WELLNESS: 2020 VISION
ESHCA Wellness Newsletter
February 2020
The shareable link (printable) for this issue:
Financial Wellness
What is Financial Wellness? Wellness is much more than nutrition and exercise, researchers have identified "5 Dimensions of Well-Being" that intermingle and impact each of us daily.

  • 1) Social - relationships at home and at work.
  • 2) Surroundings - the environments we live and work in.
  • 3) Physical - personal health status; nutrition and exercise.
  • 4) Financial
  • 5) Mind/Spirit - US Centers for disease control listed stress as the leading workplace health problem in the US.

According to surveys, financial stress is common with both women and men. The side effects of stress can be quite damaging and ultimately result in heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, depression and panic disorders. Identifying and managing stress can have real benefits on one's health. Organizing the "5 Dimensions of Well-Being", including your finances, can provide piece of mind.

Ed Shill's team at QCI oversees the ESHCA retirement benefits. They are an excellent resource, contact them with questions regarding your finances. For example, do you need life insurance - they do not sell it but will tell you if you need it or how much you need to protect your family; a 529 College Fund for your children or grandchildren or an IRA Rollover Account? Maybe you just have general questions on how to organize your finances, call them, they are there to assist ESHCA members.

Contact Ed, Chris or Greg at (585) 218-2060 or service@e-qci.com

QCI Article of the Month (click to view):


Recipe of the Month...Pizza and Wings!!!
Portobello Pizza and Buffalo Cauliflower Bites!!!
Portobello Mushroom Pizza and Spicy Buffalo Cauliflower Bites are a tasty vegetarian alternative to traditional pizza and wings, providing more fiber and fewer calories.

It may be slightly out of your comfort zone but don't rush to judgement, you may be pleasantly suprised! Plant based meals have great health benefits including lowering the risk of heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and several forms of cancer.

Click on the links above to download the recipes!
Aerobic Exercise
What is aerobic exercise (or cardiovascular exercise)? The American College of Sports Medicine defines aerobic exercise as an activity that uses large muscle groups, can be continuously maintained (longer than 3 minutes) and is rythmic (repetitive) in nature. Such activity overloads the heart and lungs causing them to work harder than at rest.
  • examples: brisk walking, jogging, swimming, rowing, cycling

Benefits of Aerobic Exercise:
  1. Improve heart and lung strength (cardiovascular health)
  2. Raises "good" HDL cholesterol and lowers "bad" LDL cholesterol
  3. Lowers blood pressure
  4. Helps regulate blood sugar
  5. Improves symptoms associated with asthma
  6. Reduces chronic pain
  7. Aids sleep
  8. Aids weight loss
  9. Strengthens the immune system
  10. Improves brain health as we age
$25 Incentive Challenge - Aerobic Conditioning Challenge

"Running Late to Happy Hour Does Not Count as a Workout!"

What should you know? The American Heart Association recommends 150-minutes of aerobic exercise per week.

  • Complete 12 aerobic workouts in the month of February
  • at least 10 consecutive minutes in duration
  • Download and record on the Aerobic Conditioning Log (click and print). Upon completion of 12 workouts (must be done on 12 separate days) email (cell phone picture works), mail or fax me a copy. If you are unable to print, make your own log, I will take it!
  • I will take aerobic logs up unitl 3/14/20.
  • Objective: educate yourself on how much cardiovascular exercise is recommended per week and work on a strategy which allows you to "chip away" or accomplish that target goal!
  • Every member of the household is encouraged to participate but only 1 incentive card can be issued to each member-household with the exception that more than one employee-member lives in the household. Let me know if you have questions.

Exercise Ideas:
  • Put your headphones on and walk up and down the stairs for 10+ minutes!
  • Walk with high knees or jog in place - it sounds "corny" but 10 mintues of this will elevate your heart rate and is more difficult than you would think!
  • Record what you do at the gym (cardio) or on your treadmill at home!
Success has everything to do with a positive attitude...
Success is impossible if you identify yourself as a failure! Creating a "positive attitude" needs to come first and for most of us it is not a natural step, use the formula below to assist you.

Step 1 - Identify your goal(s)!

Step 2 - Identify what success looks like! You can not call yourself successful if you do not have a vision of what success is. Using the Wellness Program as an example; our goals come down to behaviors that are going to increase our chances of saving money on the health benefits allowing maximum contributions to the retirement accounts. The following are clear, measurable behavior goals that, if achieved, improve the chances of Wellness success:
  • Annual Physical
  • Do you get your Annual Physical each year?
  • Nutrition
  • Water - 5 glasses per day
  • Produce - 6 servings per day
  • Nuts/seeds - 1 handful 5 days per week
  • Salmon (heart healthy fats) - 4 oz. serving, 2-4 times per month
  • reduce sodium, sugar and processed meats
  • Exercise
  • 10,000 steps per day including 150-minutes of heart pumping cardiovascular exercise per week!
  • Smoking
  • Stop using tobacco
  • Sleep
  • 7 or more hours regularly

Step 3 - "Create" a Positive Attitude!

  • 1) Start by calling yourself a success 5 times.
  • What are you already doing well?
  • 2) Name something you are doing better (but not perfect).
  • Can you look back on the past (a journal may be a helpful tool) and see what is already better?
  • Maybe you are getting 30-minutes of cardio per week and last year you were not doing any; or maybe you are smoking 10 cigarettes a day instead of 20.
  • 3) Identify 3 other goals you can do better.
  • 3 things that would be easy to improve, you are just not doing them.
  • 4) Identify what makes it easy to do these better (strategies to succeed).
  • For example: carrying a water bottle to ensure you are meeting your goal for daily water intake.
  • 5) What could be better? Identify one (or a max of 3) that you can work on.
  • 3 things that are slightly out of your comfort zone, doable but it will take some work and discipline!

Conclusion: A positive attitude is important to acheive success! Identifying what success looks like to you and creating an "action plan" cuts the clutter and allows you to see a clear path to being successful! Pick your goal and apply the formula.