Spring Into Shape

As you shake off the chill of winter and look forward to the balmy days of spring, now is a good time to reevaluate your eating habits and reinvigorate your exercise routine. Soon sweaters and coats will be shed in favor of shorts and t-shirts, so you’ll want to be fit and flexible to make the most of the sunny, warm days to come.

If you need a little motivation to get back to the gym or establish a healthy eating plan, use Blue365 to help you find the health and wellness information, support and services you need 365 days a year. As a Service Benefit Plan member, you receive special member savings with discounts on gym memberships, diet programs, fitness apparel and fitness monitoring equipment.

Melt the Pounds Away

If you’ve gained a few pounds over the winter, now’s the time to take a fresh look at your diet. Blue365 has some important recommendations for diet-friendly foods and beverages that work with your body to help you lose weight. Combined with a balanced diet and regular exercise, you may find losing weight less of a challenge than you expected.

1. Drink water. Water is a natural appetite suppressant that banishes bloat as it flushes out sodium and toxins. Drinking enough water will also help keep you from mistaking thirst for hunger.
2. Have a calming cup of green tea. Studies show that green tea extract boosts metabolism and may aid in weight loss. This tea has also been reported to contain anti-cancer properties and may help prevent heart disease.
3. Eat an apple or pear. Next time you need to satisfy a sugar craving, reach for one of these low-calorie, high-fiber snack. You’ll feel full longer and eat less.
4. Buddy up to broccoli. At just 20 calories per cup, this weight-loss superfood not only fights fat but also contains powerful phytochemicals that boost your immunity and protect against disease. It’s also high in calcium and loaded with vitamin C, vitamin A, folate and fiber.
5. Spoon up low-fat yogurt. Dairy products can boost weight loss efforts, according to a study in the April issue of Obesity Research. Low-fat yogurt is also a rich source of weight-loss-friendly calcium, providing about 450 mg. per eight-ounce serving, as well as up to 12 grams of protein.
6. Eat turkey. Studies have shown that protein can help you boost your metabolism, lose fat and build lean muscle tissue so you burn more calories. A three-ounce serving of boneless, skinless lean turkey breast has just 120 calories and provides 26 grams of appetite-curbing protein, 1 gram of fat and no saturated fat.
7. Have a jalapeno. Eating hot peppers can speed up your metabolism and cool your cravings, researchers at Laval University in Canada found. Capsaicin (a chemical found in jalapeno and cayenne peppers) temporarily stimulates your body to release more stress hormones. This speeds up your metabolism and causes you to burn more calories.

These are just a few suggestions for easy ways to cut calories and incorporate fluids, fiber, essential vitamins and nutrients, and protein into your diet.

Get Moving with WalkingWorks^®

Regular exercise and physical activity are important to your physical and mental health. Walking is one of the easiest ways to incorporate exercise into your daily routine. You only need a comfortable pair of shoes to get started.

WalkingWorks^® encourages you to include walking as part of your daily routine and set personal wellness goals. It can be as easy as parking farther from the store entrance or taking the stairs at work. You can even make it a family routine by having a walk around the block every evening after dinner. Our WalkingWorks^® program offers a free pedometer and participant walking guide to help you get started.

Keep Moving Forward

Hats off to you if you’ve maintained your walking routine throughout the winter months! Doing an activity you enjoy and that helps you feel strong and fit is important to your overall health. If you’re also aiming for weight loss, it can be frustrating when you hit a plateau and can’t seem to lose any more weight.

The WalkingWorks^® site makes it easy to measure your progress towards better health. Once you register, you can use the site to keep track of how many miles you walk each day. Once you know how far you walk in an average day, increase your mileage by finding ways to add more steps to your day.

Your current routine may have too few steps to meet your ultimate health or weight loss goals. If this applies to you, aim to add more steps to your current daily total, increasing them every two weeks. You can also add hills, stairs, or arm weights to your routine to make your walks more challenging. Sign up for WalkingWorks^® today to establish your personal walking plan.

Help at Your Fingertips – Blue Health Connection

Visit Blue Health Connection for access to personalized tools and interactive resources that can help you make more informed decisions about your personal health care and improve the health of your family. Become a registered user and take the Blue Health Assessment. You’ll get a personal action plan that will provide recommendations about online coaching tools that best support your specific needs.

Standard Option members also receive a $50 deductible credit just for taking the Blue Health Assessment  (BHA) and up to a $100 credit when two adult members take the BHA under a family enrollment. Basic Option member earn a $35 health debit card to use toward qualified health expenses and two $35 cards when two adult members take the BHA under a family enrollment.

Of course, you also have free access to many online resources, such as our Audio Health Library, with hundreds of articles you can read online or download to your mp3 player. For complete details, go to http://www.fepblue.org/healthwellness or call 1.888.258.3432.

No matter what exercise or activity you choose to do, the most important thing is to get moving and keep moving. There are so many ways to be active—you can get exercise in short spurts or plan longer workout sessions. Be sure to take it slow if you’re just starting and give your body time to adjust. Get started today, and you’ll be ready for those sunny, spring days ahead!

March 2011. Paula Spurway, Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. Resources: 2011 Blue Cross and Blue Shield Service Benefit Plan brochure; “Obesity Research, April 2011;and Blue Health Connection.

Page last updated: December 16, 2011