The Portion Police

By Annie Conner

For my intro blog, I mentioned that my biggest obstacle when it comes to healthy living is proper nutrition. As a child, I never had a problem eating everything on my plate – this even included the “No Thank-You” helping (the serving of broccoli, peas, etc that your mom says you have to eat in order to be excused from the table). Here’s why: my mom is an awesome cook. A typical day at the Conner household consisted of my mom cooking me eggs and bacon in the morning, she’d send us off to school with a fully packed lunch, and we’d return home from school to a delicious home-cooked dinner. Because of this lifestyle, I developed a habit of eating three huge meals a day with no snacking in between. There was no need to snack - I was always full from the previous meal.

I’ve learned though that eating 3 large meals a day is WORSE than consuming 5-6 small meals throughout the day. WHAT?? You can eat more frequently and it’s better for you?!?! That’s right. Eating larger meals throughout the day causes the individual’s blood sugar and insulin levels to spike (right after their meal) and drop very low during the period before their next meal (causing irritability, hunger, confusion, etc). By eating smaller meals, the individual’s insulin and glucose levels remain steady throughout the day and it minimizes those high spikes and low levels. Eating smaller meals more frequently will also boost your metabolism. By eating every 2-3 hours you’re telling your body that it has energy and it does not need to store calories as fat. Also, you’ll avoid overeating at each meal due to intense hunger.

Armed with this knowledge, I’ve really focused lately on eating more frequently throughout the day. I’ve been integrating peanuts, fruit and string cheese into my afternoon snack and yogurt and a boiled egg for my morning snack. As a result, I’ve felt more awake throughout the day, less hungry at lunch and dinner and more energetic. I rarely have that emptiness in my stomach right before meal-times which allows me to be productive throughout the day and not focus on how hungry I am.

A couple of problems I’ve been experiencing (and maybe you could offer me some advice) are: sometimes, I have to remind myself to eat…that sounds so weird, but it’s true. The morning seems to fly by and I’ll glance at the clock and see that it’s almost lunchtime and I’ve nearly missed my morning snack. The other problem is I’m running out of snack ideas (I end up giving my yogurt a dirty look each time I have to eat it, because I can’t stand it anymore)…do any of you have any yummy snack tips that I can use??

I definitely will continue eating small meals throughout the day, but I’m going to investigate some creative snack foods to “liven up” this new eating plan.

My lifestyle rollercoaster

By Megan Risinger

VS.

There are many successes and failures I experience when it comes to health and wellness. For instance, last week I was very proud of myself for working out 3 of the days (now that coaching basketball has come to a close, I'm starting to use more of my time for myself and for working out). I feel better overall and I know that I am getting into shape and feeling good - I hope to keep it up! I have a race coming up, which is only a 3-mile race, but I still want to be able to feel decent while I run it (and if I get passed by an 80-year-old person, so be it :) While working out is an easier task for me, eating healthy is sometimes a challenge. I love the "bad" foods, but try to limit them as much as I can. Having a busy schedule and sometimes being more frugal - it's hard for me to cook that healthy meal people always talk about. And when it's just me who I'm feeding, I don't spoil myself with a good/healthy meal. I'm on the go all the time, and like most, I use that excuse quite often. I am health conscious, although I don't always follow through - that's better than nothing, right? I might go all out on a meal, so then the next few I know to take it easy. You can ask most people who know me and they'll tell you I love to eat! I have been working on eating better and adding more fruits and veggies to my diet (veggies are hard for me - I only have a select few I like). I know that we all struggle in areas here and there, so it's just best to keep your goal in mind and always be conscientious on how you're treating your body!

Carbs, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways!

By Rachel Conner

Over the past couple weeks I've been thinking, "I eat healthy food and work out a lot...why am I not losing weight and toning up as quickly as I want to be?!?!" Then I read my dad's (Tom Conner) blog below and I realized that my old man is putting me to shame in terms of fitness and nutrition! In comparison, I'm doing about half as much cardio and I'm really not eating as well as I should be. This all got me thinking about everything I've eaten over the last few days. My biggest weakness? CARBS! I've never had a problem with sweets, but bread is my kryptonite. Then my wheel really got to turning. I thought, "I wonder how many carbohydrates I'm really supposed to consume each day..." And where better to find the answer than the world wide web! So I did a little research and found that before I can calculate my daily carb intake I need to calculate my daily caloric intake. Here's the calculator I used. It's not super scientific but it told me that based on my age, height, weight and exercise level, I should be consuming about 1,788 calories a day. On the upside, that's very close to my actual intake each day. On the downside, I'm 100% sure my food pyramid is way off kilter. Next, I went here and found out this info:

Most medical experts say that 60 percent of the calories you eat every day should come from carbohydrates. To find out how many carbohydrates you need, multiply the number of calories you need by .6. For example, if you need 2,000 calories per day, 2,000 multiplied by .6 = 1,200. So you know you need 1,200 calories from carbohydrates. There are 4 calories in a gram of carbohydrate. Take your 1,200 calories and divide by 4 = 300 grams. Knowing the calories and the carbohydrate grams you need will help you when you're reading a food label.


Once the calculator on that same website did the math for me, I learned that I need 1,072.8 calories from carbohydrates, which equals 268.2 grams of carbohydrates each day. Here are some interesting facts I discovered about carbohydrates on MyFoodDiary.net while surfing the web:

Carbohydrates are separated into simple carbohydrates (sugar), complex carbohydrates (fiber) and starch. Carbohydrates can also be separated into groups based on the Glycemic Index, which measures how high and how quickly blood glucose levels change after eating carbohydrates. The higher the Glycemic Index, the higher the rise in blood sugar and the longer it takes to return to normal. For a healthy diet, it is best to focus on foods with a low Glycemic Index (e.g., whole grains, oats, and whole wheat pasta). Foods with a high Glycemic Index have been linked to elevated risks of heart disease and diabetes.

Carbohydrates are the body's main source of energy. They are easily digested and broken down into glucose, which the body uses to perform its numerous functions. In contrast, protein and fat are more difficult to digest and are needed to build tissues and cells in the body. For this reason, most of your energy (calories) should come from carbohydrates.


The following is a list of foods that are classified by their Glycemic Index.



Low Glycemic Index:
Pumpernickel Bread, Pasta (whole wheat), Bran Cereal, Soybeans, Lentils, Baked Beans, Peaches, Apples, Oranges, Milk/Yogurt, Chocolate






Moderate Glycemic Index:
Sourdough or Rye Bread, Shredded Wheat, Banana, Pineapple, Orange Juice, Ice Cream




High Glycemic Index:
White bread, Short-grain Rice, Cornflakes, Waffles, Potatoes, Carrots, Watermelon, Soft Drinks, Jellybeans, Honey





Because these tidbits of information on carbohydrates have now been brought to my attention thanks to the internet, I have decided to keep a week-long food journal to keep me accountable to balancing out my food pyramid. I will soon post this for the world to see, so keep a lookout for that entry!

Running towards improvement

By Tom Conner

I thought I would give you a brief glimpse into what a week looks like for my diet and exercise program. Keep in mind that in my younger days I was a distance runner. Then, after a foot injury, I gained weight due to becoming sedentary and not watching what I eat. Recently, I've become active again in the sport I love and I've made some serious diet changes resulting in weight loss, a boost in energy, and a regained sense of self-confidence, all of which I am working very hard to maintain.


Sunday- Ate at my favorite buffet for lunch. Need I say more? Ate a light dinner of meat and fruit. Ran 4.5 miles at a 8.5 minute pace

Monday-Banana and OJ for breakfast, with soup and salad for lunch and pasta for dinner. 40 min. on the treadmill with 3 reps of weight training using 50 lbs weight.

Tuesday- Fruit for breakfast with salad for lunch and went to Naked Tchopstix for dinner. Basically had noodles. Left knee had some soreness, so no exercise.

Wednesday- Same breakfast as Monday and then I had chili and a roll at Longhorn for lunch. I had penne pasta with chicken and 1 piece of bread with butter for dinner. 30 minutes on the elliptical and I did 50 crunches-no weights.

Thursday-fruit and a bagel for breakfast with a salad at the Rathskeller. Dinner at Cheesecake factory and had 8oz sirloin steak with veggies. Elliptical for 30 minutes with 50 crunches.

Not a real successful week because of the soreness in the knee. Planned on running the Saturday St. Patrick's Day run downtown on Saturday but will not because of the left knee.

Did not lose or gain any weight. Better luck next week.

Newsflash: gyms have TVs, too

By Rachel Conner

When I was still interested in pursuing a career in Broadcast Journalism, I signed up for this newsletter composed of headlines that update me on the happenings throughout the world of journalism. Despite my career path redirection, I haven't unsubscribed because I still like reading the daily news about the news when my friends still involved in the business aren't personally sending me updates. Here's a headline I came across this morning:

"Television Viewing at All-Time High (LAT) - The Nielsen Co.'s 'Three Screen Report' -- referring to televisions, computers, and cellphones -- for the fourth quarter said the average American now watches more than 151 hours of TV a month. That's about five hours a day and an all-time high, up 3.6% from over 145 hours in the same period last year."

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-tvwatching24-2009feb24,0,6282287.story

5 hours a day?!?! That's a little much, people! Now, I'm not going to sit here and pretend like I'm completely innocent. I average about 2 hours of Family Guy (you're welcome for the plug, Seth MacFarlane) a night. And that doesn't include the other countless hours of mindless sitcoms that snatch up all my time and attention. But it's usually AFTER I go to the gym. So my point is this: by all means, sit and enjoy your favorite TV shows after a long day at the office. Just try not to let a sedentary lifestyle completely envelope your life. While you're still up and moving right after work, take a walk around your neighborhood, use the elliptical at your apartment complex, or take advantage of the cheaper membership fees currently being promoted at your local gym thanks to our economic slump. Besides, there's a pretty good chance your gym has at least one TV in it for you to watch while you burn fat and build some muscles!

The blame game is over

By Rachel Conner

For years now we've been blaming technology for making us lazy. Well, you iPhone users are going to have to find a new excuse. Thanks to this popular do-it-all which has revolutionized the cell phone industry, technology is quickly shifting from an excuse for you to waste your day on the couch to your own pocket-sized Jack LaLanne. I've picked 3 out of 20 of Apple's favorite free Healthcare & Fitness Apps listed on the App Store. Yeah, I said free. So you can't even use the economy as an excuse this time either. Here they are in no particular order:

If you're anything like me, you eat almost every meal out. I moved back to Indy almost 6 months ago and I've only been to the grocery store 3 times. However, if you're thinking, "I'm not THAT bad" but you do live in Indy or a similar city, there's a good chance you eat every lunch out during the business week. That's why I like this app. It allows you to either look up a certain part of town or search for a restaurant by popular location. The app then calculates the healthiest thing on the menu for each restaurant in the area you searched. For example, I typed in the zip code "46250" and it pulled up 20 different restaurants in my specificied area of Indianapolis. Here's one of the results I got:

Sorted By: Distance Lowest Fat Lowest Calories Lowest Carbs

T.G.I. Friday's

Healthiest Choice: Dragonfire Chicken
Within 0.1 miles View Menu

Fat 10g Calories 500 Carbs 44g

Notice how I can also rearrange my search results by lowest fat, calories or carbs by clicking on the above links. But the best part of this app? It's not limited to the iPhone! I actually composed the above search on the website and also downloaded the free app onto my Blackberry. It's little things like this that keep me from kicking myself for buying a Curve when my friends brag about their latest iPhone downloads.

Next on the list is the iPump Free Workout! by PumpOne.

This app allows you to try it before you buy it by setting you up with 2 free total body workouts. Not only does it take you through each exercise step by step, it also provides you with images (as you can see in the picture above), videos, and audio coaching. From there you can even log your workouts. PumpOne even takes it a step further by also allowing you to sample an exercise from each of the other 19 Apps they offer on the App Store. I could go on all day about the incredible bang you get for your non-buck with this app, but I'll just let you check it out for yourself on PumpOne's website or on the App Store. Once again, this app isn't limited to the iPhone. Those of you with the iPod Touch can also download this program.

Last, but not least, is the application that ties the results from the previous two together: Lose It! by FitNow.

As seen in the picture above, you can enter your initial weight, set up your own daily calorie budget, and establish your fitness goals. From there, you can use the program's database to find and log the food you've eaten out and the exercises you complete each day. Not only will the app then track your weight loss progress, it will even predict the specific date you should achieve your goal!

So all in all, the iPhone can act as your own personal trainer and nutritionist...without the nagging or overpriced one-on-one sessions.

The bottom line: financial stress hurts us at the office

By Rachel Conner

Based on the results from our survey on the right hand column of this blog, stress is a big lifestyle concern within many of your companies. The pressure of meeting deadlines and company goals is hard on its own. But in this economy, that's no longer enough. Employees are now forced to outperform their company's expectations in order to ensure that they aren't included in the company's next round of layoffs. Now, I know you're probably thinking, "Isn't this a blog about fitness and nutrition? What does this have to do with either?" And you're right...this has nothing to do with hitting the gym or eating healthier foods. But it does have plenty to do with lifestyle. Concern over being able to pay off this month's bills is a concern that is taking a toll on more and more people every day throughout the country. Despite the fact that this stress is personal, it is hitting at least 25% of the employees within your company. Many employees faced with financial problems will openly admit that it negatively impacts their workplace productivity. This means it's not just hurting these employees' personal lives. There's a very good chance it's also affecting your company's bottom line. So I want to take this opportunity to plug a program we'll be implementing within the next 6 months to help you and your employees relieve some of your financial stress.




In May, my cousin, Ben (CFO, Conner Benefits), and I will be taking a roadtrip down to Nashville to get licensed to teach Dave Ramsey's Workplace Edition of his Financial Peace program. We will then take interested employees and their spouses through a 12-week program. Here are the main points we'll cover:


- Reducing your personal financial issues at home so you can focus on your jobs
- Why pension plans are a thing of the past
- A retirement plan for employees that really works
- The importance of disability and long-term care insurance
- How to stop 401(k) loans


If this perks your interest, let me know. I will be more than happy to get you more information on how we can educate you and your employees in the near future!

Conner Benefits Lifestyle Team

From left to right: Rachel Conner, Tom Conner, Jake Lucas,

Megan Risinger, Annie Conner

Thank you so much for visiting our new Lifestyle blog! We wanted to start 2009 off by introducing you to our Lifestyle team at Conner Benefits. I'm sure you'll see that our personal struggles with staying active and eating right are very similar to your own.



Megan Risinger:
I have been involved in sports as long as I can remember. I participated in basketball, soccer, and track throughout high school. When I went to Purdue University, I decided not to play basketball and just to participate in intramural basketball, soccer, flag football, and workout at the co-rec throughout all 4 years. I missed not having sports take up a majority of my life. Intramurals are more laid back (I am a competitive person!) and games aren’t as frequent as they had been in my earlier years. Today, I still try to get to the gym often and play basketball. Being active makes me feel good on all spectrums - from the physical aspect to the mental. By coordinating the Lifestyle Program at Conner, I've been able to be a part of the exercise and sports world again. I get to see everything vendors offer on top of all the other opportunities out there (whether that is physical activities or just learning more about health and wellness). I look forward to watching our program grow while helping myself and others get healthier!

Annie Conner:
One of my biggest struggles when it comes to healthy living is nutrition. The last thing I want to do when I get home from work is spend two hours cooking, so I often eat things that are fast but lack proper nutrition (a.k.a. a bowl of Cheerios). My goal for 2009 is to find quick, easy, inexpensive, and most important, HEALTHY meals that I can fix in order to change my eating habits. In the summer, I love to bike, wakeboard, rollerblade, run (only for a little bit!) and go for walks with my dog, but the winter is challenging to find effective exercise routines since it’s too cold to be outside and I don’t really enjoy being trapped in a gym. I also have no desire to REALLY push myself as I did in high school and college when it comes to exercise. This often doesn’t provide the results that I’m wanting to see…obviously. No pain, no gain, right?! This year I want to strive to increase the intensity of my workouts in order to maximize the time and effort I spend working out. I co-designed and coordinated our Lifestyle Program here at Conner with Megan. I look forward to helping companies in the Indianapolis area get back on track while I do the same.

Rachel Conner:
I played soccer and tennis in high school so fitness became an expected part of my daily schedule that I really never had to think about. I practically lived off of fast food and never gained a pound. Then I went to Indiana University and lost that fitness schedule but I didn’t lose my appetite. I basically ate and slept for 4 straight years and the 20 pounds I gained my freshman year proved that. I was no longer considered the “fit” one in my group of friends and I began noticing that when I was no longer receiving compliments. I didn’t feel good about myself anymore. I knew getting fit again would make me feel better – both physically and mentally. I started watching what I ate and picked up running about 6 months out of school. I was right – I gained more energy and a boost in self-confidence. Here at Conner Benefits I’ll be blogging on my struggles to maintain a healthy lifestyle, which will include posting helpful info from experts on fitness and nutrition, as well as promoting our new lifestyle program through sales and marketing.

Tom Conner:
Hi I’m the VP at Conner Benefits. I am 54 yrs old and about 2 ½ yrs ago I was diagnosed with a compressed disk in my neck. While I was going from doctor to doctor trying to figure out what to do, I would go home every night from work and eat dinner and then lay in my bed for the rest of the night. So, being 5’10”, I quickly gained weight and reached my all time high of 180 pounds. I have always been in decent shape because before my wife and I had kids I would run 5 to 6 miles almost every day. So putting on 10 pounds because of a medical problem really bothered me and at times I suffered from depression. Once I started seeing my chiropractor and I started feeling better, I decided to do something about my weight. First, I cut out all bread and soda for 90 days (I used to drink 6 cokes a day). To this day I still do not drink soda.
I then started to walk in my neighborhood every other day for 2 miles. In 90 days I lost 15 pounds due to simply changing my lifestyle from sedentary to active and by making certain diet changes. Like Rachel, I’ll be marketing and selling our new Lifestyle program to different companies throughout the Indianapolis area.

Jake Lucas:
YUP – IT TOOK TV TO WAKE ME UP – Part 1

Strangely enough, college years were the most fit I had ever been. My story after college however, may be familiar to several young dads. The excuse “work time is getting in the way of gym time,” really didn’t seem as acceptable as when it was “class time”. While time spent with my growing family and at the office was increasing, time working out slowly decreased. Imagine that! Yet, even with all my time being devoted to everything unrelated to being healthy, I’m still living as though my metabolism is stuck in the college years. It took a few things to happen before that really sunk in. Here’s a short list:

- When attempting to jog, I had to stop at the end of my driveway to catch my breath (it’s only 20 yards)
- When taking a walk, I had to stop at the end of my neighbor’s driveway to catch my breath (only another 30 yards)
- I only went on a walk if we planned to stop at Handle’s Ice Cream
- The word “diet” became an acronym for Double – It – Every – Time
- I got excited to finish off what my son didn’t eat at dinner
- Then I would wait anxiously to finish off my other son’s plate
- And my wife’s plate
- After I already had seconds
- I developed the Fit-In-This rule: Don’t worry about Fitness, as long as I “Fit-In-this”
- When 5 hours of TV after work wasn’t enough, I had to set up the DVR so I wouldn’t miss other shows while watching my “preferred shows”

Of all those things, one finally made an impact … TV. That’s right, who ever said watching too much TV is unhealthy … well, they probably are correct, which is why it’s ironic that watching TV may just save my life. Stay tuned for my next blog which will explain how that’s true. On top of blogging about my personal struggles with fitness and nutrition, I’ll also be working with Megan and Annie to help fine tune our Lifestyle program over time.

10,000 steps a day…is that really possible???

By Annie Conner


Recently, various employees at Conner Insurance volunteered to wear pedometers in an effort to increase our daily exercise. For someone who is fairly active, I thought it would be a piece of cake (no pun intended) to reach the daily recommended 10,000 steps. I even set a small goal for myself to reach 15,000 steps (can you tell that I’m just a tad competitive?).
Well, once we put those pedometers on the games began!! Throughout the day, we’d all be asking eachother how many steps the other person had just to make sure that we were “winning”.

The first week of wearing the pedometer though, I noticed that I’d get home from work and only have about 2,000 – 2,500 steps logged. WOW! I had a lot of walking to do. It made me realize just how much sitting I did throughout the day and how inactive I really was aside from my regular workout routine. Let me tell you, that first week was tough. I think the maximum amount of steps I reached during that first week was 8,000 steps. I kept thinking to myself, “Who on earth actually walks that much during the day?” or “Who even has the time to do this?” I found myself looking for ways to walk places where I wouldn’t normally…for instance, walking to someone’s office rather than calling/emailing them, using the restroom downstairs, walking to the printer multiple times a day rather than once every couple hours, etc. Despite all my efforts, I still couldn’t reach the 10,000 daily steps.

Then came my family vacation to Disney World. I have to be honest; I planned on EATING during this vacation with no rules or guilt attached. I expected to return home with a few extra pounds to carry around and not be ashamed. Currently, Florida has a shortage of Alaskan King Crab legs because of me. What I wasn’t expecting was the amount of walking that we did throughout the entire vacation. Each day I logged at least 10,000 steps and most of the time I logged around 15,000. The last day of our trip we went to Epcot and I actually walked 18,000 steps. Wow! Surprisingly, some of us actually lost weight due to the amount of exercise we did during that week. But most importantly, I realized that reaching 10,000 steps is do-able and isn’t as unrealistic as I originally thought. You just have to be creative, committed and motivated.
Once I returned home from vacation I really put forth the effort to MAKE SURE I reached 10,000 steps each day. One day that meant a 3-mile walk with my dog. Another day, I did extra cleaning around the house to get me to 10,000. Now, I’m hooked. Walking doesn’t always give you that “I just had a tough workout” feeling, but it does have many more benefits. It’s such an enjoyable exercise that you can do anywhere, doesn’t cost anything except walking shoes and can be done while completing other activities as well. There’s not as much risk to walking as there is in other physical activities and the whole family can be included. Now once I get home from work, I grab my dog, Zeke, my iPod and I get moving. The weather has been amazing lately and it is so nice to be outside breathing in the fresh air. My energy has increased and I sleep better at night as well.

You are what you EAT!

By Annie Conner

I’m proud to say that our agency is in the midst of a "wellness" makeover. Fortunately, we don’t plan on it being a one-time endeavor but more of a way of life.

Our first step to altering our “business lifestyle” was to change the goodies that are brought in to the office. Many times throughout the week our kitchen table is FULL of desserts, candy and chips (my weakness!). These items are brought in with the best of intentions, usually as a way to get rid of weekend leftovers or as a gift from a vendor or customer. But as we all know, even the best intentions can have negative results.

Take me for example, when my mind needs a break from updating a seminar or reviewing regulations (studying FMLA regs can certainly work up your appetite!) I’d find myself wandering in to the kitchen just to “grab a snack.” By the end of the day, I would realize that I eaten approximately 5 snacks. Oops! I’d justify my lack of willpower by saying that I’m not eating them all at once but throughout the entire day which is better for my metabolism (isn’t that what most health articles tell you to do?). My office snacking habits were as absurd as my rationalizations behind them.

With the amount of yummy snacks brought in on such a regular basis, we decided that a change was necessary. As difficult as it was, we had to ban all unhealthy goodies from the premises. Yes, there was a small outcry but once waist lines started dropping and energy started increasing everyone jumped on board. The goodies were replaced by a fruit bowl which can appease a sweet tooth just as well as an Entenmanns Chocolate Éclairs can and doesn’t cause the headache that comes with a 3 p.m. sugar crash. Healthy snacks were welcomed and encouraged to share with everyone and we are even considering a “healthy food bakeoff” in the future.

Just one small step created a BIG culture change here at Conner. What has your organization done in order to incorporate health and wellness into its culture? I love hearing ideas and as I explained above, even the simplest ideas can have a positive impact. Stay tuned for more Lifestyle Steps here at Conner….