N Good Health’s Holiday Hop Step Challenge is back!

Sign-ups are going on NOW and challenge kicks off on Monday, Nov. 18!

Visit NGoodHealth.com to sign up for the 4-week challenge. All Norton employees and eligible spouses can participate in this individual to a team challenge. Teams can have from three to ten members, so think of something fun for the holidays.

Weekly cash prizes will be awarded based on steps logged per day.

Start on your healthy actions now!

Walking at least 7,500 steps per day is one of the healthy actions that can earn you points toward step 4.

Discounted fitness devices are still available. Visit NGoodHealth.com and click on the “Get Your Fitness Device” button in the left column. Remember that you can sync your device to your N Good Health account, there are certain devices that are compatible. Click on the ‘Connect Your Apps & Devices’ button and follow the prompts to sync your device before the challenge.

Questions? Contact N Good Health at (502) 629-2162 or submit an N Good Health self-service ticket on Nsite.

25 Days of Fitbits

The holidays are all about giving and N Good Health is wanting to give away 25 Fitbits during the 25 Days of Fitbits. Go to NGoodHealth.Com and complete Step 1 (Health Risk Assessment) by December 25th. You’ll be entered to win a Fitbit fitness tracking device.

Winners will be drawn daily from December 1st to December 25th. That’s 25 winners total! Complete Step 1 TODAY for more chances to win

Teaching Kitchen & grocery tour events

The Norton Healthcare Teaching Kitchen is cooking up something special, and you can join in on the fun! 

Cooking classes include hands-on sessions, instructor-led demonstrations and back-to-basics classes to get you cooking. 

Visit the Norton Healthcare Teaching Kitchen page​ on Nsite for a complete schedule. Register online for events or call (502) 629-1234, option 4. If classes are full, you may request to be added to the waitlist. 

Events are part of the “Real Food and Diabetes” courses. Employees with diabetes or prediabetes​ are welcom​​​​e to attend these events and count them as Rx for Better Health visits.

Classes:
* Comfort Food (with a Healthy Twist) for Your Holiday Season
Thursday, Nov. 14
3 to 4:30 p.m.
Norton Healthcare Teaching Kitchen, Norton Healthcare Pavilion, 315 E. Broadway, Louisville
This holiday season, give the gift of nourishing food to yourself and others. In this hands-on cooking class, we will discuss strategies around “healthing up” your holiday meals. You don’t have to sacrifice taste when it comes to these yummy dishes. Menu TBD. This is an employee-only event.                           
                                                                              
* Healthy Eating Grocery Tour
Tuesday, Nov. 19
3 to 4 p.m. 
Kroger, 3039 Breckenridge Lane, Louisville
N Good Health and Kroger have partnered to offer employees a unique opportunity to shop with a clinical nutritionist. Learn about meal planning, how to navigate the grocery and have your questions answered. All participants will go home with a bag of goodies. This is an employee-only event.

The Norton Healthcare Teaching Kitche​n is made possible by a grant from the Norton Healthcare Foundation. For more information about the Norton Healthcare Teaching Kitchen or classes, call (502) 629-2114.

Mindful Monday

Have an early night, relax and read a book

It’s not the knowing, it’s the doing

Ah, the holidays. The fun, the family, the friends, and…the food. Now we could talk about having a “colorful plate,” or “being mindful at parties,” but, trust me, it doesn’t work. Anybody who has been paying even an ounce of attention already knows, for the most part, what we’re supposed to be eating – real, whole foods and a lot less processed junk. Diet after diet talks about what not to eat, but never discusses HOW not to eat it. Enough! The problem isn’t the knowing, it’s the doing. When there’s a pint of ice-cream in the freezer, the knowing you shouldn’t eat it doesn’t really help.

Most of us, don’t overeat because we’re hungry. We overeat because we’re tempted.

We try and try to manipulate what we eat with no attention paid to our environments that make us eat.

Of course there are food environment issues at a societal level, but if you don’t want to wait for the government, the food industry and/or cultural norms to change, you have to start focusing on your personal food environment.

To outwit the ice-cream, don’t try yet another diet that tells you not to eat it. Focus on a strategy that removes it from your environment.

As the year rounds out, try focusing first on your home environment by clearing out every single processed food that tempts you. Leave nothing but ingredients in the house. No one is a match for 24/7 temptation. Quit asking that of yourself. Then, you can relax in those environments (like a holiday party) that you can’t necessarily control 100%.

In environments that you can’t physically control, mental separation is the next best thing. Distract yourself! Go for a walk, leave the room, play a game, talk to a loved one. Oh, and spread the word. Maybe there are others in your environments that would like to change things too!

Recipes:

Are you ready to live tobacco free?

Medication and/or nicotine replacement therapies (NRT) can help and here are some points to consider:

  • Using medicines and nicotine replacement products (patches, gum, lozenges, and inhalers) can double your chances of quitting smoking1. They can relieve nicotine craving and withdrawal symptoms.
  • Getting counseling, along with using medicine, can increase your chances of quitting even more. 
  • If you smoke fewer than 10 cigarettes a day, you may not need medicines to help you quit smoking.
  • It’s rare for someone to get addicted to nicotine medicines, because the nicotine is released slowly at low levels into your bloodstream.
  • Nicotine replacement products may cause some side effects, such as problems with sleep or red and itchy skin with the patch. Medicines in pill form can cause nausea, dry mouth, and trouble sleeping. For most people, the side effects aren’t bad enough to make them stop using the products.
  • Nicotine medicines have less than half of the nicotine of cigarettes. And by itself, nicotine is not nearly as harmful as smoking or vaping. The tars, carbon monoxide, and other toxic chemicals in tobacco cause the harmful effects.
  • N Good Health offers online and in-person tobacco cessation workshops to aid in your tobacco free journey.
  • Norton Healthcare will pay for all of the cost of NRT as well as all or part of the cost of medicines used to help you quit smoking.  Printable vouchers for free NRT available in the N Good Health online cessation workshops to be picked up at any Norton pharmacy.

1 Stead LF, et al. (2012). Nicotine replacement therapy for smoking cessation. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (11)

Get into the holiday spirit with 25 days of Fitbits!

In the holiday spirit of giving, N Good Health will give away 25 Fitbits during the 25 Days of Fitbits. Go to NGoodHealth.com and complete Step 1 (Health Risk Assessment) by Dec. 25. You’ll be entered to win a Fitbit fitness tracking device.

Winners will be drawn daily Dec. 1 through Dec. 25.

If you have questions, call (502) 629-2162 or submit a service request by selecting N Good Health under Departments on Nsite and clicking Contact Us.

Week 3 Winners of Fit For Fall Challenge

Congratulations to this week’s Fit for Fall Challenge winners.

The winners of $25 this week for reaching a daily steps of 7,500 are:

Lynda Kelly – Lab Project Coordinator, Norton

Brandon Peters – Polysomnographic Analyst

Lisa Hafendorfer – Medical Assistant ,NOS NWCH

Brittany Allison – Office Coordinator, NWCH

The winners of $50 this week for reaching a daily steps of 10,000 are:

Samantha Hall – Program Coordinator, Employee Experience

Jeremy Labriola – Clin Eng Spec-Sterilizer

The winner of $75 this week for reaching a daily steps of 15,000 is:

Daniel Spidle – Sr Security Officer

All winners will see their winnings on the November 15th pay voucher!

In the last week of the N Good Health Fit for Fall Challenge, 589 Participants walked 32,616,210 steps for a total distance of 14,225 miles!

Research proves that those who are physically active have lower stress levels, maintain a healthier weight and prevent or manage various conditions like heart disease of type 2 diabetes.

If you enjoyed Fit for Fall, you will love Holiday Hop! Sign-ups start November 4th, and challenge runs Nov. 18 -Dec. 16.

Mindful Monday

“Mindfulness isn’t difficult, we just need to remember to do it.” ― Sharon Salzberg

Mexican Chicken Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

Mexican Chicken Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients

2 sweet potatoes, cooked

1lb chicken breast (antibiotic free), cooked, shredded

1 tbsp. olive oil

2oz diced green chilies, drained

1 packet taco seasoning

1/3 cup water

Guacamole

2 medium avocados

1/3 cup Rotel, drained

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp garlic salt

½ tsp lime juice

Optional: top with sour cream and jalapenos

Directions

In a skillet over medium heat, heat oil. Add chicken, green chilies, taco seasoning and water. Sauté until warmed and seasoned through.

While simmering chicken, mix guac ingredients.

Layer ½ sweet potato, seasoned chicken mixture, guac and toppings

*Recipe by Erin Wiedmar, Clinical Nutritionist, N Good Health