Healthy Holiday Appetizers – Tips for Healthy Brands and Healthy Living

Regular readers know that I am doing 50 healthy things this year in honor of my 50^th birthday. Here’s number 37 – healthy holiday appetizers.

It’s no secret that we’re in the season of “danger theater” (to coin my husband’s phrase) when it comes to healthy eating. I don’t know about you, but I feel like I’m navigating a minefield. We have so much food in our office from business partners right now, and it seems like I have a holiday event almost every day between now and Christmas.

I’ve worked too hard this year to completely blow it in the next few weeks. Therefore, I’ve been on the hunt for the perfect healthy holiday appetizer.

I invented one out of desperation that gets rave reviews. I was standing in Costco trying to figure out what I could take to a last minute get together, and here’s what I came up with:

Mediterranean Layer Dip

1 large container of hummus

1 jar of olive tapenade or bruschetta topping

1 block of feta cheese

Spread hummus in the bottom of a round glass dish. Next spread the olive tapenade or bruschetta topping. (I’ve successfully used both.) Top with crumbled feta and serve with raw veggies or pita chips.

This dip is incredibly easy to make, but it looks pretty, and people love it.

Here’s another list I found from Eating Well, a great brand for healthy eaters. I think the Roasted Beet Crostini and Apricot Canapes sound worth a try. What are some of your favorite healthy holiday appetizers? Please share.

 

 

Boosting Stability – Tips for Healthy Brands and Healthy Living

Regular readers know I am doing 50 healthy things this year in honor of my 50^th birthday. Here’s number 35 – a BOSU fitness ball.

Those of you who know me well may have interpreted the headline to mean mental stability. Arguably, I need that too, but in this case I am talking about literal stability – as in physical balance.

As we age, statistics show our chances of falling increase dramatically. A trainer I worked with a few years ago was quick to point out this danger. She incorporated several moves with a BOSU ball into my workout routine. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the BOSU, it’sa half-circle contraption with hard plastic on one side and half of a soft exercise ball on the other side.

I am a social exerciser. I like the motivation of working out with others. Therefore, I have been focusing mostly on fitness classes this year with a mix of cardio, weights and Pilates/Yoga. However, I was running late last night, so I was forced to work out on my own. I decided to dust off a few of the old moves I used to do with my trainer. I am really feeling the after effects today, and it was a great reminder that I should incorporate the BOSU back into my regular routine.

I encourage you to try it if you haven’t. If you need some help getting started, here’s a great list (with videos) of 40 moves.

My favorites on this list are 17 – push ups, 25 – squats, and 37 – burpees. I also love another one that is not on this list. You stand on one leg on the hard side of the BOSU and then do ten reps on each side of a bicep curl/shoulder press combo. I’d love to hear your favorites or to get some feedback if you try any new exercises on this list.

Catching up with Old Friends – Tips for Healthy Brands and Healthy Living

Regular readers know I am doing 50 healthy things in honor of my 50^th birthday. Here’s number 33 – making time for old friends.

I just went to happy hour on a Monday night! I never book social events on Monday nights. I am always too focused on starting the workweek, and I usually also try to get a workout under my belt. I never know what the rest of the week will bring, so I start off on a serious note.

However, I have been trying to find a time to reconnect with two friends I’ve known since college, but haven’t seen in ages. We all have busy schedules, and this past Monday night was actually free for all of us. So I broke my Monday night rule, and I’m glad I did. We had so much fun reminiscing about crazy antics in our 20s when we were all single professionals as well as catching up on our current situations.

The venue we chose was actually symbolic. We met at JJ’s, a Kansas City icon that just reopened after almost two years, following a tragic natural gas explosion in which a server was killed. This horrific accident left legions of regulars in mourning. JJ’s has always been the kind of place that feels like home; it certainly embodies the spirit of a brand that makes life better.

As this story mentions, JJ’s regulars anticipated the reopening with a mixture of trepidation and enthusiasm. But it seems that any nerves melted away as old friends picked up right where they left off. I feel privileged that my friends and I were a part of it.

Cheers!

 

Savor That Cup of Joe – Tips for Healthy Brands and Healthy Living

Regular readers know I’m doing 50 healthy things this year in honor of my 50^th birthday. Here’s number 32 – Enjoy your coffee.

Sometimes coffee gets a bad rap in health circles. I’ve actually never paid attention to the naysayers. In fact, I remember giving a persuasive speech in a college class about the benefits of coffee. So, let’s just say I’ve been a proponent for a long time. It seems many experts agree.

Coffee contains healthy antioxidants, and current research suggests several other benefits as well. Drinking coffee in moderation may strengthen memory, reduce depression, rev up metabolism and increase energy. It’s also credited with potentially reducing the risk for several diseases, including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, gout, prostate cancer and some types of breast cancer.

I can’t imagine starting my day without coffee. I especially like to try new coffee shops when I travel.

Yesterday, I came across a place called Green Beans in the Pittsburgh Airport.   I struck up a conversation with the manager who told me the chain got its start on military bases. Their mission was to offer some comforts from home to men and women deployed overseas and in areas of conflict. Their on-base cafes offer premium coffee beverages, baked goods and a place to relax.

According to the manager, Green Beans is now expanding its footprint with locations in 6 airports and its first street-side store in Omaha.

I am officially a fan. First, the coffee was excellent. My Americano was the perfect blend of strong and smooth. But what really got my attention was a corporate social responsibility initiative called Cup-of-Joe.

For two dollars, one can buy a cup of coffee for a service member on the Green Beans Coffee website. The coffee is served at the cafes on various bases. You can also write a message that will be delivered to a service person via email. Often, the service members respond, and apparently, several pen pal relationships have been forged.

The website also offers an option to donate to Snowball Express, a charity for the children of our fallen military heroes.

My colleagues at Kuhn & Wittenborn and I are always on the lookout for brands that make life better. I’d say Green Beans fits the bill, and it was especially appropriate I learned about their efforts on Veterans Day. What are your favorite brand programs that are making life better?

 

Don’t Put Off Your Mammogram – Tips for Healthy Brands and Healthy Living

Regular readers know I’m doing 50 healthy things this year in honor of my 50^th birthday. Here’s number 31 – get a mammogram.

So here’s the thing. We are all busy. Many women my age are juggling work, children and aging parents. We can barely manage the urgent commitments of each day, let alone make time for “preventive maintenance,” even though we know it’s important.

I have always been diligent in getting mammograms. I have a strong family history, and early detection saved my mother’s life more than 20 years ago. I also have a good friend who did not get a mammogram for three years in a row because she was too busy taking care of her kids and a dying father. She ended up with advanced cancer by the time it was discovered, and she’s had a very tough time.

Yet even knowing all of these circumstances, I almost blew off my annual mammogram this week. I’ve been feeling extra busy, and some unexpected travel has added complication to my calendar. I was so close to canceling my appointment yesterday. But somehow a little voice in my head urged me to go.

I’m glad I did. It took less than an hour and hurt less than the flu shot I got just prior to my exam. And the good news is that the results were normal, so I can rest easy for another year.

If you haven’t gotten a mammogram this year, what are you waiting for? I’m not buying the busy excuse. All of those people you are busy taking care of need you to be healthy.

Beating Brownbag Boredom – Tips for Healthy Brands and Healthy Living

Regular readers know I’m doing 50 healthy things this year in honor of my 50^th birthday. Here’s number 29 – bring your lunch to work.

I’ve long appreciated the health and affordability virtues of bringing lunch from home. I have a lot of lunch meetings outside of the office, but I’ve made a renewed effort this year to pack a lunch whenever possible.

Unfortunately, I’ve found myself falling into a bit of a rut. My friend, Brian Martorana, says I can make anything into a salad. I think he’s right; I eat a salad of some type almost every day. Fortunately, I genuinely enjoy salads.

However, I was pretty excited when we recently had the chance to partner with our friends at GEHA to spice things up a bit. GEHA is the second-largest national health plan and the second-largest national dental plan serving federal employees, federal retirees, and their families. Just like the rest of us, federal employees are looking for better lunch ideas.

Health and wellness are important brand tenants for GEHA, as it provides resources for a variety of health challenges. So, it stands to reason that GEHA has a great answer to the question, “What’s for lunch?”

Kuhn & Wittenborn partnered with The Culinary Center of Kansas City on GEHA’s behalf to highlight five healthy and tasty recipes:

• Asian Chicken Sandwich with Sriracha Mayo
• Quinoa with Arugula
• Roasted Barley Salad
• Tuscan Bean Soup
• Whole Grain Pasta Salad

The delicious Roasted Barley Salad

Click here to see the videos we produced and view the recipes. Bon appetit! And please share some of your favorite lunch ideas.

Rethinking Coconut Oil – Tips for Healthy Brands and Healthy Living

Regular readers know that I am doing 50 healthy things this year in honor of my 50^th birthday. Here’s number 26 – Coconut Oil.

I think the current coconut oil craze is one of the most successful rebranding stories ever. In the very recent past, tropical oils — coconut, palm, etc. were shunned as pariahs of heart health. In the world of saturated fats, most people thought they were the worst.

But as it turns out, a closer look reveals that unlike most other saturated fats, coconut oil is built primarily of medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs).  These fats metabolize much differently than their long-chain cousins, which are found in abundance in meat and dairy products.  Apparently, digested MCTs are not stored as fat in the human body.  Instead, they are transported directly to the liver where they are quickly converted into energy.

 

In fact, some researchers now go so far as to say that coconut oil actually decreases the risk of heart disease, as it has been shown to increase HDL (good) cholesterol and lower LDL (bad) levels.  MCTs in coconut oil may also work to reduce triglycerides, improve blood coagulation, and perform antioxidant functions in the blood stream.

In addition, coconut oil advocates tout a myriad of additional benefits such as increasing energy, fighting infection, improving brain function, aiding in weight loss, and conditioning skin and hair.

It seems like coconut oil is everywhere these days, and I’ll admit I’ve jumped on the bandwagon. I think it’s great for cooking, but my favorite use is make-up removal. It’s especially effective on eye make up.

What other products can you think of that have made a complete turnaround in the court of public opinion?

Surprise! – Tips for Healthy Brands and Healthy Living

Regular readers know that I am doing 50 healthy things this year in honor of my 50^th birthday. Here’s number 23 – embrace the unexpected.

So, the big milestone actually arrived. I’d been looking toward my 50^th birthday with a mix of trepidation and enthusiasm since New Year’s. I publicly declared that I would do 50 healthy things this year, and I’m about halfway there.

The good news is that I survived the big day, and all is well. However, I learned a great lesson in the days leading up to it. Those of you who know me well understand that I am extremely inquisitive (okay more like downright nosy.) I like to blame it on my background as a journalist, but truth be told, I think it’s just ingrained in my personality. I’m also very scheduled (controlling?) in most aspects of my life. As such, I am very hard person to surprise. And frankly, spontaneity makes me a little anxious.

However, I had a feeling that my husband and kids would try to pull something over on me to celebrate my big birthday. Therefore, I’ve been on high alert for several weeks. My husband has been snatching up his phone to make sure I don’t read his texts and unexplainably hanging up on phone calls when I walk into the room.

We were scheduled to go out for drinks and dinner with another couple on the Friday night before the big day. Frankly, I was suspicious that these plans were a decoy. But then, my husband really threw a wrench into my suspicions by telling me to pack an overnight bag and be ready to leave by 9 a.m. on Saturday morning.

I was lamenting about my confusion to my mother, and she replied, “Just go with the flow on this. It will be good for you to not be in charge for once.” At first, I was a little miffed by her comment, but deep down, I knew she was right.

Granted, I juggle a very busy schedule between professional and personal responsibilities, so I need to be organized. But on the other hand, maybe being a little less structured could be good.

So what happened? Well, we did go to drinks with our friends as planned. However, when it was time to move to our table for dinner, things shifted. My husband, Randy, guided me into a different room where my extended family and very closest lifetime friends were waiting. Surprise! It was an amazing celebration that both touched and humbled me. It was better than anything I could have imagined — and believe me, I had imagined many possibilities.

My key takeaway is that sometimes outcomes can be even better than expected if one just lets go a little and lets things unfold vs. trying to plan every move. I think it’s good advice for both healthy brands and healthy living.

It’s been a fun journey, and I look forward to more healthy activities between now and December 31.

Don’t Kill the Weeds – Tips for Healthy Brands and Healthy Living

Regular readers know that I am doing 50 healthy things this year in honor of my 50^th birthday. Here’s number 22 – eat some weeds.

We’ve already established that I eat a lot of vegetables and in particular, a lot of greens. My husband, Randy, has gone so far as to joke that if we had no food in the house, I could be happy just foraging around in the back yard.

This week, though, I tried a new veggie that stretched the limits even for me. When I picked up my weekly CSA bag from Gibbs Road Farm I found a little gem called purslane. Some describe it as an “Omega 3 Fatty Weed.”

Indeed, it looks like a weed. But apparently, purslane contains more omega 3 fatty acids than any other plant source: 8.5 mg for every gram of weight.  It has vitamin A, B, C and E — six times more E than spinach. It also has seven times more beta carotene than carrots. In addition, it boasts magnesium, calcium, potassium, folate, lithium, iron and is 2.5% protein. It’s even been found to prevent cell mutation, the potential start of cancer, and lower blood pressure. And you get all that for about 15 calories per three-ounce serving.

So how does this weed taste? I thought it was pretty good. I tossed it into a salad with quinoa, hummus, fresh tomatoes and fresh yellow squash. It added a mild crunch that was reminiscent of a cross between spinach and some kind of sprout.

Eating purslane was an interesting experiment in pushing the envelope even further in my already adventurous diet. And it was a great reminder that “one man’s weed in another man’s delicacy.” I’ll leave you on your own to ponder that advice for healthy brands and healthy living.

Play a Team Sport – Tips for Healthy Brands and Healthy Living

Regular readers know that I am doing 50 healthy things this year in honor of my 50^th birthday. Here’s number 21 – play a team sport.

As mentioned in previous posts, I recently returned from a two-week road trip. This post is the sixth and final in a series about lessons learned from the road.

The final destination and main event on our road trip was a weeklong baseball tournament – the Perfect Game 17 and Under World Wood Bat Association (WWBA) Championship. Perfect Game is one of the largest scouting organizations in amateur baseball and the host of events throughout the country. This particular tournament was huge, with about 300 teams competing.

The KCBarnstormers. All photos by Christi Patterson.

My son, Griffin, and his teammates will be seniors in high school this fall. They all love baseball, and they all hope to play in college. This summer has been filled with a number of showcase tournaments that were well attended by college coaches looking for talent. The WWBA Championship was a great opportunity for the boys to strut their stuff. They played their hearts out – going 5-2 against some of the stiffest competition in the U.S. All of their parents and coaches were extremely proud of their efforts.

Even more than the wins, though, I am proud of the young men they are becoming and the life lessons they are learning. Baseball is the ultimate metaphor for life. As the lyrics to an old Dire Straits song say, “some days you’re the bat; some days you’re the ball.”

Griffin’s coach, Karl Carswell, founder of the KCBarnstomers organization often tells the players that the “game will never love you back.”

However, he encourages them to give it their all anyway. In his words, Karl and his team have “formed a baseball environment where players, parents, and coaches have found common ground. We are all interested in the development and training of our players and coaches individually and collectively. When done properly, teams are built around players and coaches who push each other to be better everyday.”

This philosophy certainly benefits a baseball team, but I think it benefits brand teams as well. The best brands are built in an environment that stresses both individual and group achievement as well as continuous improvement. They’re also built by encouraging respectful debate on the way to finding common ground.

Karl also stresses the concept of being “a finisher” – the player who runs hard down the baseline every time, the player who makes the opposing pitcher uncomfortable by taking a good swing at every hittable pitch, the player who slides hard into every base every time, and the player who backs up the same base with maximum intensity every time for just one opportunity to make a great play.

“No one knew they were making a great play before it was made and when you decide not to try, you are deciding not to make a great play,” Karl says.

Indeed. Are you the person on your team who is performing like a finisher? Or are you the person who is stuck in your comfort zone, afraid to try a new idea because someone on your management team might think it’s too risky?

Like baseball players, many of the most successful brands didn’t know they were “making the great play” before it happened. They were just working with intensity at every viable opportunity.

It’s harder than ever for brands to stand out from their competition. But it’s certainly achievable if, as Karl says, you “flipping play your heart out, and separate yourself from the guys who won’t understand.
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