Facebook Fittest Cities in the USA

Just read a great article on the top cities for staying shape, based on Facebook searches. Now this may seem an arbitrary way to define a healthy city, but it brings up a major point we at Healthify are trying to make: working out should be social! They looked at all the cities and tried to figure out which ones had the most people using social media in connection with staying in shape.

While the top cities don't really interest me, what gets me excited are the points about how to make your fitness and wellbeing more social. There are many great ways to stay in shape, but by putting yourself out there on Facebook or other media with pictures and social interactions you have a much higher chance of actually achieving your fitness goals. This is according to a University of South Carolina study that basically said those who tweeted about their weight loss were much more likely to actually succeed. Here is that article

This all being said, GET SOCIAL! Get your friends on facebook together and form a group where you all post about healthy eating and working out. Or keep it from your friends and join one of the many existing groups of fitness people out there.

4th of July and roof deck season!

I love all things America so it should come as no surprise that the 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays!

It is also a great time to get out that BBQ to celebrate and perfect time to hit up some local rooftops!

We had a nice lunch break yesterday from work at the Little Goat Bread and even managed a celebrity sighting of the founder! It's always fun to run into people like Stephanie Izard in their natural setting. I will say the sandwiches were fantastic and the roof deck was an awesome atmosphere.

Lunchbox Series: Shrimp & Corn Summer Salad

While we are busy with TechWeek Chicago Launch our friends at ELM Street Nutrition have a post for you!

I highly recommend making a homemade lunch at least half of the week. Not only will you save a lot of money, you will likely save many calories and enjoy a more nutritious meal. One of my go-to packed lunches in warm weather is a summer salad. It’s easy to assemble, highly customizable, and you can include virtually every food group in one meal.

However, If you’re anything like me, you think the actual lettuce part of a salad is the most boring part. I always feel obligated to include lettuce in my salads, but I’m never really that happy about it. I also enjoy cold pasta salads, but am often disappointed in the lack of vegetables and other add-ins that are included. Enter my Shrimp & Corn Summer Salad. In each bite you will get some pasta and some greens, but neither dominates the meal. It’s delicious and refreshing, and will keep you energized throughout the entire afternoon. Try making this recipe soon, and let me know what you think!

Shrimp and Corn Summer Salad

Serves 4 – Great for leftovers!

Salad Ingredients:

2 swiss chard leaves, stalk removed, and sliced finely

1 red bell pepper, diced

2 cobs of yellow summer corn, kernels removed from the cob

2 cups of dry pasta – I used quinoa pasta

1 cup of  small fresh mozzarella balls, halved

2 cups of frozen cooked & deveined shrimp, defrosted

Dressing Ingredients

1/2 lemon, juiced

4 TBSP extra virgin olive oil

2 TBSP red wine vinegar

Salt & pepper

Directions

Combine first 3 salad ingredients, raw, in a large bowl. Cook pasta according to directions, drain, and pour into bowl. The warm pasta will cook the vegetables just slightly to soften. Pour in dressing to taste, mix, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Add in shrimp and mozzarella, stir again, add more dressing if needed. Eat immediately, or even better, refrigerate for even longer to let the flavors come together. Lasts in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Healthy tip: When you bring your own lunch to work, don’t get stuck at your desk all day! Walk around the block for 15-20 mins before or after eating.

Food & Fitness: Mix it up

A guest post by our friends at ELM Street Nutrition

If it is a possibility for you, I encourage you to incorporate as much variation throughout each month when it comes to both food and fitness.

I often fall into a rut when it comes to food. It becomes too easy to eat the same breakfasts, lunches, and dinners throughout the week…especially when I am short on time. While this is certainly fine because I am fueling my body with nutrient dense foods, I often just go through the motions when it comes to eating, and realize I’m not actually enjoying the plate in front of me. We also benefit much more from eating the widest variety of foods in order to soak up the full range of nutrients available to us.

The same goes for fitness – when we fall into workout routines over the long run, our fitness level plateaus. In order to continue to increase fitness levels and get the maximum benefits from the sweat we put in, it’s important to mix it up and keep our bodies guessing.

Have fun with trying new fitness and foods! Not only will you decrease boredom and burnout, but your body will thank you too. Summer is a perfect time for this.

Some seasonal food & fitness variations I am looking forward to this summer:

1. Grilling – Anything and everything on the grill just tastes better. Even simple veggies and fruits like corn on the cob, pineapple slices, and portobello mushrooms.

2. SUSHI – I crave sushi when it’s hot out. My newest favorite maki roll includes Yellowfin tuna, avocado, jalapeno, and mango. Swap in brown rice, and pair with some steamed edamame and a bowl of juicy cherries.

3. Eat more fresh fruit – Watermelon,strawberries, and cherries never tasted so good.

4. Try a new fitness class – If you are lucky enough to live in a city like Chicago where there are TONS of workout studios, make it your mission to take new classes. Next up on my list: Revolution Spinning in Evanston. So many fun looking spin options!

5. Join a summer sports league! I am loving Monday night basketball with the Chicago Sport and Social Club. With refs and real rules, it feels like I'm right back in high school…almost.

6. Get those around you pumped to try new foods and workouts too. A support system is crucial and highly effective for creating sustainable change. Cook a new nutritious recipe with a friend. Kick off a healthy summer with your co-workers through an in-office workout session with our friends over at Healthify.

7. Take your workout outside! Soak up that Vitamin D and fresh air. I absolutely love running in the summer time and enjoy exploring new routes. Trail running anyone?

Kenny Chesney Concert

Ever been to a large outdoor tailgating event and felt like this guy?

Well I was back home in Pittsburgh this weekend for one of my favorite country music stars', Kenny Chesney, annual outdoor tailgate party . And what a weekend it was. It's always great to meet up with my old high school buddies and enjoy the hot weather by the river. But staying healthy while having fun? Now there is a challenge. Here are a few of my tips on how to conquer a great weekend at the tailgate.

1. WATER. You will hear me say this one over and over again, but water really is key. Almost every bad thing you do to your body is helped by drinking more water. And guess what, standing outside in the 90 degree heat drinking beer is going to dehydrate you (even if it is coors lite...). This weekend was as hot as any, and good thing we planned ahead and brought a few gallons of of water to the tailgate. Keep your friends hydrated and happy!

2. Bring something fresh for eating. While of course there will be hotdogs, hamburgers and chips, what's wrong with a little watermelon or strawberries? Even better, impress your friends and make something creative involving alcohol and fruit. At least the fruit part will be healthy!

3. Move your body! It's nice out, it's a great place to run around and catch a few footballs. And when the concert starts...DANCE! Get up and have some fun! This is the best way to burn off some of those extra calories at concert and it's fun.

$$$ cost of your bad habits

Every wondered how much money those bad habits of yours are costing? Well check out this article from BankRate. It gives a some very clear and almost scary details of the overall financial damage your bad habits are causing. The top three healthwise are smoking, drinking and unhealthy eating.

Smoking
Yearly cost of $2,555
Compounded over 30 years: $201,994

Drinking
Yearly Cost of $1,560
Compounded over 30 years: $123,331

Eating Unhealthy Food
Yearly Cost: $432 to $4,879
Compounded over 30 years: $34,153 to $385,725

So what to do? Because you are looking at the next 30 years you need to make small incremental changes. The biggest move is to quit smoking...and while difficult will probably make the largest health and financial impact in your life. The second move is to simply have a drink or two less a week. This will cut your calories and spending fairly significantly. And, come on, do you really need that extra rum and coke to have fun? The last is to cut back on unhealthy foods. Again it's always better to do things in moderation.

Healthy Executives

I just read this article from Business Insider about 14 tech execs who could probably kick my butt. It made think of how companies build corporate culture around athletic activities. It also made me realize how this kind of culture is built from the top down. At the bank I used to work for we had a yearly ice hockey game against another division. Granted I worked on trading floor, this was one the most competitive sporting events I had ever seen!

But what this event really did was give us a reason to practice hockey and stay in shape so we could take down that other division. This team bonding and group training helped us overall and was driven mainly by our leaders, who happened to be former college hockey players. But overall this top down athletic event created a culture of health and wellness at my company that was completely unintentional and awesome. Even the non hockey players picked up on this and started to plan other competitive things like 3 on 3 basketball tournaments or 5k challenges.

These are all great things you can start doing for your company right now! But what you need to do is have it be driven by a manager who simply wants to stay healthy and play a sport. So find a manager who enjoys playing some sport and start organizing your own in office challenges! Or call us at Healthify and we'll help you to organize some on site fitness events!

Entrepreneurs Unplugged Pitch Event 6/18/2013

Another great event in the Chicago startup world last night. This one featured two companies trying to healthify you and your children's life through two completely different means.










First up was Julie Bashkin of  Klutch Club. Her company sends you health wellness and personal care boxes in the mail. The boxes come with a range of new healthy products and her passion was really in finding the small innovators in the healthy food business and helping these new companies grow their brands through her box distribution.











Following Julie was Chris Conn of MightyNest. I've hear Chris speak several times before at Kellogg events, but his stories and passion are always great. His major point of the night was "There is no reason to wait for your 'LIFE IS SHORT!' moment to start living" He spoke of how his children were the true passion behind his business and then gave several very insightful tips about how to work with a spouse as a cofounder. The most important was work stays at work, that is no talking about it at home. But back to his healthy company. The company sells safe natural and good products to be around children and adults. They are basically healthifying Bed Bath and Beyond.

The new office!

Today was Healthify's first day in the new office! We got in early, 10am is early for the startup word...And got a tour of our new home at Enerspace! First impression? Love it! The place has many great features for a startup like us. First of all they have their own yoga studio! Right in the office area!

We will definitely be using the space for our instructors to practice our new version of office yoga and other on site fitness activities. Best part of this coworking space is that they have their own changing rooms and a "spa-like shower." This is perfect for those of us that have given up on early morning workouts (read burned myself out in college swimming at 5am) and like to go for a mid afternoon jog.

Also there are a bunch of great lunch places right around the corner. Today we hit up an italian sub shop around that had this monstrosity sitting on their counter. While we considered purchasing the 10 lb cannoli, and it would have been mighty tasty, it didn't really seem to fit with the motto of our company, "Building a healthier, more productive workplace today" 

After work we have another great event through Entrepreneurs Unplugged. It should be fun to hear the founder of KlutchClub speak and hopefully we can work out some new partnerships! #makingmoves

Founders Institute Graduation

Great event tonight watching the Founders Institute(FI) graduation. The night kicked off with a good description of how FI guides entrepreneurs and their young companies from idea formation into launch. The Keynote speaker,  adjunct professor Howard Tullman at Kellogg, had some great points about being successful in this space. I will have to take a class from him next semester!

His first major points were on why concepts fail, with the most pivotal being they simply fail to meet customers needs! This is why we also focus on customer discovery first and then build the company around what the customer wants.

After this he went into getting the "Yes" from investors. The major point of this part of the presentation was that your team is very important. You need to surround yourself with successful people and find a way to motivate them through strong leadership.

After the Keynote we moved onto the pitches and were able to hear our own Colleen pitch the Healthify idea!

Overall the night was a great look into the future of some fantastic Chicago based startup companies.

Healthy Vacation Eating

It's always tough to stay healthy on vacation. This past weekend was no different for me as I visited my grandparents house down in Florida. Here are 3 tips to help you along the way!

1. Grab some fresh summer fruit!

There are few things as delicious and refreshing as watermelon on a hot summer day by the pool or beach. Grab a chunk, slice it up and bring it outside for all your friends to enjoy. It is a perfect substitute for that extra cookie or cupcake, and is definitely more refreshing!

2. Go for a walk on the beach. In the hot summer sun, you'll be burn more calories just walking around and sweating because you aren't used to this type of weather. I know I was melting as soon as I stepped outside, silly Chicago weather does not prepare you for Florida... On your walk be sure to take a lot of water! Dasani is always a good choice!

3. Try something new! If you're by the ocean, why not get some fresh seafood? At a local restaurant for lunch we avoided those deliciously mile high stacked nachos and instead got some fresh shrimp. Seafood is always a good choice

Keep it Simple: The Freezer

A guest post from our friends over at ELM Street Nutrition!

Life gets pretty busy these days, it’s true. Have no fear, a jam packed schedule need not sabotage your diet. ELM Street Nutrition will arm you with the most effective tools & tricks in the kitchen to enjoy a tasty and wholesome meal within 30 minutes from prep to table.

One first piece of advice: make use of your freezer. Think beyond processed frozen foods and ice cream here (no shame). Instead, maintain a freezer stocked with frozen produce and proteins to be assembled into satisfying meals and snacks in a jiffy.

Added bonuses for frozen produce in particular?

1). Cut down on waste! You don't have to worry about the produce going bad before your household has a chance to eat it.
2). Nutritional benefits! Frozen produce is picked at the peak of its ripeness and frozen immediately, preserving the majority of the nutritional value.

Favorite frozen produce:

Bananas (peeled, and split in half): Great for smoothies
Strawberries & blueberries: Also great for smoothies, and when de-thawed, tasty additions to oatmeal and cold breakfast cereals
Spinach – incredibly versatile (i.e. added to scrambled eggs, mixed into rice & quinoa, added to main dishes)
Mixed veggies – add vegetables to any meal in a pinch
Pearl onions – quickly saute with garlic and olive oil for a flavor punch
And for fun, some favorite proteins to keep on hand in the freezer:
Shrimp: a super fast addition to main dishes and salads
Chicken cutlets: forgot to defrost chicken for dinner? not an issue, these both defrost and cook in no time

Healthy Father's Day Gifts

As we all know, or now know because I am telling you, fathers day is a week from today!

So what do get that special dad in your life, cause obviously your Dad is better than everyone elses Dad. I read this article and it got me thinking of great healthy gifts to give pops. Some cool stuff on there, like the pebble watch. Now fathers day gifts are always tricky because I am much more tech savvy then my Dad and always want to get him the new hott tech fitness gadget. Unfortunately most will go unused because they are things I think are awesome, not things he thinks are awesome. But number 6 stuck out to me.

Golf Sense! The basic idea is that you attach it to your glove, take some swings and it shows you 3D imaging of your golf swing. A perfect gift for a dad because they love golf and anything that encourages more healthy activity is win all around. Good thing he doesn't blog so he won't know what i'm getting him!

Farmers Market Fun

Each weekend the local hotel in Evanston gives up their parking lot for all the local farms to sell their produce. I try to make it every week because everything is fresh and local and muuuuuuuuch cheaper than your local Whole Foods. It's also a great way to get some healthy food for the week's meals. I usually pick a few meals i'm going to make and try to complement the protein with some fresh vegetables from the market such as sweet potatoes, mushrooms or blueberries. Here are some of my top two picks for the week:

It is strawberry season and these are some of the freshest best strawberries I have every. Chances the carton lasts a week? 0%

Snap Peas are always a good call. Great to cook with and easy to make, or just eat em raw.

Heat up your diet!

Now I have never been a fan of diets. Not because I don't want to lose weight or be in shape, but because I LOVE sugar and salty foods. Diets would restrict me from eating these...So what do I do? Firstly I eat them in moderation, and by moderation I mean small quantities. Today I read an article on 12 sneaky ways to slim down your diet

There 12 points are interesting but one in particular stuck out to me. Fat trap 4: Adding hot sauce to everything. This is a problem for me, because I absolutely love Franks Red Hot!!!

In college I literally bought it by the gallon and put it on EVERYTHING. But back in those days I was working out 4 hours a day for swimming, so the extra salt and calories were probably helping me. But now as a real person, the extra sodium isn't so good. So what to do? Well they offer a few suggestions such as crushed red pepper, which I also love, and fresh peppers. 

Makes sense, you can get the spicy kick and avoid the extra salt along with adding in some fresh vegetables to your diet. They also suggest Tabasco, which has much less salt.

Spice up your food, but do it in more healthy way!

Drink more water!

Freshman year of high school my swim coach started to all but require us to drink about two nalgenes of water during the day. Now this was the year 2000 before the whole healthy eating, drink lots of water craze had started to catch on. We did very little else that was healthy, read mcdonalds breakfast after a 3 hr saturday morning swim...but made sure to drink that water.

Bottom left is my State Championship banner

Now 13 years later I just read this article talking about how to maximize your life to burn more fat faster. Along with many new ideas such as raising your iron levels or drinking more green tea, right smack in there is DRINK MORE WATER. They make an interesting point that if you drink 17 ounces of water, or two glasses, quickly your body will respond by increasing your metabolic rate by 30%. Don't understand what that means? Basically your body will burn calories processing that water. What does this have to do with you? Well if you're sitting at a desk at work right now, stand up, walk over to the water cooler and crush a cup of water! You will not only feel better, but you'll burn some calories too!

Break all your healthy rules?

Ever have one of those weekends? You know, all your friends are there, burgers are grilling, drinks are flowing, and the dance party is about to get started. Problem is after weeks of healthy eating and living, you crack, you break your healthy ways and binge on far too much unhealthy food and drinks.

This past weekend was my 5 year college reunion. and YES it was one of those weekend...and YES it was the greatest weekend ever! But as you get back from your weekend of fun and enjoying life, how do you get back on track? Here are my tips and tricks to get back to being healthy and help your body recover for the workweek ahead:

Alumni Stadium

Here are my top 5 tips on the road back to being healthy!

1. Drink a lot of water. And by a lot, I mean A LOOOOOT! The number one thing you body needs to do to recover is to hydrate.

2. Get some exercise. Wake you body up and go for a 30 minute jog. It will change your life. Even if it's just a short walk outside, getting moving will help your body break up those pesky free radicals.

3. Get to bed early, your body needs rest (duh...)

4. For the next 7 days focus on eating as many colorful vegetables as possible. Get your body back on the wagon!

5. Don't give up on your diet or healthy ways because you broke down! In finance we call this a "sunk cost." It's something that has happened and you cannot do anything about. The only thing you can do is focus on the future and be happy! So don't worry about it, remember the good times and focus on the coming week!

Run or Walk?

The age old question of go for a run or walk? Which is better? Why? I just read a great article here They make many good points but i'll give you my opinion, which is obviously more important...

 

vs

 

The real question comes down to what you are trying to accomplish. If you haven't exercised for the past 6 months or are just trying to break an unhealthy cycle, going for a 30 minute walk 3 days a week can do wonders for your health. But what you need to do is keep the body guessing. After doing the same workout routine for about 5 weeks your body will adjust and that workout will no longer be as helpful. So once you have been steadily walking for several weeks, turn one of those 30 minute sessions into half jog half walk. A couple weeks later, add some 50 yard sprints into your jog. Its all about the small incremental changes.

The main point is that any exercise is good! But be sure not to get locked into the same routine of walking or jogging. For me I go jogging only 2 or 3 times a week, and other days I workout by playing pickup basketball or frisbee or soccer. Or in the words of the lovable character Gordon from dodgeball:

"I'm gonna shock the biceps later, then some cardio. Keep the body guessing."

Top healthy companies: what makes them great and what you can learn from them

I just read a great article on the top 44 healthiest companies to work for. Here are few of my takeaways:

It should come as no surprise that all of these companies are making the health and wellness of their employees their number one priority. This is a growing trend in America. But the question is in how do they do it? Most of them offer on site fitness centers, gyms or yoga studios. They offer things such as rock climbing walls, healthy snacks, meditation rooms, online health coaches and some even offer on site pools and bike paths. They have taken their large locations and turned them into healthifying places to work!

Scrolling through the top companies we see names like Google, GE, Accenture, Nike and Progressive Insurance. All VERY VERY large successful companies. These companies have the balance sheets and employees needed to fund corporate wellness offices and staff them to take care of their employees. But what do you do if you are smaller company without these resources?

The smaller companies on this list are searching for ways to outsource these same great perks. EventBrite provides their employees with a monthly fitness and wellness stipend. StumbleUpon reimburses their employees for gym memberships. Tumblr's employees get free gym memberships. Skillshare subsidizes gym and yoga fees...you get the point here. They are paying for their employees health but they are not managing it and bringing it on site like the larger companies. These large companies have found the benefits of having control over the entire wellness of their employees.

Enter...

THIS IS WHY HEALTHIFY MY TEAM  EXISTS!
We help these smaller companies bring yoga and other fitness sessions directly to your work, just like the larger companies do. We manage the entire process for these companies so they do not have to worry about anything. We help them create the healthy culture and team bonding they are looking for.

What is the best time of the day to swim?

When posed the question when is the best to swim to maximize the healthifying effects, the college swimmer in me immediately responds with "anytime you're not doing something else!" But that is based off of 15 years of two a day practices and four hours a day spent in the pool. That is also not normal...it's actually very abnormal...So for normal people the question really is do I work out before work or after work. An article from Speedo Magazine puts a new spin on it saying you should work out in the very early morning, and before breakfast. Having swam in the very early morning I can say for a fact it helps you wake up for the day and you will feel more accomplished.

Speedo also claims swimming on an empty stomach will help you to maximize your weight loss...I say if you can do this more power to you. But before every morning practice I know I need to eat something, anything, or I will simply not make it through the gruelling workout. So in college and high school I choose something small, quick and easy to digest. The best option was a Nature Valley Oats 'N Honey bar.  I think I ate enough of them in college to keep Nature Valley the company afloat...if only amazon had existed at that time and I could buy 96 bars for only 21 bucks

Here at healthify we are hoping to add a new time period to the answer, your lunch break! If your company gives you a full hour, why take 30 minutes of that to hit up some yoga, or a quick boxing class. There's plenty of time to hit the showers before heading back to the desk to enjoy your lunch.

Technori Pitch

Each month, I make my way down the stairs of the Chase auditorium with a few of my Kellogg School of Management buddies to listen to local startups pitch their companies at the Technori Pitch. We spent the time arguing over which companies are viable and which are not. This is by far the best pitch competition I have run across in the city of Chicago. The other great event on its level is the monthly Built in Chicago Launch Party, but BIC is more of networking/socializing/drinking/fun event while Technori is listen to 5 great startups and an awesome keynote speaker and then moving the local bar for some socializing.

But back to last nights pitch. The keynote was Andy Crestodina (@crestodina) cofounder of orbit media and he made some many good points about SEO and getting your site to the top of the google list. I used what he said and was able to get our site to come as the third option when someone googles healthify! Beyond SEO his main point was that we all know about our MVP (minimum viable product) but what about our MVA??? What is your minimum viable AUDIENCE? What customers do you need to have to actually make your company a success. Focus on interacting with your customers and you will have much more success. We at Healthify My Team focus on this every day by asking people what sort of activities they would like to see going on in their offices as a way to healthify their workspace. A recent conversation with a former professional athlete brought up the importance of warming up for a workout and wondered why people do not warm up for work? He suggested maybe offer a 30 minute early morning yoga or fitness session right before work to get people in the right mindset for their jobs. Great idea! We are certainly going to look into it and see what the minimum viable audience is for this type of activity. Can't wait until next months Technori Pitch! Tickets are not on sale yet, but get them here when they are!

Become a morning person...

Not everyone is a morning person. I spent almost two decades of my life getting into the pool before the sun rose almost every single day.

But after getting out of my final practice senior year of college I have completely done away with morning workouts. Try to wake me up before 7 and you better be ready to feel my wrath! Now i'm certainly not against morning workouts, as they were part of the reason I was able to succeed in the pool for so many years, i've just done too many of them so far in my life...But if YOU want to start to become a morning person, here is a great article on a few tips to start trying today!

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/24/how-to-become-morning-workout-person/?intcmp=features

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

Happy Memorial Day Weekend All! It's time to get out those grills!

With the onset of the summer and the upcoming BBQ season, its more important than ever to try and stay healthy. I just read this article from The Huffington Post about a few tips for eating healthy at a BBQ while still having fun. I'd like to point out a few of my own personal tricks.

1. Don't binge eat! Its okay to have 1 or even 2 of those delicious cupcakes. It's not okay to put back 4 or 5.Your overall health is about long term averages. If you have been healthy for the week, go ahead and enjoy some sweets, but don't over do it. This same lesson applies to other great tasting, but not so healthy foods, such as pizza.

2. Drink water! While at any good BBQ there will be coolers and coolers of beer and sugar loaded drinks, try to space in a cup of water after every one. Not only will it help the hangover, but it will keep you hydrated for that intense game of kickball coming up. So before heading out, grab your favorite water bottle, fill it with ice water, and enjoy!

3. Choose your poison and enjoy it! By this I mean look at what kind of foods are at your BBQ and choose one of two that may be unhealthy but are your all time favorites. For me this is always the bag of doritos or other chips. So what do I do? I take a plate and choose a "normal" portion of chips, and put that aside for just me. Anytime I want some I go to that plate and only that plate. It makes sure you don't binge because you will have your amount of chips planned out.

4. Lastly have fun! Play as many active games as possible! Work up a nice sweat in the volleyball game, run the bases hard in kickball, chase down that arrant frisbee throw, but overal choose the active games play hard and have fun! If you can't enjoy the BBQ, why are you there!

Hope everyone has a great Memorial Day Weekend, and stay healthy!

Breathe in, Breathe out, HEALTHIFY!

3 Week Plan

About 3 weeks ago, I looked at my calendar and noticed I had the annual Kellogg verses Booth 2013 Graduate School of Business Tennis Challenge coming up. What I also realized is that I had not swung a racquet in 6 months and was likely going to blow my shoulder out trying to play tennis with the same reckless abandon that won me a Pennsylvania State Championship. So what did I do? I made three very small changes to my daily routines so that over three weeks my shoulder and legs would be ready to play without the risk of injury. What I changed:

1. Every day I got out the good ole stretch bands and worked my shoulders(5 minutes a day)
2. During my two weekly jogs I worked in 20 yards of running sideways on each side(5 minutes)
3. During my two or three weekly sessions in the gym I added some wrist and arm exercises(5 minutes)

These three small changes over the short period of time helped to rebuild the stabilizer muscles in my shoulder and get them ready to play multiple full matches. They were very minor changes that did not add hardly any time to my daily routine. And guess what? I won both my matches!!!

So you are probably asking what does this have to do with Healthifying my own job? The point here is that make small incremental changes, 5 minutes a day, can lead to drastically better health results over the long run. Pick a point 3 or 4 weeks down the road and change something small once a week or even better once a day. For instance take the stairs instead of that elevator up to the 5th floor just once or twice a week. How much extra  time did that take? 5 minutes? The time commitment is small but over those three weeks you will start to notice a difference!

And always remember:
Breathe in, Breathe out, HEALTHIFY!

Lunch Break

There is a growing trend in America of people using their lunch hours for more then just lunch. I know many large companies that are beginning to offer their employees great benefits such as on site yoga or discounts to gym classes. Healthify My Team was built to help the smaller companies give their employees these same great benefits but without having to dedicate any of their limited resources such as personnel or time to managing them.

I just ran into this great article on Mashable talking about creative ways to use your lunch break. Number 5 hits right at home with what we are offering to companies. That wonderful 60 minute break in the middle of your day is the perfect opportunity to "recharge your brain and your muscles with a lunch hour workout." Our goal at Healthify My Team is to offer on-site(yoga or boxing in a conference room) and offsite fitness(in a studio) activities that an employer can offer as a perk to help "Healthify" their employees. If you are interested in hearing more or want to sign up for a lesson you can email us any time at Richard@healthifymyteam.co and we'll set something up for you!!!

Inspire Pitch Event

First of all, we wanted to say thanks for a great event put on by the Inspire Business Center. Everyone should check out their website. http://www.inspirebusinesscenter.com/ The space was perfect for this type of pitch event and the co-working space looked great. It might even be our new home for the summer! It's tough to find a better deal then $100 for 3 months of co-working space.

Overall the event tonight was fantastic. 10 strong start-up companies all gave their pitch and there was a great speaker from Light Bank(http://www.lightbank.com/).

The main point of her talk was around the four most important things for a start-up to focus on: Market, Product, Traction and Team. We at Healthify couldn't agree more! We are building a strong diverse team, have our product ready to go and are starting to gain some traction in the marketplace!

We were able to meet some great potential customers and receive some valuable feedback on our company. Overall the night was fantastic, even if we didn't win.

Until the next time our paths cross, I will leave you with a small healthy challenge : It's the small changes in behavior that lead to an overall better fitness level and ultimately an overall better happiness level. So for the next week I'm challenging you to choose one lunch or dinner where you would have had a can of soda. At that meal I want you to choose a glass of water instead. That will save you at least 150 calories and if you are able to substitute it one day a week for 52 weeks, that is 7,800 calories and over two pounds of body fat you can eliminate by simply making a small change one day a week!

As always remember to:
Breathe in. Breathe out.  Healthify!

We are Healthify My Team and we are here to help you Healthify your workplace!