Another New Year is upon us, and with that, another sense of renewal and beginnings. Whether you set New Year’s resolutions or not, the start of a new year invites reflection and offers an opportunity to consider your intentions and desires for the year ahead. If your fresh start includes making some healthy changes, your FSEAP dietitian is here to help. To get you started, here are our top 5 healthy habits to start the New Year: 5 Habits for a Healthy New Year 1. Cook at Home More Often You can control the ingredients you’re using to when cooking at home, and tailor recipes to your taste. Dining in also favours whole foods rather than processed ingredients, setting you up for a nutritious and satisfying meal you’re sure to love. 2. Make your Approach Mindful Taking a mindful approach doesn’t mean eating tiny amounts of food or precisely measuring quantities. Rather, pay attention to your hunger cues, as well as emotional ones, and avoid munching to soothe your stress or relieve your boredom. Serve meals on a smaller plate and pre-portion snacks (don’t eat from the bag) to control portions and give your fullness signal a chance to register before deciding if you want seconds. 3. Snack Smart Snacking can fit into a healthy diet when you plan for options that will give you a nutritious boost. Avoid vending machine fare that tends to be highly processed and full of sugar, and instead pack a snack like sliced fruit with peanut butter, chia pudding, hard-boiled egg with tomato, unsalted nuts with low-fat cheese or plain stove-top popcorn. 4. Choose Better Beverages Limit sugar sweetened beverages such as soft drinks and fruit juices, as well as alcohol because these are major sources of extra calories and added sugar. Stay hydrated with water and infuse it with lemon or frozen berries for flavour, or try green or herbal tea. 5. Rethink Exercise Find an activity you enjoy and stick with it! Make sustainable changes in your routine. Start with a 30-minute walk after dinner, try resistance training with weights (it keeps your metabolism up), outdoor cardio sports (jogging, skating, cross country skiing) or get moving at home with online exercise videos. If you are inspired to make some healthy changes for 2023 and you want some help to get started, you’re ready for our New Year Challenge! Sign up for the 30 Days to a Healthier You Challenge, and work with an FSEAP Registered Dietitian to create lifelong change. Throughout this challenge, your FSEAP Registered Dietitian will provide you with guidance and support to help you set your goals and create a plan to reach them. Having an FSEAP dietitian in your corner means you’ll have all the resources you need to start strong, be accountable for your progress, and stay motivated on your path to success. We know you can do it! 30 Days to a Healthier You Challenge This January, sign up for the 30 Days to a Healthier You Challenge and collaborate with an FSEAP Registered Dietitian to make some healthy changes that fit your lifestyle. They will work with you to create a personalized nutrition plan to meet your nutritional needs and reach your health goals. In this 30-Day Challenge, you will: Establish your main S.M.A.R.T. goal(s) and learn how to work toward them in a manageable way. Discuss your progress with your Registered Dietitian in 30-minute weekly conversations. Be supported and coached throughout the entire 30-day journey. Receive practical information, recipes, and tips to keep you motivated, focused, and successful! Challenge Accepted? Call FSEAP to sign up for the 30 Days to a Healthier You Challenge, or to find out about the Nutrition Counselling Services.

Happy New Year! You don’t have to make a resolution to use the new year as an opportunity to consider what you would like for yourself in the year ahead, and what steps you can take to get there. If your intentions for 2023 include making some healthy changes, join FSEAP’s 30 Days to a Healthier You Challenge, and take the first step toward lasting change. In this challenge, an FSEAP Registered Dietitian will coach you through a supportive health journey and keep you motivated on the path to success. How do you know if this is the right challenge for you? Are you looking for a personalized nutrition plan designed for your needs and preferences? Are you ready to put yo-yo dieting in the past and make real, long-term changes? Are you looking to become more in-tune with your body? In need of nutritious recipes for every skill-level? If you want to find out how to build healthy habits in the kitchen, whether you’re already on a roll, or starting from ground zero, this challenge is for you! What’s in store for you? During the next 30 days, your FSEAP Registered Dietitian will guide you toward nourishing yourself with foods you love, while keeping your health goals in mind. You will learn how to make sustainable lifestyle changes, access nutrition resources, great recipes, and dietitian-approved nutrition tips that work for you! The 30 Days to a Healthier You Challenge: Establish your main S.M.A.R.T. goal(s) and learn how to work toward them in a manageable way. Discuss your progress with your Registered Dietitian in 30-minute weekly conversations. Be supported and coached throughout the entire 30-day journey. Receive practical information, recipes, and tips to keep you motivated, focused, and successful! Challenge Accepted? Don’t let the next 30 days pass you by. Sign up today and make this New Year’s the start of lasting change. *Call FSEAP to sign up for the 30 Days to a Healthier You Challenge, or to learn about FSEAP’s nutrition counselling services.

Are you looking for a change, need to regain balance in your life, or simply just want to establish healthier habits to feel better and be more resilient? In today’s ever-changing and fast-paced world, the stresses and demands of life, family, and work can take a toll on all of us. Often, the first things we neglect when we lose perspective and balance in our lives are the healthy habits that are essential to our overall well-being, happiness, and productivity. A Health Coach is a professional who acts as a change agent, collaborating with you on identifying personal values, outlining realistic goals, and implementing actionable steps to help improve your overall health and well-being. Health Coaches are trained and certified by accredited coaching associations, meaning they have gone through extensive training and are held to a professional code of ethics. Coaching is ideal for individuals who are ready for a change but may feel stuck and unmotivated and simply do not know where to start. What Does Coaching Look Like? Health and Wellness Coaches use evidence-based and client-centered approaches to co-create realistic goals with each client to foster growth, self-confidence, accountability, and sustain change in their health and well-being. You may have struggled in the past to follow recommendations by common healthcare professionals, such as your general practitioner, because you’re not sure how to incorporate these suggestions into the lifestyle of yourself or your family. A Health and Wellness Coach will not only instruct you on what to do, but instead collaborate with you to figure out a plan with realistic and achievable steps that is tailored specifically to you. A coach will help you explore your intrinsic values and motivators to ensure that your plan is aligned with who you are, which is an essential step that is often overlooked to make changes stick. You will follow an evidence-backed, personally-curated plan for your goals and work directly with a coach who will become your guide and partner in making these changes. So what are some of the results you can expect from coaching? At 12 Weeks to Wellness, a wellness coaching company located in Vancouver, BC, many of their clients have illustrated the benefits of having a health coach through their testimonials. Here are what they are saying: “I feel so much more inner-peace, empowered, and confident in the skills I gained to apply to future scenarios.” “The coach’s ability to hone in on the root of my problem was extremely helpful for me. She quickly provided me with some tools to help me change my behavior and in turn, people around me changed their behaviors towards me.” “My weight is down over 20lbs; I have more energy, more consistency in my routine and I have increased my resilience. I have a healthier routine in my life. My workouts are great - I feel 7-8 years younger from all I have achieved this year so far.” “My coach was exceptionally knowledgeable about diet, exercise, and helping me to identify the triggers/emotions that get in the way of me improving my eating and exercise behaviors and my general outlook on life.” Coaching empowers you to create permanent changes in your life that are difficult to do on your own. It can help you set goals and address whatever barriers that may be holding you back. Ready to make a change? Here are some areas that Health Coaches can help: Weight Positive - Building confidence and a positive relationship around food and your body at any size. Making Peace With Food - Creating a healthy relationship with food and conquering emotional eating. Move for Life - Building a realistic plan around a movement that works for you. Confident Healthy Me - Building a customized lifestyle plan for optimal wellness or to manage a health condition. Mind My Wellness - Creating a toolbox for improved mental health and stress management through daily mindfulness. Written by Bettina Mackenbach, RD, 12 Weeks to Wellness

The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) has created a series of free online tutorials to help individuals learn about mental health and Addiction. Harm Reduction offers learners an overview of harm reduction, the benefits of harm reduction in the area of substance use, and practical strategies for putting the principles of harm reduction into use. This guide is for people who: work in non-clinical roles in the substance use and mental health fields have family or friends with substance use or mental health problems encounter people with substance use or mental health problems through their work This self-directed course will take approximately 20 minutes to complete. To access this course, click on the button below. You will be directed to a site outside of FSEAP.

77% of Canadians say they have at least one source of excessive stress. If stress is impacting you negatively, you might want to find more effective ways for managing with stress. Stress Strategies was created to help you do that. ​ What is Stress Strategies? “Stress Strategies looks at stress as a problem that can be addressed solved, or at least improved, using practical problem-solving methods. Stress Strategies: provides a variety of research-backed stress management strategies shares real life stories of how people use these specific strategies to manage their stress more effectively guides you through a few questions to help you make use of these various strategies When finished, you’ll be able to download or print your own personalized stress management plan." Created by https://www.stressstrategies.ca/. Links will redirect you to a website outside of FSEAP.ca.

Working at night is not normal for humans and this work schedule causes problems for most people. However, it is possible to reduce these problems with a better understanding of the effects of night work on sleep and health, and by applying some strategies. Marie Dumont holds a Ph.D. in neurosciences. She is a researcher at the Center for Advanced Research in Sleep Medicine (CARSM) in Montreal and professor at University of Montreal since 1990. Her main research topic is sleep regulation and biological rhythms, especially in night workers. She developed this web tutorial with Le-cours to offer night workers reliable, free and accessible information to help them cope better with night work. The tutorial comprises four steps presented in four units. The first three units provide information on the effects that night work may have on you, especially on your sleep. They aim to help you identify the problems you may have and the obstacles preventing you from sleeping well when you are working nights. The fourth unit proposes many strategies that you may find appropriate to your situation and that you may like to try. The entire course lasts about an hour and a half. Each unit takes between 15 to 30 minutes to complete. Each unit can be done independently and at different times. Created by https://sleeponitcanada.ca. Links will redirect you to a website outside of FSEAP.ca.

Created by the Canadian Mental Health Association, the COVID-19 Mental Health Check-In is a tool that will help you take a look at your mental health and wellness in light of COVID-19. To complete the check-in, click the link below, and you will be redirected outside of FSEAP to the CMHA COVID-19 Mental Health Check-In webpage. Mental Health Check-In

With November right around the corner, we are gearing up for Diabetes Awareness Month! Did you know that 1 in 3 Canadians live with diabetes or pre-diabetes? Whether you are diabetic or know someone who is, it pays to know the risk factors and health risks associated with diabetes, and ways we may be able to prevent them. While we can’t control all of our risk factors for developing diabetes (like genetics, for example), there are plenty of healthy lifestyle habits that can substantially decrease diabetes risk, including reducing your sugar intake. If you’re someone who finds it difficult to manage how much sugar you eat, join FSEAP’s 30-Day Sugar Fix Challenge this November! How do you know if this challenge is right for you? Do you ever wonder if you’re eating too much sugar or why you may be craving it? Are you interested in learning about the different sources of sugar, like honey, granulated sugar, and syrups? Are you curious about swaps that will still satisfy your cravings? If you want to know the whole truth about sugar, this is the right challenge for you. During this 30-day challenge, your FSEAP Registered Dietitian will coach you every step of the way to help you achieve your nutrition goals. Your dietitian will help you learn to make gradual changes, spot hidden sugars, and teach you to manage your sugar cravings. This challenge creates an opportunity for you to take control of your health! The Basics of the 30-Day Sugar Fix Challenge: Establish your main goal(s) and learn how to work toward them in a manageable way Benefit from 30-minute weekly phone conversations with your Registered Dietitian Get support and coaching on your 30-day journey to a healthier you Receive key information on your nutrition goal, fun facts, online videos, recipes and practical tips to keep you motivated, focused and successful! Challenge Accepted? Don’t let the next 30 days pass you by. Call for your personal consultation with an FSEAP Registered Dietitian. Sign up today!

Do you know someone with diabetes? Have you ever wondered what causes it or if there are ways to prevent it? In fact, there are a variety of risk factors linked to the development of diabetes, including factors outside of our own control (like age, gender, and family history), as well as lifestyle factors we can control like diet and exercise. In the spirit of Canadian Diabetes Awareness Month this November, here are 5 lifestyle tips to help lower your risk of diabetes: 1. Skip the Sugar Rush Foods high in sugar cause a spike in blood sugar levels, especially in more refined forms like candies, pastries and juices. If you’re at risk for diabetes, limiting your intake of high carbohydrate foods, especially highly processed packaged foods, is a good idea. If you have a sweet tooth, try switching out desserts for high fibre fruit like berries. 2. It’s Fibre Time Fibre is a very important nutrient when it comes to diabetes management and prevention. It not only helps with weight management, but also offers benefits for heart health and blood sugar control. Enjoy a variety of fibre-rich foods, like vegetables, legumes (like beans, lentils and pulses), and nuts and seeds, and reap the benefits of fibre! 3. Make Time for Movement Incorporating movement into our daily lives can help lower our risk of diabetes by improving heart health, and building our muscles. Including movement can also help us to reach and maintain a healthy weight. Try to carve out 20 to 30 minutes each day to get active. Even doing chores around the house, spending some time in the garden, or taking a walk in the neighbourhood count towards this goal! 4. Talk to an Expert If you are at risk for pre-diabetes or diabetes, now is the time to take action. Dietary changes can reverse the course of insulin resistance and prevent the need for medication down the line. A Registered Dietitian can help you adapt your diet to keep your blood sugar levels healthy, and help you feel your best. 5. Be Kind to Your Mind Stress and anxiety can impact our ability to take care of our health, whether it’s for diabetes or any other medical reason. Recharge by spending time with family and friends, practicing relaxation exercises like yoga and meditation, or simply doing something you enjoy. Self-care is key to manage stress and will give you a boost to keep up with your healthy habits like eating well and being physically active. Have any of these tips resonated with you? Are you interested in more tips for diabetes prevention? Sign up for our 30-Day Sugar Fix Challenge we’ve designed for Diabetes Awareness Month! You’ll be paired with a Registered Dietitian who will support you and personalize the challenge to your needs and lifestyle. Are you ready to lower your risk of diabetes? Sign up today!

With the warmer weather, we understand that a walk around the block or with the dog in a trail can be much more appealing than going to the gym. Though we are firm believers in a balanced wellness routine that includes strength training, cardio, core, and stretching, walking is an excellent way to add in daily movement, maintain a healthy weight, and increase energy levels. It can also be a great way to disconnect from the daily life stresses and prioritize self care. Whether you are looking to start a new fitness routine or add a bit more activity into your current one, walking is a simple way to make that happen. Before tying up the laces and heading out the door, we think we can help you with a few tips to make sure you start your walking routine off on the right foot⁠: 1. Start Smart. If you have not been active in recent months, you are going to want to start off with shorter walks at a slower pace. A great place to start is to walk 20-30 minutes three to four times per week for the first few weeks while you get used to the new weekly routine and to allow your body to make the proper adaptations to avoid injury. After about a month consider adding 2-5 minutes per week of walking until you have reached your goal walking session time. If you feel any pain early on in your program, consider consulting a doctor and/or making necessary gear upgrades (i.e. new walking shoes). 2. Warm up. If you are doing your walk at the end of the day, chances are you have been seated at work or in meetings all day and your body is going to appreciate a bit of a transition. When you head out for your daily walk, take the first 5 minutes to ease into your pace and incorporate a mix of calf raises, leg swings and toe touches. Your body will thank you and this will help us stay consistent in the long run! 3. Be mindful of your form. Though we all walk hundreds of steps per day and may not think about the way we do it, there are certainly best practices when it comes to our walking technique. The first thing we recommend focusing on is your head position and making sure to look forward (about 20 feet) and not at the ground right in front of you. Second, maintain a tall posture by gently engaging your core and keeping your shoulders back and chest up. Next, keep your elbows bent at about 90 degrees and swing from the shoulder. Lastly, aim to keep your steps and stride shorter than you are used to as this will help you avoid impact on your knees. An easy way to incorporate some technique into your walking progression, is to use the first 5-10 minutes after your warm-up to focus on technique. 4. Be mindful of your cadence. Adding on to the idea of keeping your steps and stride shorter, being mindful of the steps you take per minute will also help you stay injury free and help you achieve a nice aerobic pace for your walks. With that in mind, the target we encourage you to strive for on your walks is between 100 and 130 steps per minute. To help you keep on track, we encourage you to either use a metronome which will beep to keep you on pace or to count the steps you take on one leg for 30 seconds - if you are between 25 to 32 steps in 30 seconds counting only one leg, you are right on pace! 5. Add variety (hills and intervals). Once you have a few weeks under your belt of walking, we would recommend reserving one or two of your weekly walks to add some variety into the mix. One option would be to seek out nearby elevation and hills, as you will naturally add in a bit more intensity for an even better cardiovascular workout (i.e., improved results). Additionally, you can also add a few intervals to your walks and reap the same rewards. This can be accomplished by reserving 10 to 14 minutes of your walk whereby you walk at a fast pace for 1 minute, and then follow it up with a 1 minute easy walk, repeating this sequence for the time you allotted for the intervals. 6. End with a stretch. As you cross the finish line on your walk, taking a few minutes to stretch out anything that feels tight and achy will do your body wonders. Keep the stretches simple and target your shoulders, quads, hamstrings and calves. This simple practice will ensure you feel invigorated for the rest of your day and ready for the next walk. Overall your walking progression this year should look like this: focus on technique first, then add a bit of distance, then worry about speed. - The LIFT session Team --------- LIFT session is a digital fitness and wellness platform focused on helping companies build a more active and engaged workforce. Learn more at https://www.fseap.ca/worklife-supports