With a new year brings new gadgets, fitness and diet fads. One that is gaining popularity is the Paleo Diet. This is the adaption of the “Caveman” diet. Paleo literally means old or ancient. If we look at our history books; yes the one at the very top of the shelf with dust and cob webs, and start at the beginning you will see man in top shape. Lean muscles and excellent health, they are the epitome of what modern day man is trying to achieve. However, the question is; if there weren’t any gyms or protein shakes back then how could they possibly do it?

Although workplace wellness programs are becoming more and more popular, just because you implement one doesn’t mean your employee will participate or that your business will benefit. In order to truly drive employee engagement and eventually realize a positive impact on your business, a more comprehensive approach must be taken. This includes trying to create the ultimate “culture” of health within your organization.

Individuals play the fundamental role in maintaining and/or improving their own health. Therefore, participation is the biggest factor in any health and wellness programming. This is true for both the individual and the organizational level. From the business case, this is evident in several studies that demonstrate a positive return on investment (ROI). Research clearly shows that increased participation affects major outcomes in an ROI calculation. For example, as participation increases the program costs per member decrease and as incremental health risk reductions accumulate across the population healthcare costs should decrease.

Sometimes we find ourselves over indulging in our favorite foods and more often than not those foods aren’t always the healthiest. Brownies, apple pie, spaghetti to name a few can be packed with flavor but also high in fat, sugar and cholesterol. I like many other people try to make healthier choices by decreasing the amount of salt and sugar I use when cooking and while that helps a bit there are bigger changes that can be made to recipes that can almost cut the calories and fat content in half.

Since the snow keeps falling, I figured it would be a good idea to discuss different ways you can exercise outside and keep moving during the deep freeze. Did you know that exercising outside in the cold you actually burn more calories? It’s true, this is due to your metabolic rate increasing to warm your body – this bit of extra work means extra burn! Also, many winter exercise require you to tackle different terrain, like snow!

http://youtu.be/zh-TXmPNXT4
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As many of us are starting to be asked these questions because of the severe weather, I thought this could also be some good information to share with everyone:

As a consumer of insurance, business or personal, do you Really know what is and is not included within your policy that sits on your shelf or in your filing cabinet? Even the smallest homeowners policy contains approximately 20 pages of forms, endorsements, general conditions, causes of loss, and those pesky exclusions. If you own a business that 20 pages can turn into a huge binder full of all of the above and per line of coverage. It is the job of your agent to review (with you) and summarize for you what generally is and is not included within these pages. Just because you purchased and reviewed a policy 2 or 3 renewals prior, do not assume that it exists in the same format as initially presented. An easy example of this on the commercial side would be the following:

Kettlebells are one of my favorite tools to use when working out! First off they are fun, fairly inexpensive and you can get a great workout in less than 20 minutes! Kettlebells can be found at most gyms but what I like most is the fact you can do the exercises right in your own home.