Healthy Life Survey - 60 PATH Points!

 

Pick a Peck of Apples FREE!

Register HERE for a free peck of apples. See details below. 

(Click image below for a larger version of the flyer)

50 Miles, 50 Days Walking Challenge

 

Come Alive Outside offers another mile-a-day challenge!

While we can not offer this for PATH points this is a great way to establish a walking routine.  Remember you record only walks that you do outside that are planned.  Not all steps or common walks like to your car.

You can list Angela Moulton as leader.  Thanks and happy walking. 

Register here by September 13

Communter Incentive Program

 

Welcome Back! Introduction to VEHI PATH and Wellness programs

The start of a new school year is a good time to refocus (or start focusing) on your health and wellbeing. VEHI offers a Planned Action Towards Health (PATH) program that can help you find activities and services to fit your wellness goals to enhance or maintain a healthy lifestyle. AND...you can earn points toward a $100 gift card to LL Bean!

Each school building in our district has a wellness leader who can help you learn about and navigate these programs and help you earn points. Building Wellness Leaders for the 2021-22 school year are

• JFK - Nan Johnson
• WHS - Becky Savage
• Central office - Angela Moulton
• WMS - Laura Graves

What programs are available?
(Click here for the VEHI flyer) 

These programs are available right now to begin setting goals, or addressing your health needs

• Online courses on Intuitive Eating and Mindful, Nonviolent Communication
• Quizzify Puzzles 
• Self-Paced Adventures
• Invest EAP
• Keeping Fit
• Blue Health Solutions (VEHI subscribers only)

Programs coming soon

• Healthy Life Survey - opens October 1st
• Annual Adventure Registration - opens November 1st

What to see your building leader about

• Getting Started with VEHI PATH
• Know Your Numbers & Show Your Smile programs
• Wellness Leader Events

To access the VEHI PATH program, go to https://secure.tomypath.com/vehi/

1. If you have a log in ID and can not remember your password, click on "Forgot my Password" to the right of the page.
2. If you can not remember your ID, contact Jaycie Puttlitz to see if you have an account with Winooski.
3. If you are transferring from another school, contact info@ToMyPath.com and let them know your ID and which school you are transferring FROM and which school you are transferring TO.
4. If you don't have an account,  scroll down to "New to Program?", select the Winooski SD organization, and begin your registration.

"Welcome to Winooski" from Wellness leader

 Welcome and Welcome Back!

My name is Angela Moulton.  I am one of the wellness leaders for the district.  I am writing to let you know about PATH!  It is a free wellness program through VEHI.  HERE is information about VEHI and PATH for those of you who are not familiar with these programs.

We have a wonderful wellness team here to support you!  We have a teacher in each part of the school as well as having a Wellness Coordinator.

Wellness Coordinator / District Champion: Jaycie Puttlitz (jputtlitz@wsdvt.org)

JFK Leader: Nan Johnson (njohnson@wsdvt.org)

Middle School Leader: Laura Graves (lgraves@wsdvt.org)

High School Leader: Rebecca Savage (rsavage@wsdvt.org)

Central office and other staff: Angela Moulton (amoulton@wsdvt.org)

One of the wonderful perks of joining PATH is a $100  L.L. Bean to all participants who meet their yearly points goal.  You can earn points through taking quizzes, logging in exercise and participating in free wellness courses such as rethinking sugar, non-violent communications and others.  

Wellness leaders also offer events that can earn you points!  In June, many staff members started the 100 days, 100 miles challenge.  If you were not hired for the start of that event or didn't sign up for the start date, I am inviting you to join in for the last 30 days to earn 10 points. Your challenge would start the first student day and go through September 25th.  HERE is more about the current challenge the staff is doing.  If you complete your 30 days, you will be eligible to receive 10 points.  

Please let me know if you would like to join this initiative or have any questions. If you are already part of PATH at another school I can arrange for you to be transferred over to WSD.  I am also happy to help you sign up for PATH if you need support.  

If you would like to learn even more about walking for health read this article from Harvard School of Public Health.

https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/walking/

Cheers!

Angela Moulton and the Wellness team

30 miles, 30 days starts TODAY! (April 23)

 

It's time to start the 30 Miles, 30 Days Challenge! We hope you are as excited as we are! With participants from 42 states and Canada numbering 2,400 participants, this is our biggest challenge ever!

Logbooks were mailed.

Logbooks were mailed out on Monday 4/19 and some of you may still be waiting for yours. We have an editable PDF of our logbook here for you to download and fill out online. You may use this however you'd like: as a backup, or as your main way of tracking miles. Do whatever works best for you!

If you already got a logbook, hooray! You may have noticed that our logbook has a little quirk in it. Despite our best proofreading efforts, we didn’t spot Day 21 occurring twice. If you look at your logbook, you’ll see Day 21 listed as both 5/13 and 5/14. The good news is that you get an extra walking day! We will still end the challenge on May 23^rd.

For teams: as we average out miles per person and we don’t factor length of time into our equation. Just submit your total miles walked through May 23rd to your team leader.

Week 2 of Sleep Challenge

Welcome to week two!  I hope you are enjoying the week off.  When we have these wonderful weeks I never can decide if I should sleep in and turn off the alarm or keep the routine so I don't lose it.  Regardless of what I choose my two dogs seem to do the opposite. I try to sleep in, they are wide awake and barking at 4:30!

Did you know what you eat and drink before bed can affect your sleep? The connection between food and sleep is complex. You know that what you eat affects your sleep, but did you know that the reverse is also true? Studies now show that people who are sleep deprived tend to eat more fat-rich foods, simple carbohydrates, and fewer vegetables, possibly because sleep loss alters chemical signals connected to metabolism and hunger. In fact, some researchers believe sleep deprivation to be a factor in the rising rates of obesity. Eating and sleeping well are two vital components of health that are tied in surprising ways.

Week two sleep video HERE.

If you have any questions please reach out.  I hope you enjoy the rest of the week!

(Angela Moulton)

Sleep Well Challenge (2021)

30-day 'Sleep Well' Challenge April 15 - May 15

Do you find yourself saying, “I’m tired” and yet, not falling asleep well at night?  Is tossing and turning your biggest form of exercise?  You are not alone.  There are many reasons sleep can be disrupted. 

This 30 day Sleep Well challenge is to help change or support your healthy sleep habits and hopefully help get you, or keep you, on track so you wake up feeling ready for a new day. 

This challenge will run from April 15 and run through May 15th. Please sign up by April 9th so I can have your materials ready and get them to you for the start date.

All participants to sign up will receive a sleep tracker and motivational emails each week. The first 25 participants to sign up will also receive a Sleep Well Kit that includes a drawstring bag, one sleep journal, an eye mask & ear plugs, and a lavender lotion.

To earn your 10 PATHpoints you will need to complete a simple survey at the end of the 30 days.  

Please add your name and preferred email address to the list attached. 

You can still participate and earn the points even if you do not get a Sleep Well kit.

(Angela Moulton)

Walk/Run Challenge "30 miles, 30 days": April 23-May 23

30 Miles, 30 Days

Who's up for it? Everyone?! That's what I thought. We are the Winooski Walkers and we can do this! All the information you need is listed below and included in the attachment.

You will earn 10 PATH points towards the 200 points needed for a $100  L.L. Bean gift card. 

Here are the important details:

1. Walk, jog or run one mile a day, everyday for 30 days starting on April 23!

2. By completing this challenge, you earn 10 PATH points towards your gift card.

3. This program is being run by Come Alive Outside! And they will be giving out prizes to lucky participants.

What do you need to do:

• Register here (https://comealiveoutside.com/mile-a-day/) by Friday, March 26!!!! This Friday!!!!
• On the registration form, type Winooski School District for our school name and Winooski Walkers for our team name!
• Materials will be mailed to those who register.  When the challenge begins, you will walk each day and track your mileage in the log book provided. 
• Track your walking/running miles every day from April 23 to May 23.
• At the end of the 30 days, you will turn in your total miles walked to me (lgraves@wsdvt.org), your Team Leader. I will submit our school's total miles to Come Alive Outside program and hopefully we'll win some cool prizes in addition to earning PATH points!

Let me know if you want to join or if you have any questions about this challenge and/or earning more PATH points.

Laura Graves, Wellness Leader

Stay Hydrated Challenge: March 8-April 4

Stay Hydrated Challenge

Hey everyone! I need help. I have got to get myself to take the time to drink some water during the day. So, I’m going to run the Stay Hydrated Challenge to give myself the boost and incentive I need to drink my water. You are all welcome to join me and if you do, you will earn 10 PATHpoints towards the 200 needed for a $100  L.L. Bean gift card. 

I have found that I am drinking much less water this year. I used to drink 1-2 bottles of water a day while at school. Now I find I take 1 sip. Just one sip - all day! It’s crazy! Over the next 30 days I’m going to try to get back on track and take better care of myself by staying hydrated. 

Here is the skinny on the hydration challenge:

1. A 30 day challenge sponsored by your wellness team and ReArch (thanks for the water bottles!)

2. By completing this challenge you earn 10 PATH points towards your gift card

3. ReArch is providing water bottles for the first 30 people who sign up!

What do you need to do:

1. Let Nan (njohnson@wsdvt.org) know you want to join by Sunday, March 7

2. Set a personal goal to increase your water intake. 

3. Answer one quick survey at the end of 30 days to earn your points.

This Challenge runs from March 8 - April 4.

Let me know if you want to join or if you have any questions about this challenge and/or earning more PATH points.

Nan

Indoor Fitness Options

Here are some video collections for Indoor Fitness:

• UVM Med Center Community Fitness These workouts are great for beginners or those who need various adaptations.
  (On a personal note: the instructors are leaders for the Steps to Wellness program that I (jaycie) participated in for recovery after my breast cancer surgery. These exercises helped in my personal journey to strengthen and recover.)
  
  
• The Edge Sports & Fitness  Group fitness classes recorded (on Facebook)
  
  
• Pahla Bowers "Make peace with your post menopausal body"
  
  
• Orange Theory Fitness: Many resources, but scroll down to the at-home fitness section
  
  
• HASfit: Heart And Soul fitness, with over 1000 workouts tailored to many different levels.
  
  
• Kukuwa Fitness African dance fitness
  
  

Healthy Living Guide 2020-21

The 2020-21 Healthy Living Guide has been published by the Harvard School for Public Health.

In this issue

Nutrition and immunity:

• Understanding the body’s immune system

• Does an immune-boosting diet exist?

• The role of the microbiome

• A closer look at vitamin and herbal supplements

• 8 tips to support a healthy immune system

A blueprint for building healthy meals

Food feature: lentils 

Strategies for eating well on a budget

Practicing mindful eating

What is precision nutrition?

Diet reviews:

• Ketogenic diet

• Intermittent fasting

• Gluten-free

Staying Active:

• 10 tips to keep moving

• Exercise safety

• Spotlight on walking for exercise

Stress and health:

• How does chronic stress affect eating patterns?

• Ways to help control stress

Sleep:

• How much sleep do we need?

• Why do we dream?

• Sleep deficiency and health

• Tips for getting a good night’s rest

COVID Support Vermont (Resources)

If you, or someone you know, needs some support during the COVID pandemic, please take a look at the COVID support website here: /https://covidsupportvt.org/  On this Website, there are many resources and some groups and workshops available to take care of your well-being.

Also, Nurse Liz shared this flyer with staff: 

Pause – Reset – Nourish (PRN)* to Promote Wellbeing 
Description: All of us face a variety of stresses daily. Currently, you may be dealing with additional responsibilities at work and new challenges with parenting. Consider your level of distress before deciding what approach you’d like to take to address it. Gauging your level of distress is as important as practicing self-care strategies. The PRN framework is one such strategy and reminds us of the types of practices that help promote wellbeing and enhance resilience. Just like you would take a medication PRN, or as needed, to address unwanted symptoms, you can Pause-Reset- Nourish to help replenish yourself when needed. These practices can help to reset and rebalance your nervous systems, and can be done frequently throughout each day in just a few minutes.