Maintain, Don't Gain Holiday Campaign
The holiday season is an exciting time full of fun festivities, time with family and friends, and lots of delicious food. While this time of year can provide wonderful benefits for social well-being, it's no secret that the dinners, potlucks, and parties can lead to the development of unhealthy habits and unintended weight gain. It can be hard to keep up with physical activity and healthy eating when our environments become filled with tasty treats, but with a little planning, you can enjoy all of the things you like the most about the holidays, stress and guilt-free.
As a part of Be Well's Maintain, Don't Gain Holiday Campaign, there are a variety of events scheduled that UT faculty and staff can take advantage of while at work.
Follow @BeWellUTK on Facebook for Maintain, Don't Gain tips and tricks!
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The Smokey Walking Challenge
During Maintain, Don't Gain, Be Well is challenging UT employees to be physically active by visiting all 10 Smokey statues on campus. The challenge will run from Monday, November 18th – Friday, December 13th.
It is recommended that adults get at least 150 minutes of physical activity per week, so to encourage employees to stay active during this time of year, participants will be required to record their “wellness minutes”. Wellness minutes are the amount of time required to get to and from the statues. Intsructions, challenge logs, and sign-up can be found on Be Well's webiste under the Maintain, Don't Gain campaign page.
Employees that complete the Smokey Walking Challenge will take home a pair of Be Well heathered knit gloves. Don't miss out on this fun opportunity to get up and moving!
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Move MoreConsistency is key when it comes to physical activity. With one of the busiest times of the year upon us, it may seem like there's not much time for exercise. However, this is the season when it is needed the most. Physical activity can help lower stress, increase energy levels, and balance out all of those homemade cookies and pies.
Here are some ways to sneak fitness into your daily schedule:
- Move more: Take the stairs instead of the elveator. Move your trash bin to the other side of the room. Stand up and move for 3 minutes every 60 minutes. Park your car farther away. Swap your chair for an exercise ball or standing desk.
- Get social: Grab some colleague's and try a campus walking route. Start a department wellness challenge to create some friendly comeptition in your office. Join on of Be Well's events to meet other UT employees working towards their wellness goals!
- Breat it up: Don't have 45 minutes to get a workout in? Try doing a few small workouts instead. Three 10-15 minute workouts still have great health benefits.
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Eat SmarterFeel empowered at your next social gathering to make the best food choice for you.
- Don't arrive "starving" - Make sure you eat balanced meals throughout the day and avoid "saving" your calories for the event. These practices can lead to overeating.
- Load up on the veggies - Aim to have a colorful plate at every meal. Veggies are a great snack and an even better side dish to balance out some of the heavier entrees and sides.
- Outsmart the buffet - Before jumping in line, take a walk up and down the buffet to examine all of your options. Figuring out what you want ahead of time might make you less likely to pile everything on your plate.
- Focus on what really matters - Food is a large part of our culture, but try focusing on family, friends, and your social wellbeing.
For more healthy tips, click here.
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October Cooking Class Highlights
Last month, employees learned how to make lighter versions of seasonal party dishes to prepare for the holiday season! Recipes included: charcuterie boards; cheesy chicken spinach stromboli ring; cowboy caviar; basil, tomato, and goat cheese tarts; spicy beef canapes with mango salsa.
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Be MindfulUncovering Hidden Time
At some point in your life, you have probably thought or said "there's just not enough time in the day." But since we will not be increasing the length of a day anytime soon, what if you could find time in your current schedule and use it more mindfully.
Time management is a skill and in order to be profiecient in time management, you have to practice it. A good place to start is by simply measuring how you use your time. This requires looking at the tiny details of a typical day. How are we spending our minutes?
A good exercise to find out where time is really going is to keep track. For one week, record everything you do from the moment you wake up until the moment you fall asleep.
Pay attention to these activities:
- Social media (no surprise there)
- Email
- The internet in general (shopping, scrolling through news, going down the rabbit hole)
- Inefficient meal planning and prep
- Traffic and commuting
- Meetings (many of which don’t really add value to our jobs, or could be more quickly and effectively addressed in email)
- Television (yes, Netflix counts)
- Running errands (that are not essential or could be done later when they’re less distracting to our most creative, high- energy hours)
- Being on your cell phone for whatever reason (e.g., talking, texting, gaming, watching YouTube videos, or listening to podcasts)
After you record your time for a week, reflect on where you are spending most of your time. Does it align with your values or move you towards your goals? Small changes to your daily schedule can create more time which will allow you to do things that serve you or have purpose in your life.
For the full list of instructions and further reading, click here.
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Wellness WarriorThe Wellness Warrior Award is given to individuals across campus who are nominated by their peers for leading by example and inspiring through action as they work to create a healthier lifestyle.
November's Wellness Warrior is Heather Davis, who is the communications coordinator for First-Year Studies. Heather has been a part of the UT family for almost three years. In her free time, Heather likes to run, read, hike, sing in the church choir, and do a little bit of everything.
Heather was asked what inspires her to make healthier chioces and live a healthly lifestyle and she told us that the running community has been a huge influence on her. "I love seeing people who 'aren't runners' finish their first race and feel good about it." She acknowledges that it is never easy and at times it hurts, but the human body is amazing. Heather continued on to say just how welcoming the running community is; "At a race, people of all ages and fitness levels come together and cheer each other on. My love language is affirmation, so in a half-marathon I'm surrounded by it for a couple of hours. It's hard not to be inspired."
Heather's most recent accomplishment happened during a half-marathon she ran in July. She ran a personal best of 1:58! "It's been a rough training year for me because I'm working full-time, taking classes for my masters, and raising two girls. I was going to TRECS every morning, but had to change up my schedule to fit everything in." Heather has found ways to fit her training into her busy schedule by running while her girls are at soccer practice and waking up early on Saturday to get her long runs done. Her success in July is something that she will be excited about for months!
Congratulations Heather, and thank you for being a model of health and wellness on UT's Campus.
Do you know someone who you feel is deserving of the Wellness Warrior award? Please fill out a nomination form to have their story told.
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