many negative health outcomes of being seated all day.
Make sure your company adheres to the legal imperatives for employee wellness stipulated in the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, the Occupational Health and Safety Act, the Labour Relations Act (LRA) and general labour relations.
Always adhere to the safety precautions recommended if you work in dangerous environments.
Ask management set aside an hour or so one day of the week or month to gather as a company for an informal (sponsored) lunch and learn session. Allow employees and managers to discuss personal and corporate hints to be more effective and productive, to share goals and triumphs and to highlight and acknowledge colleagues’ work well done.
Ask management to subsidise ongoing education and training, self-development and personal improvement of all employees.
Don’t let your workload overwhelm you. Set small goals and reward yourself once you have achieved them.

Sources

Management of employee wellness in South Africa: Employer, service provider and union perspectives. Retrieved from: http://www.sajhrm.co.za/index.php/sajhrm/article/viewFile/305/313
121 Employee Wellness Program ideas for your office. Retrieved from: http://cyfn.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/101-Employee-Wellness-Program-Ideas.pdf
Workplace wellness. Retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workplace_wellness

zara2021-03-15T16:01:22+00:00

Role of pets in our wellbeing

People have had pets going far back into antiquity, and those pets have fulfilled roles such as companionship, surrogate children and spouses. However, it’s only been in comparatively recently times that hard science has taken a dispassionate look at the reality behind the widespread belief that pets have genuine benefits to bestow on their owners’ physical and emotional well-being.

Healthy pets, healthy people

It’s easy to understand the more simple and obvious advantages of having a pet in your life. Owning and caring for a pet can enhance feelings of:

Self-esteem
Safety and security
Self-worth.

Additionally, pet owners are less likely to suffer the effects of:

Loneliness and isolation
Stress and depression
Sadness and loss due to the death of someone close.

Also, activities such as shows or pet-related hobbies can present the opportunity to meet people with similar interests, offering stimulating social interaction. Pets require care, affection and attention, and this gives the owners a sense of purpose that might otherwise be lacking. All of this fosters a climate of enhanced emotional and psychological well-being.

Extra benefits

There are understandable difficulties in measuring the changes in levels of things such as stress and sadness, because they can be relatively subjective. So, over the past 30 years research has sought to identify and quantify the physical differences pet owners have from people who don’t own pets. Some of the results have been surprising and conclusive. Significant numbers of pet owners enjoy a boost in:

Cardiac health – lower blood pressure, lower levels of the harmful types of cholesterol and triglycerides. This is not simply attributable to exercise from taking the dog for a walk, because cat owners present comparable results
Immune system – lower incidence of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a fairly common cancer of the immune system, pre-primary children in households with pets have fewer allergies and fewer days off from school.

Additionally, proponents of pet therapy point to increasing numbers of hospitals using pets therapeutically with a variety of patients, and cite studies where pet owners are shown to live longer after a heart attack than non-owners.

There is no doubt that pets play an increasingly significant role in many people’s lives, and their owners have long since been singing the praises of their own particular little darling. Now that science has stepped in and identified the therapeutic benefits, it only confirms what the pet owners knew all along: that their Fido or Ginger is worth their weight in gold.

Our Employee Wellbeing Programme (EWP) is available 24 hours a day if you want to know more about the role of pets in our well-being. Call us on the EWP number or email us at help@lifeassist.co.za.

zara2021-03-17T18:17:14+00:00