Koffel Associates Healthy Lifestyle Challenge
Questions & Answers
Questions: email brian@wepromotehealth.org
As we receive questions, we will respond to each individual directly. We will also post the question here with the response.
How frequently do I key in my wellness points? You should do so at least once per week by midnight Monday. We run a report Tuesday AM and credit all of points from the previous week. However, it is recommended that you enter your wellness points daily while it's fresh in your mind. The bonus question can be answered any time during the week...but only once. Understand that when you sign back in, the box indicating that you completed a specific challenge will no longer be checked. You can be confident that we received your initial response and credited you with any earned bonus.
Some of you have asked: How can I get more information about opportunities in the community to participate in an activity and receive FREE "bonus drawing tickets? We will be adding opportunities to earn additional bonus points throughout the 10 week challenge. These opportunities will give you a chance to accumulate additional bonus tickets.
What is the deadline to sign-up for the Healthy Lifestyle Challenge? Participants can register at any time. Once registered, you would simply start tracking your points on-line and completing the weekly bonus. Obviously you would have fewer tickets in the Challenge Bucket. The important thing is to get started. It's never to late to begin making wellness a priority!
How do you determine if a participant earns their healthy eating points? A participant should award themselves the maximum 40 points for each day that they meet their healthy eating goals. 10 points for a healthy breakfast; 10 points for a healthy lunch; 10 points for a healthy dinner and 5 points for each of 2 two healthy snacks daily. You are on your honor to award your own points. If you eat an unhealthy snack during the day, simply do not award yourself 5 points. We are utilizing the USDA food pyramid as a benchmark to define healthy eating. However, any other reasonable program such as Weight Watchers is acceptable. If you are not following any specific nutritional program, you will have satisfied the requirements if you follow the generally accepted guidelines for proper nutrition. You can find the USDA guidelines by visiting www.myplate.gov . You may also consider one of the tracking software programs listed below to track your eating and measure your progress.
Is there tracking software that I can use if I want a more accurate measure for my nutritional goals? We can not make specific recommendations regarding your personal nutrition. Nor can we recommend specific programs. For your general information, there are a number of free web based tools that you might want to check out. Some of our participants are utilizing www.nutrimirror.com. Their free website tools include a food search database and a vitamin and nutrient calculator built into their tracking system. It's worth a look! Here a couple of others www.myfitnesspal.com and www.thedailyplate.com. If you are looking for a good mobile app, try www.mynetdiary.com.
Do I really need to drink 64 ounces of water every day? According to WebMD, there is no evidence for the oft-repeated assertion that people need at least eight glasses of water per day. The Institute of Medicine points out that a better number might be closer to 125 ounces of water daily for men and 91 ounces for women---but that includes water intake from all foods and beverages. Most people get adequate hydration without "purposeful drinking" of fluids for hydration. Water Quiz: How Much Do You Know About Hydration?
Consider all of your fluid intake when determining if you have met your daily requirement for water. Remember, on average, an individual receives about 20% of their water intake from food. It is also very important to consider modifying your total fluid intake depending on how active you are, the climate you live in, your health status and if you are pregnant or breast-feeding.
Can you win a FREE drawing ticket by completing the bonus opportunity? Yes, every Monday we will offer you an opportunity through a web link, to earn your bonus ticket(s). When you click on the link you will be directed to the related content where you will find either a wellness related task or a question requiring a little research and multiple choice answer. When you log in to record your wellness points, you will find a place to record your answer and earn your bonus point(s). IMPORTANT: You should only answer that week's question once. Each week there will be a new question and another opportunity to earn a FREE drawing ticket.