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30/09/20 Employee Virtual Wellbeing Ideas

As teams are working remotely, social connection is challenged so to are our foundations and our normal.  It can be really helpful to give employees some tools to connect.  Pulling on themes that are interesting and engaging.  I am taking part in a free bicycle maintenance workshop tonight, have a regular meditation practice and enjoy the scenery of my home town and having some outdoor ‘walking’ meetings, and still the times are challenging.  I hope these simple ideas will give you some thoughts if you are looking to build rapport and engagement:

Bingo! how about arranging some virtual employee wellbeing bingo.  We love this one – Printable Bird Bingo.  One person will need to pay and download it and then send it around to the other players for printing at home.

Vegan Cook Off.  Well – it helps that I know how amazing the food from this lady is – you can join her for a cook along at home.  You can then all sit down and have your dinner together on zoom or teams?!!  Check out Rethink Vegan tonight is chickless creamy Pie.

Nutrition Session.  Ok we sell this…so we are biased in our thinking – however it is easy to get stuck in a rut with food at the best of times and in our Nutrition and Immunity workshop explore the immune system and why we need it,  look at our innate and adaptive immunity – what is the difference and why do we feel so horrible when our immune system is “working”?  We explore Stress / gut / sleep and immunity and find out the link?  Ginger, garlic and honey – do it as your grandma would? (old wives’ tale?) and we look at the myths and facts around vitamins for our immune support.

Book Club.  Virtual book club – you have to have some form of hot drink and sweet (raw baked full of goodness or not) treat to make it authentic (or a glass of wine) and this is a great way of pulling people together.  amazon or audible have some great suggestions if you are stuck or try and pick a good classic.

We would love to hear about the ways you are keeping your team engaged so we can share them.  We attended a socially distanced silent disco for one lovely company at our dear friends plush tents and they have some great outside distanced ways to work with you all if you feel the need to sit around a camp fire and enjoy the natural space in the spring.  Get in touch with us: victoria@workplacehealthcare.co.uk for more ideas and our virtual employee wellbeing brochure.

12/03/19 Corporate Nutrition Food Demo’s

When you work with wonderful ingredients, nutrient dense great food is an easy result.  In his book, A.W.Danzer explores Organic vs Non Organic food  with Crystallisation images from research by LifevisionLab of Soyana.  Now I have an organic veg patch, it provides most of our families veg, however when my other half does the shopping he never supplemented with organic…after viewing this book he does now!  Take a look at it, the images are striking.  so pay attention to your ingredients, pay attention to where you are when preparing your food, in the moment, using love and nourishment, and attention to how you eat.  The ancient yogi’s have a saying – eat standing and death will look over your shoulder.  Eat mindfully, focussed on your food – this way you will gain the full experience of your dish and nourish your mind, soul and body.

 

18/05/16 Mental Health Awareness Week – special offer day Wednesday 18th May

We have been speaking here about mental health, anxiety and depression and one common thing we all seem to want when we are feeling strung out is a massage.

It is no surprise.  The American Massage Therapy Association has some great new research.  Regular massage can increase serotonin levels, which works to regulate mood, appetite, sleep, memory and learning.  Quite something.  They found that massage can aid sleep by enhancing coordination of the circadian system, which reminds me to massage my daughter – I am a massage therapist and must have the worst sleeper in town.  I suppose it is similar to being a painter and decorator and having awful decor…!

We wanted to share this wonderful benefit with you and offer you a reduced price on-site massage day for your colleagues.  Our full working day is normally priced at £252 – for the rest of May we are discounting it to £202 – so that you can feel encouraged to book quickly and jump on board.  Our regular customers know that providing corporate massage is one of the best benefits to the working environment, creating a wonderful feel good buzz in the office. Beware though – employees will want it every week!

Get in touch.

workplace healthcare on site massage

workplace healthcare on site massage

 

17/05/16 Mental Health Awareness Week – our top tips Tuesday 17th May

Gemma, one of our brilliant massage therapists has the following tips for you to try (you probably already do these) if you are feeling stressed:

  • Write a list and get a clear sense of what needs to be done and what should take priority
  • Talk to a friend or loved one
  • Get a massage!
  • Confront the issue that is giving me stress head on (tempting to ignore it)
  • Go for a run
  • Have a glass of wine (not a good option I know but it happens!)
  • Read a book or watch a film

If you are in a position to, invite us in to massage your employees.  On-site massage is a great way of looking after your employees.  It provides an instant opportunity for employees to relax and get into a more receptive state of mind, creating a happier workplace.

16/05/16 Mental Health Awareness Week – our top tips Monday 16th May

Feeling strung out?  Unable to cope?  Mental Health Awareness Week is upon us (16th – 22nd May) and you will find lots of help and advice on the facebook site:  https://www.facebook.com/mentalhealthawarenessweek/ and the web site:  https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/campaigns/mental-health-awareness-week

Join us on-line for top stress reducing tips from our trainers and therapists each day, including special offers for your workplace.

Gillian Burn, our trainer, is author of the Energy & Well-Being Pocket book (buy here).  She has these great tips for you for reducing stress and anxiety:

Stand up, go walkabout in the office or outside, even if it is only for 5 minutes

Take a break  – for a 60 second eye relaxation which is in my Energy and Well-being pocketbook

–          Close your eyes, take several deep breaths

–          Move your eyes to 3pm in an imaginary clock face thinking about your favourite holiday destination

–          Move your eyes to 6pm to think of a relaxing water scene

–          Move your eyes to 9pm to think of your favourite animal

–          Move your eyes to 12pm, to think of the countryside, your garden, out in the fresh air

Enjoy the sense of relaxation

Book our yoga, mindfulness and fit mind workshops for your employees!

We hope you enjoy this exercise, join us tomorrow for another top tip.  Victoria

30/01/14 Take care of your heart – employee health screening

February is national heart month.  Learning to take care of your heart is one of the most important things you can do for your health. Encourage your employees to know their numbers and book for employee health screening.  Three of the most important things to put into practice for heart wellbeing are:

  • giving up smoking – smoking damages your heart.  Your heart has to work harder as the Carbon Monoxide in tobacco smoke reduces the amount of oxygen in your blood.  Smoking also damages the lining of your arteries which can lead to strokes, angina and heart attacks.  Just in case you still fancied a fag break – did you know there is cadmium in your cigarette?  this is linked to cancer and is used to make batteries!
  • being active – encouraging your heart to work.  Not only does exercise assist in weight control, it improves circulation, increases good cholesterol in your body, reduces blood pressure, builds muscle mass and increases fat loss.  You don’t need to rush off to the nearest gym, put on some of your favourite music and dance, hoover the stairs, create a circuit around your home or get out and have a daily walk – these are all beneficial in creating heart health.
  • eating well – increasing your fruit and veg, eating less refined sugar and carbohydrates – this includes white pasta and rice, including nuts and seeds and healthy oils such as coconut and olive are all good ways of keeping your heart healthy.  Your BMI (body mass index) is greatly linked to heart health.  Quite simply the more fat you carry and larger your waist size, the harder your heart has to work.

We would  like to add an additional idea for you to consider when looking at heart health:

Stress Levels – providing yourself with a healthy emotional outlet for emotions can be key to heart health.  A healthy diet will not fix your heart if you are harbouring years of resentment and anger – however making changes to your diet can make you feel positive and encourage you to find a healthy outlet!  Learn to manage pressures differently – we cannot always alter the situation, we can alter the way we perceive it.  Great ways of dealing with blocked emotions: letter writing  –  you don’t have to send it, quite often in my case a very good job I don’t, but get all your thoughts and feelings out.  You can ceremoniously burn the paper afterwards or keep them, whatever works best for you; painting and drawing – doesn’t have to look like anything, just free flow, use the colours and shapes that help you put your emotions on paper;  dance – this will help with that waist line as well and is a great way to encourage endorphins and positive feelings; laughter – book yourself in to a laughter workshop or just start laughing…try the pencil technique – pop a pencil in your teeth lengthways and notice that you are smiling even if you don’t feel like it…after a while positive messages will be sent around your body and you may…just may feel happier!

What can we do to help?  Heart Health is our business.  We can set up our heart health stand with literature and wellbeing information, provide our team of nurses to help employees understand the risks of heart disease, using biometric testing such as cholesterol, blood pressure and body mass index we can gauge individuals risk of heart disease and provide advice to individual employees.  Additionally, we can help employees to understand stress and pressure and how they differ, equip staff with coping strategies via our workshop or one to one coaching, promote healthy eating with our live food demo’s and workshops and encourage exercise by setting you up with some in-house fitness classes.  Do get in touch if you would like to find out more.

 

23/07/12 Taking Care of the Future Generation

During July, MEND (Mind Exercise Nutrition Do It) are promoting childhood healthy lifestyles. Check the link on the right hand side to see if there are any initiatives in your area. Whether you have children or not, children will shape the future of our country, and taking care of their needs emotionally and physically is an important job for everyone!

Good nutrition is by no means the solution to all of our problems, however we do have a real need to take action.

Obesity: is a growing problem. The UK is now the fattest country in Europe, overweight babies become overweight children who become overweight adults who will go on to develop related health conditions. Doctors are now concerned as seeing fatty liver which leads to cirrhosis in young children. This is a degenerative liver disease normally only seen in alcoholics.

Bone health: the return of rickets, cases are on the increase, (20% of 200 children in recent study exhibited symptoms of rickets!) children are not eating calcium which can lead to tooth decay and poor growth.

Mental health: 2-5 % children/teenagers suffer from depression; in a class of 30, 1-3 children may have

Immune system: children who do not eat properly are more prone to colds, infections, fatigue, stress, poor sleep – just like us!

Our nutrition workshops topics include feeding our children well and can be run in conjunction with one to one nutrition appointments for employees to discuss specific nutrition and wellbeing issues.

Want to know how to get started on spreading the word?

Download our free nutrition sheet and pass it around the office/playgroup/school notice board – help get the message out to everyone.

Click the fact sheet to download (pdf).

Contact us for more information.

26/09/11 Lunch Box Health

Your lunch box needn’t be a chore every time you have to think about making something.  Jo from our nutrition team has made these nutritionally balanced dishes out of things readily available.  If you are on a budget, buying dried beans and following the instructions on soaking them can save money, as can always making the most of your joints of meat if you are using them, boiling the bones of your chicken makes a wonderful broth and you can freeze the stock for use at a later date.  We will write more on credit crunch meals or if you would like more info why not book a workshop for your employees?  Here are a few of our favourite, along with some inspired choices from the Workplace Healthcare team’s recent travels.

Bean salad: ½ tin mixed beans, ½ bag of salad, 2-3 chopped tomatoes, 1 grated carrot, 1 chopped pepper, ½ chopped avocado, drizzle on 1 tbs olive oil, squeeze of lemon and mix well

Apple & bean salad: : ½ tin mixed beans, ½ bag of watercress/rocket, 1 chopped apple, 1 chopped stick celery, 1 handful coriander chopped, ½ chopped avocado, drizzle on 1 tbs olive oil, squeeze of lemon and mix well.

Greek inspired dishes:

Feta salad:  Chop cucumber and tomatoes and mix in bowl with olives, feta and som e fresh thyme (optional) and lots of cold pressed olive oil.

Souvlaki: This can be eaten as a dinner and the remainder brought to work as a lunch box treat!  Chop chicken (breast or thigh) and add to skewers along with chopped peppers and onions.  Coat in olive oil and season and grill for 20 minutes or until meat is cooked through.  Eat with salad and wholemeal pitta bread.

Egg/cottage cheese/ ham/ chicken salad: as either of above but replace beans with 1-2 eggs or 1 tub of cottage cheese or 1-2 slices of cold meat or marinated tofu chunks

Leftovers from dinner: Cook enough dinner to eat the next day for lunch cold e.g. baked chicken/fish and baked vegetables (add some more salad if needed)

Quick Soup: 1 handful lentils, 1 chopped carrot, 1 chopped celery stick, 1 chopped clove garlic, 1 pinch chilli, 1 bayleaf, 1 pint vegetable stock. Boil till lentils are soft, then liquidize. Eat with rye/whole meal bread and handful of green salad.

French Inspired Potage or Quick chicken soup: Boil leftover chicken bones + 2-3 slices chopped chicken (cooked) with 1 handful brown rice in 1 litre vegetable stock, 3 sprigs thyme (or any other fresh herbs) until rice is cooked. Remove chicken bones and add juice of one lemon.   To make it interesting on different days you can add some freshly made crutons, some gently fried onions, some soy sauce and coriander.

And to Japan for the Miso soup: 1-2 tbs miso +1 piece dried seaweed + 1 litre water. Simmer for 10 mins and then remove seaweed. Add 1 packet of silken tofu chopped and 2-3 chopped spring onions. Cook for a few more mins.

Sandwich toppings/fillings:

Mash 1 avocado with juice ½ lemon+ 1 chopped garlic clove. Spread on rye/wholemeal bread/ryvita/oatcakes. Top with 1 spoon of cottage cheese and slices of orange/apple.

Mash 1 tin sardines/1 fillet smoked mackerel with 1 squeeze lemon juice and 1 tbs plain yoghurt. Spread on rye/wholemeal bread/ryvita/oatcakes. Eat with handful of rocket/watercress

Chop 1-2 hardboiled eggs and mix with 1 chopped tomato, 1 handful of cress, pinch of pepper. Spread on rye/wholemeal bread/ryvita/oatcakes. Eat with handful of rocket/watercress

20/04/11 your own facial on-site massage routine

Our on-site massage teams have been inundated with employees who are suffering with colds and flu this month.  Luckily we are trained to recognise when to treat and not treat, and have been able to clear blocked noses and stuffy heads with our facial point massage.  It is great if we do it, you lay back and relax, but if we aren’t coming to you for a while, or if (heaven forbid) you don’t have the workplace healthcare massage team visit your office, then don’t panic – here is the routine!

You could enlist the help of a colleague…. or even sit and do it in front of your computer (no one will know honest) the perfect office massage.

It has been clearing sinuses and reviving employees at the companies we work at and we hope it helps you, do write back and tell us, or tweet us #healthystaff

your own on-site massage routine

 Are you sitting comfortably?  Please do not do this routine if you are pregnant.

Points 1-4 run across the back of the head (find the bony bit where your head meets your neck) and using thumb or fingers massage along the ridge.

then simply follow points 5 – 20 in order (it doesn’t matter if you don’t keep to the order – relax and go with the flow!)

If you are doing this at home, apply some oil (olive, jojoba, avocado) and sit back and relax.  If you are doing this at work, it’s best not to apply oil just before you go into a meeting. he he.

We have found it brilliant to help clear blocked sinuses and stuffy heads, it is also said to act as a natural face lift – perform every morning before stepping out of bed.

11/04/11 Summer Motivation

Our Nutrition workshops are interactive and informative ways of getting staff interested in their wellbeing through diet.  At this time of year, the first bearing of flesh ensues and I share with everyone who thinks about the steamed puddings and toad in the hole we enjoyed in the winter months!  In this article you will find a few ideas for breaking the chocolate cycle (that craving after lunch or dinner for chocolate/sugar), along with some recipe suggestions for stamping out baddies (snacks that don’t serve us well!).

Our calorie requirements in the summer vs winter

Actually these don’t change.  If we eat well and balanced there is nothing to say we require less calories in the summer.  We should match our calorie intake to our level of exercise and if we are exercising more in the summer, we may need to take on more calories.

Trying to tone up and lose weight is often easier in the spring/summer as we can feel more motivated and energised, it is natural for us to spend more time outside and eat less stodge.  If you find yourself reaching for the Baddies:

  • Crisps
  • Cakes
  • Sweets
  • Biscuits (even low fat can have lots of sugar)
  • Fizzy drinks
  • Salted nuts

Even look out for the puffed rice treats in the supermarkets, whilst not fattening, they are incredibly full of salt, more per 100g than a bag of crisps!  In fact this is true of many low fat foods, they typically contain more sugar and salt than their slightly more ‘fattening’ counterparts.  Would it be best to have a ‘little’ of what you like than ‘allot’ of synthetic flavoured treats?

Try these simple ideas:

If you are used to having a salty snack such as crisps or nuts (think glass of wine or beer), then these tasty treats are full of healthy goodness.  Pumpkin seeds are a great source of magnesium, manganese and phosphorus, iron and protein and are also one of the most concentrated sources of zinc.  Sunflower seeds contain B vitamins B1 and B5, folate and selenium as well as a good amount of magnesium.  A power packed source of nutrition!

Pumpkin and Sunflower Tamari snacks

Simply take a cup of each seeds (or just use 2 cups of one type) mix with 2 teaspoons of Tamari (you can use normal soy sauce, tamari is our favourite at the WPH offices) and you can either:

Heat a large skillet/frying pan and pop seeds in – keep turning them until they brown ever so slightly and start popping, or

Pop on baking sheet and put into oven – mid heat – for around 12 minutes but keep an eye on them either way, they burn quickly!

Tip out onto plate and enjoy!  We keep them in a tub in the office for those 5pm cravings!

Nuts.  Glorious Nuts.

Quite simply nuts are nutritional powerhouses!

This is my key to cutting the sugar craving after food or in the afternoon or evening.  Nuts are nutritious and have a high fat and fibre content thus making them very filling, reducing the need for rubbishy snacks as your body has all the nutrients it needs it gets the correct messages from your food, the complete picture, reducing cravings.

It’s true, nuts are relatively high in calories, and this article is about toning up for summer, so you need to portion your power snack!  1oz is a good portion size (about 16 nuts although they are different shapes and sizes so you will need to work this out yourself!).  I mix freezer bags of nuts with dried fruit, try apricots, sultanas, cranberries and keep them in the cupboard to grab when I am leaving the house, or pop a couple in the car in the winter to ensure I have something to nibble on when I get the cheese and onion crisp urge – it works for me – give it a try.. and if you need any further convincing:

Nuts have been shown to play an important role in helping to lower “bad” cholesterol levels and raise “good” cholesterol levels. In addition, they can help dilate blood vessels and prevent hardening of the arteries.

The Nurses Health Study, which followed 86,016 nurses for 14 years, found those who ate 5 ounces or more of nuts per week reduced their risk of dying from heart disease by 35%. The researchers also noted that the nut-eaters tended to weigh less than the nurses who did not eat nuts.

More Seeds?

Sorry seeds again.  Looking for an alternative to cake, and those sugar filled cereal bars you can buy in the supermarket, I make these little beauties.

4 seed bars

2tbsp sunflower seeds

2tbsp pumpkin seeds

2tbsp linseeds

2 banannas

100g butter

3tbsp honey

50g millet flakes (if you don’t have use more oat flakes)

100g oat flakes

100g dried fruit (cranberries are nice, apricots, sultanas, raisins etc)

Heat oven to 180/350/gm4

1. Grease a tin – either 28 x 18 x 4 or you can use bun tins, just give them a spritz of oil

2. Chop seeds (I blitzed seeds and dried fruit in chopper/blender) and mash banana, mix everything together and pop into tin, or press into bun tins and bake for 30 minutes (big tin) and around 20 minutes for bun tin.

Cool on wire rack and enjoy.  They will keep for around 5 days or you can batch cook them and freeze them in portions.

Also, play around with the ingredients, you can add some nuts (simply chop finely or pop in blender)!!!

If you hate nuts and seeds, we do have some other ideas:

Fruit – good old fruit.  Amazingly it tastes great, you just have to remind yourself if you don’t eat it often.  High in

antioxidants, fibre and natural sugars, they will give you a good energy boost.

Eggs – hardboiled they really are a great ready snack and even come in their own protective biodegradable wrapping!  Nigella pops a spent match in her boiling water, I don’t tend to bother..

Vedge – chop up some of your favourites, cauliflower, peppers, carrots, sugar snap peas and try with my new invention, Dijon dip – Mayo, lemon juice, white pepper and Dijon – mix and dip!

If you are interested in nutrition for your workplace, get in touch, typically we run hour workshops together with 12 x 30 minute one to one employee slots, please enquire for rates and additional topics.