MARCH
Wellness Manager Monthly™
Fiber Is Your Friend
Healthy eating includes keeping good company with fiber-rich foods. This month’s focus explores the many benefits of eating fiber-full foods and satisfying ways to increase fiber intake.
National Health Observances
HealthyLife® Newsletter
Well-Being Slides
Post this short slide presentation on your onsite T.V. screens, H.R. and/or wellness program office.
Click on thumbnails to download .jpg files.
Featured Wellness Activity
Fiber Up
The goal of this activity is to encourage you to eat more fiber-rich foods.
Key Messages
Eating fiber-rich foods offers plenty of health benefits. Fiber helps keep you regular, which is an essential part of removing waste products from your body.
Fiber helps keep you feeling full and satisfied. And they are often lower in calories to support a healthy weight.
Fiber helps to keep blood sugars in a healthy range and lowers risk for heart disease and some cancers. And fiber foods feed the “good” bacteria found in your gut.
Women should aim for 25 grams of fiber a day. Men should aim for 38 grams of fiber a day.
Good sources: whole grain breads and cereals, beans, lentils, vegetables, fruit, nuts, and seeds.
Try adding beans or lentils to salads and soup; snack on veggies and bean dip; add berries to cereal or yogurt, make a stir-fry with broccoli, greens, and carrots; and eat a small handful of nuts.
3 Ways to Work this Activity
Distribute Resources
Provide resources and key messages to employees, including the SMART goal examples from the Well-Being slides. Encourage them to eat more fiber-rich foods.
5 Fiber Picks
Invite employees to post images of 5 fiber-rich foods they purchased on a recent grocery shopping trip.
Beans for Fiber Challenge
Hold a friendly challenge for employees to include beans or lentils (any kind) at least 4 days a week for the next 2 weeks. Employees can track their intake on your wellness message platform.
Get Rough With Your Diet
Recipe: Salsa
Fiberize Your Kitchen
Fuel Up
The purpose of this monthly feature is to highlight healthy snack and meal ideas to help you stay focused and energized throughout your workday, wherever you may be.
Quinoa
This month’s featured fuel is quinoa, a versatile, ancient whole grain. One cup cooked packs 5 grams of fiber, 8 grams of protein, antioxidants and minerals and is naturally gluten-free.
Worksite Ideas
Distribute the handout to employees along with the brief description of quinoa.
Invite employees to share a video or photo of a meal in a bowl that includes quinoa.
Coach's Corner
This monthly feature provides another option for reinforcing a key message to employees.
Dear Health Coach,
I follow a gluten-free diet and want to add more gluten-free grains to my diet. Is quinoa a good grain to add?
Thank you,
Searching For Gluten-Free
Dear Searching For Gluten-Free,
Absolutely! Quinoa is a naturally gluten-free grain. What’s more, quinoa is a whole grain, and is packed with nutrients. Along with being a great source of fiber, it is also rich in protein, antioxidants, and minerals, like magnesium, zinc, and folate. Quinoa can be used to replace rice, wheat ingredients like pasta or farro, barley, and other gluten-containing grains. You can find many diverse recipes for quinoa online, such as breakfast bowls, salads, and more. Enjoy!
In Good Health,
Your Health Coach
Weekly Thrive Tips
The purpose of this monthly feature is to offer employees examples of simple self-care activities on a weekly basis.
Be Mindful
Move Your Way
Nourish
Sleep Well
Do strength training exercises at least twice a week.
Avoid eating heavy meals close to bedtime.
When you apologize, say how you will make amends in the future.
Look for healthy soup recipes at myplate.gov/myplate-kitchen.
Communication Campaign
Here are suggested templates of weekly communications to share with employees.
Wellness Topic:
Fiber Is Your Friend
Education: Kidney Health
Preventive Focus:
Colorectal Cancer
Participation Initiative: Fiber Challenge
National Observance: Nutrition Month
First Day of the Month
Greetings!
Healthy eating includes keeping good company with fiber-rich foods. This month’s focus explores the many benefits of eating fiber-full foods and satisfying ways to increase fiber intake.
One of the key benefits of fiber is that it helps keep you regular, which is an essential part of removing waste products from your body. It also helps keep you feeling full and satisfied. And they are often lower in calories to support a healthy weight. Fiber helps to keep blood sugars in a healthy range and lowers risk for heart disease and some cancers. And fiber foods feed the ‘good’ bacteria found in your gut.
Women should aim for 25 grams of fiber a day. Men should aim for 38 grams a day. Good sources include whole grain breads and cereals, beans, lentils, vegetables, fruit, nuts, and seeds. Try adding beans or lentils to salads and soup; snack on veggies and bean dip; add berries to cereal or yogurt; make a stir-fry with broccoli, greens, and carrots; and eat a small handful of nuts.
Measure Your Progress
[INSERT SMART Goal graphic]
Want to know if you’re getting closer to meeting your health and wellness goals? It helps to set smaller, monthly goals to keep you on track. Choose one of the suggested goals that’s a good fit for you, or create your own:
1. I will eat 1 more daily serving of fruit for the next 2 weeks.
2. This coming week, I will have 1 serving of beans or lentils a day, for at least 3 days.
3. I will buy breakfast cereal that has at least 4 grams of fiber per serving the next time I shop for groceries.
In Good Health,
1st Week of the Month
Greetings!
Be a part of Fiber Is Your Friend month by participating in the Fiber Up Challenge.
Include more beans or lentils in your meals and snacks. Post your comments with photos on how you added more beans and lentils on [HealthyLife® message board – company message board – company Facebook/Instagram or other] anytime this month.
You might add some to your salad or soup, snack on hummus or roasted chickpeas, or try a lentil curry dish. Enjoy new ways to eat these fiber-full foods.
For more information on adding more fiber to your diet, read the attached article.
In Good Health,
Attach: Fiberize Your Kitchen
2nd Week of the Month
Greetings!
Here is this month’s Coach’s Corner Q & A, answering a common question related to this month’s wellness theme.
In Good Health,
Attach: March Coach’s Corner
3rd Week of the Month
Greetings!
This month’s featured fuel is quinoa, a versatile and ancient whole grain. One cup cooked packs 5 grams of fiber, 8 grams of protein, antioxidants and minerals, and is naturally gluten-free.
In Good Health,
Attach: (Fuel Up) Curious About Quinoa?
4th Week of the Month
Greetings!
We hope you enjoyed Fiber Is Your Friend month and tried some of the tips to add more fiber to your diet.
Remember you can post comments and photos of how you ate more beans and lentils on [HealthyLife® message board – company message board – company Facebook/Instagram or other] until the end of the month.
For a fiber-rich dish that’s easy to make and goes with just about everything, see the attached recipe.
In Good Health,
Attach: Salsa Recipe
First Day of the Month
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Health Video
How to Pick Cereal
