Thursday, July 5, 2018

Nutrition

Healthy eating is a lifestyle choice. Choosing good nutrition and a healthy diet has many benefits. It helps overall health, and helps to reduce your risk for certain diseases such as heart disease, high blood pressure and certain kinds of cancer.

Summer is a great time of year to focus on renewing your commitment to healthy eating. Whatever your age, the nutrition habits you choose now can affect your health for the rest of your life. According to Dietary Guidelines published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), you can keep a healthy diet if you:

  • Make smart food choices
  • Find a balance between exercise and eating
  • Get the most nutrition from every calorie
 Ways to keep a healthy diet and lifestyle include:
  • Choosing lean meat, poultry, fish, eggs, nuts and beans
  • Choosing high calcium foods such as broccoli, kale, low-fat cheese and milk
  • Including plenty of fruits, vegetables and whole grains
  • Using few if any fats, salt or sugar or reduce amounts of these
  • Enjoying your food, but eating less
  • Avoiding big portions
  • Making half your plate fruits and veggies
  • Choosing foods with low salt/sodium numbers
  • Drinking water instead of sugary drinks
  • Exercising for at least 30 minutes on most days
  • Slowly raising the intensity and amount of time you work out
You may eat something unhealthy now and again but then you should go back to your healthy eating habits. For most people, healthy eating makes the most sense because it promotes long-term weight loss and health. The amount of calories you may need each day depends on your age, gender and activity level. For example, a relatively active 20 year-old woman would need more calories than an inactive 55 year-old man.

Your body mass index (BMI) combined with your activity level is used to find the right calorie amounts for you. Your BMI is a number that represents your body fat based on how tall you are and how much you weigh. This helps to let you know if you are underweight, healthy weight, or overweight. To calculate your BMI and your recommended caloric intake, adults can use a BMI calculator (simply do an internet search and a variety will come up).

You should talk with your doctor about how best to keep a healthy lifestyle and whether you may need to lose weight. Your doctor can recommend other ways to live and eat well.

Illinois Tech employees have extra resources to help them develop and keep up healthy habits:
  • Life Coaching: Life coaching services are available through the Lifeworks Employee Assistance Program. Simply call the toll free number or log in to get started.  Additional information can be found on the HR Portal Employee Assistance Program page.
  • Health Coaching: Blue Cross Blue Cross Blue Shield offers several health coaching areas such as nutrition, exercise, and smoking cessation.  To connect with your coach, log in at www.bcbsil.com, click on the Well on Target link under the Quick Links, and then click on the goal most appropriate for you.
  • Naturally Slim: Blue Cross Blue Shield's new mindful eating and weight management course available to Illinois Tech Health Plan members at no cost. For more information, or to sign up for a notification when the next application window opens, visit www.naturallyslim.com/IIT.
For questions on any of these options, please visit the HR Portal or contact Human Resources at hr@iit.edu.

Article by: Viktoria Rill
Resources: Blue Cross Blue Shield Nutrition Health Topics article 

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